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Politics In memory of Nasser Kashani





(yes this is long, but it there's a point to it)



Fark Crayon Monkey Joe Peacock wrote an



It is a little disconcerting though, because looking at Facebook pages of the departed is a lot like seeing a ghost. It's an imprint of who they were in life. And it's impossible not to be slightly weirded out when the dearly departed's account and starts accepting friend requests, for example. Genevieve was just now telling me Nasser's still logged into Google Chat. And I think I read somewhere he's got an unfinished Scrabble game still going. Or to put it in more personal terms, what Doug Graham said on FB after being added by Nasser earlier today "OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! The man's gone...yet he added me as a friend THE DAY AFTER HE PASSED AWAY!!" That pretty much sums it up.



Some people express surprise at how the death of someone they knew mainly from the Internet could possibly impact them so much. In a way though, the waves we leave behind as we wander around in digital space are even more permanent than those we leave in real life. For one thing, they're recorded forever, locked in a moment of time that can be retrieved and relived over and over by those who choose to look back. Memories fade, digital footprints do not. If you ever had a hilarious conversation with Nasser in a thread, hit the Fark archives - it's still there, exactly as it occurred the first time around.



After running Fark for the past 12 years and being involved in Internet communities of one sort or another for almost 20 years, feeling grief over the death of an Internet friend doesn't surprise me anymore. It hits just as hard when an Internet friend passes on, possibly even worse. Because unlike real life where you think you see the person's ghost everywhere for the following week or so, you actually do see their digital ghost almost everywhere you go online. I'm not sure if this makes the grieving process harder or easier, since I can't tell I'm going to just choose easier and go with it.



I'm really going to miss Nasser, more than I would have thought possible. The man wasn't a saint by most measures, and we definitely had our disagreements and run-ins. The first time I met him I thought "this man is seriously an enormous douchebag". He must have been in or just out of college when we first met, and I think pretty much all of us are giant douchebags in our early 20s (I know I was). But every time after that, he was easier and easier to get along with. Some people stay enormous douchebags their entire lives, Nasser was not one of those people. He grew.



He and I shared a major weakness: just like me, he had a penchant for going on the Internet drunk and raising all kinds of hell. But at the end of the day one thing was consistent: he meant well. He was flawed, as are all of us, but he knew it and he constantly endeavored to become a better person.



During the last round of moderator picks I joked that Nasser was next on the list, but I honestly even at the time was starting to see a glimmer of a possibility that maybe it might actually happen someday. Not saying it would have, but the Chicago Fark Party in April that he put together was a huge indication not only of how much he'd grown as an individual since first coming to Fark, but that he was capable of taking on a large task and pulling it off in spectacular fashion. The Nasser who passed away yesterday was very different from the Nasser I first met almost 10 years ago



And he did make moderator, as of yesterday. I so very much wish it could have happened under better circumstances. Although no doubt it would have been followed by a week of people becoming "Internet outraged", leaving Fark forever, getting over it, and coming back the following week (as the pattern seems to go). It goes without saying that I would gladly withstand years of Internet outrage to get Nasser back.



And speaking of the Chicago Fark Party this past April, it had the highest attendence of any party ever. Nasser was so worried that it was going to be a failure. We had dinner just before the party and he was so nervous he could hardly eat or talk. But it was such a huge success. Anytime there is a party where people who weren't there wish they could have been there, that my friends is an epic event. And it was all due to him and that fact that he worked so hard on the small details that when the time came, everything just clicked.



Since that party in April, Nasser and I had been emailing back and forth about trying to set up a possible larger version of the Chicago party in Vegas, a World Fark Party. A number of folks have suggested we do it in his honor on or around April 1st next year, which was his birthday. I've been involved in trying to run a convention-level event before, and I know how hard it is - way too hard for me to contemplate doing by myself. If anyone out there either is or knows of a good event coordinator could you drop me an email? We'll start talking about logistics and see what can be done there. Email, don't post in the thread, just in case I miss it.



It is such a kick in the gut every time I realize that Nasser won't be there, though.



It is said that whenever someone dies, we should try to celebrate their life instead of being sad. I agree with that sentiment but it sure takes a lot of effort to get into that mindset. Anyhow I try to push myself into happy whenever possible, so on that note, let's shake ourselves out of this haze of sadness for just a bit. To anyone who has one, could please post your funniest Nassar story? Because there have to be thousands of them. Anyone who loved alcohol and the ladies as much as Nasser was bound to rack up a huge number of "this one time I was so drunk" stories. If any witnesses would like to come forward and share their funniest memories of Nasser, by all means please post them in the thread here. I know a bunch have been posted in the other thread, so feel free to pick your favorites from there and repost them here.



I don't have any specific stories, just random memories. Like a few years back when I was so blotto at a Fark party I could barely stand up and he came around with tequila shots for me, which was the last thing I needed that night (and not coincidentally the last thing I remember). And I remember him parading around at the Chicago Fark Party with his life size replica of a wrestling championship belt he'd bought at a recent event for reasons even he couldn't explain (alcohol was a factor). "Dumbest $250 I ever spent in my life," he told me. "I doubt that," I said.



No doubt many of you can do better than that, so bring it. Post away (yes this is long, but it there's a point to it)Fark Crayon Monkey Joe Peacock wrote an article on his blog last year about how disconcerting it is to find out someone died on Facebook, but to me it seems like a reasonable enough way to discover it. If you think about it, it's not like there's really a better way to let everyone know. No one but you knows who all your friends are exactly, after all.It is a little disconcerting though, because looking at Facebook pages of the departed is a lot like seeing a ghost. It's an imprint of who they were in life. And it's impossible not to be slightly weirded out when the dearly departed's account and starts accepting friend requests, for example. Genevieve was just now telling me Nasser's still logged into Google Chat. And I think I read somewhere he's got an unfinished Scrabble game still going. Or to put it in more personal terms, what Doug Graham said on FB after being added by Nasser earlier today "OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! The man's gone...yet he added me as a friend THE DAY AFTER HE PASSED AWAY!!" That pretty much sums it up.Some people express surprise at how the death of someone they knew mainly from the Internet could possibly impact them so much. In a way though, the waves we leave behind as we wander around in digital space are even more permanent than those we leave in real life. For one thing, they're recorded forever, locked in a moment of time that can be retrieved and relived over and over by those who choose to look back. Memories fade, digital footprints do not. If you ever had a hilarious conversation with Nasser in a thread, hit the Fark archives - it's still there, exactly as it occurred the first time around.After running Fark for the past 12 years and being involved in Internet communities of one sort or another for almost 20 years, feeling grief over the death of an Internet friend doesn't surprise me anymore. It hits just as hard when an Internet friend passes on, possibly even worse. Because unlike real life where you think you see the person's ghost everywhere for the following week or so, you actually do see their digital ghost almost everywhere you go online. I'm not sure if this makes the grieving process harder or easier, since I can't tell I'm going to just choose easier and go with it.I'm really going to miss Nasser, more than I would have thought possible. The man wasn't a saint by most measures, and we definitely had our disagreements and run-ins. The first time I met him I thought "this man is seriously an enormous douchebag". He must have been in or just out of college when we first met, and I think pretty much all of us are giant douchebags in our early 20s (I know I was). But every time after that, he was easier and easier to get along with. Some people stay enormous douchebags their entire lives, Nasser was not one of those people. He grew.He and I shared a major weakness: just like me, he had a penchant for going on the Internet drunk and raising all kinds of hell. But at the end of the day one thing was consistent: he meant well. He was flawed, as are all of us, but he knew it and he constantly endeavored to become a better person.During the last round of moderator picks I joked that Nasser was next on the list, but I honestly even at the time was starting to see a glimmer of a possibility that maybe it might actually happen someday. Not saying it would have, but the Chicago Fark Party in April that he put together was a huge indication not only of how much he'd grown as an individual since first coming to Fark, but that he was capable of taking on a large task and pulling it off in spectacular fashion. The Nasser who passed away yesterday was very different from the Nasser I first met almost 10 years agoAnd he did make moderator, as of yesterday. I so very much wish it could have happened under better circumstances. Although no doubt it would have been followed by a week of people becoming "Internet outraged", leaving Fark forever, getting over it, and coming back the following week (as the pattern seems to go). It goes without saying that I would gladly withstand years of Internet outrage to get Nasser back.And speaking of the Chicago Fark Party this past April, it had the highest attendence of any party ever. Nasser was so worried that it was going to be a failure. We had dinner just before the party and he was so nervous he could hardly eat or talk. But it was such a huge success. Anytime there is a party where people who weren't there wish they could have been there, that my friends is an epic event. And it was all due to him and that fact that he worked so hard on the small details that when the time came, everything just clicked.Since that party in April, Nasser and I had been emailing back and forth about trying to set up a possible larger version of the Chicago party in Vegas, a World Fark Party. A number of folks have suggested we do it in his honor on or around April 1st next year, which was his birthday. I've been involved in trying to run a convention-level event before, and I know how hard it is - way too hard for me to contemplate doing by myself. If anyone out there either is or knows of a good event coordinator could you drop me an email? We'll start talking about logistics and see what can be done there. Email, don't post in the thread, just in case I miss it.It is such a kick in the gut every time I realize that Nasser won't be there, though.It is said that whenever someone dies, we should try to celebrate their life instead of being sad. I agree with that sentiment but it sure takes a lot of effort to get into that mindset. Anyhow I try to push myself into happy whenever possible, so on that note, let's shake ourselves out of this haze of sadness for just a bit. To anyone who has one, could please post your funniest Nassar story? Because there have to be thousands of them. Anyone who loved alcohol and the ladies as much as Nasser was bound to rack up a huge number of "this one time I was so drunk" stories. If any witnesses would like to come forward and share their funniest memories of Nasser, by all means please post them in the thread here. I know a bunch have been posted in the other thread, so feel free to pick your favorites from there and repost them here.I don't have any specific stories, just random memories. Like a few years back when I was so blotto at a Fark party I could barely stand up and he came around with tequila shots for me, which was the last thing I needed that night (and not coincidentally the last thing I remember). And I remember him parading around at the Chicago Fark Party with his life size replica of a wrestling championship belt he'd bought at a recent event for reasons even he couldn't explain (alcohol was a factor). "Dumbest $250 I ever spent in my life," he told me. "I doubt that," I said.No doubt many of you can do better than that, so bring it. Post away · · ·

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