The logic that people feel the OP should explain who the dead person is strikes me as bizarre. Not EVERY thread needs to be opened.
I find it hard to believe anyone knows the names of absolutely everyone involved in their life, the name of everyone involved in every film, tv show, song, football club, etc. that has had an impact on their life and have the instant recall at the moment their name appears in a thread title. And equally hard to believe that the moment they see a forgotten name they would have a little thing in your mind go off saying 'I know that name from somewhere, I should google it' (I'm sure for some of the names it would, but not all of them).
When I see an RIP thread and I don't recognise the name I look at it see if there's some indication of who they are in case it is one of those people for me - someone from my life whose name is not instantly remembered or someone who never sought fame or attention but was a key figure in something I loved.
If not I usually move on and ignore it. But that can result in someone not getting respect they deserve because someone didn't add a line or two saying who they were (and admittedly because I didn't recognise their name enough to think I should google it).
You appear to have edited while I was replying
My comment was about the bizarre view that the OP of a RIP thread is doing it for some sort of kick
And I apologise if I upset you. On message boards there are commonly people who want to start a thread first, people who have performative moral outrage or performative mourning. You can look at some of the music threads for how people are accused of trying to be snobbish. These aren't unusual accusations on message boards. On reflection, though, it was probably unnecessary to have used such inflammatory suggestions. While I am sure there is some of this involved, I am also sure it is rare enough to not be needed to used in such a way.
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