Memorialising an account
Losing someone is hard enough without a locked-out profile compounding the loss. Memorial accounts on Seldeo are designed to keep the person's material present, keep their friends and family able to remember together, and keep the surface of the page peaceful.
For the design philosophy and product decisions behind memorials, see the news post Memorials are a first-class Seldeo feature. This article is the operational how-to.
What memorialisation does
When an account is memorialised:
- The word Remembering appears above the person's name on their profile.
- No one can sign in to the account. All existing sessions are terminated at memorialisation.
- Existing posts, photos, and profile information stay visible according to their original privacy settings. A friends-only post remains friends-only; a public post remains public.
- A dedicated In Memoriam section opens beneath the person's timeline, where friends and family can submit photos, voice notes, and short written memories (subject to memorial contact review).
- The account no longer appears in "People you may know," "Suggested friends," or in any birthday or anniversary reminders sent to strangers.
- Advertising is disabled on every surface of the memorial page.
- Nominated memorial contacts can approve or hide submissions, curate a life timeline, respond to outstanding friend requests, and (with unanimous consent when there are multiple contacts) request permanent deletion of the memorial.
- Direct messages remain end-to-end encrypted. Memorial contacts do not receive access to the person's message history. Seldeo cannot decrypt those messages either.
Who can request memorialisation
There are three paths to memorialisation:
- The account holder in life. In Settings → Legacy → Contacts, you can name up to three friends as future memorial contacts. When memorialisation begins, the named contacts are notified and invited to accept the responsibility. You may also opt in to auto-memorialise on inactivity, which triggers memorialisation if we can't reach you and no one signs in for 12 or 24 months.
- A designated memorial contact may request memorialisation with proof of death.
- An immediate family member may request memorialisation with proof of death and proof of relationship.
How to request memorialisation
Email memorials@seldeo.com from the address on which you are contactable and include:
- The account username or handle of the deceased.
- Your relationship to the account holder.
- Proof of death. Any one of:
- A death certificate or extract.
- A funeral home statement.
- A published obituary from an accredited source.
- A news article, in cases of public reporting.
- Proof of relationship, if you are family and not
a named memorial contact. Any one of:
- A birth certificate, marriage certificate, or civil partnership certificate.
- A court order (probate, letters of administration, etc.).
- A comparable government document.
We review requests within five business days. If additional documentation is needed, we contact you at the address you emailed from. Documents you provide are used for verification only; they are not stored beyond the review window unless a specific legal retention requires otherwise.
What happens after memorialisation
- The memorial contact(s) receive an in-app invitation and instructions on how the memorial page can be managed.
- Advertising is turned off on every surface of the page.
- The person's public posts remain in place. Friends- only posts remain friends-only.
- New friend requests to the person's account can be accepted or declined by the memorial contacts.
- The In Memoriam section opens for contribution.
Contributions
The In Memoriam section receives photos, voice notes, and short written memories from signed-in Seldeo accounts:
- Contributions are attributed to the contributor's Seldeo account. Anonymous contributions are not accepted.
- Contributions land in a review queue and are visible on the memorial page only after a memorial contact approves them.
- Contributors may hide their own contribution at any time; memorial contacts may delete any contribution.
- Voice notes are transcribed on the memorial page, where a transcription is available.
Setting yourself up in advance
The most respectful thing you can do for the people you'll leave behind is to set up your legacy while you're able. Under Settings → Legacy:
- Legacy contacts. Nominate up to three friends. They are notified when you nominate them but do not gain any access to your account until memorialisation begins.
- Inactivity policy. Choose Never, 12 months, or 24 months. When set, we notify you at every notification channel we have if we're approaching the trigger, so a simple sign-in resets the clock.
- Contact-level permissions. Decide which contacts can approve contributions, edit the timeline, or request permanent deletion (unanimous vote required for deletion, always).
Deleting a memorial account
Memorial contacts with unanimous consent may request permanent deletion of the memorial account and all its content. Deletion follows the same 30-day timeline as a normal account deletion; see Deleting your Seldeo account.
The next-of-kin may also request deletion instead of memorialisation, if the family prefers that outcome. Use the same email address (memorials@seldeo.com) and specify "please delete, do not memorialise."
What memorial contacts cannot do
- Sign in as the deceased.
- Read the deceased's direct messages.
- Read the deceased's drafts or archived-only posts.
- Change the account's underlying sign-in methods.
- Add new authentication methods to the account.
The memorial contact role is a curation role, not an access role. This distinction is deliberate.