I stumbled across this on a blog tonight and something about it just seems odd. I ran it through google and can't find The Library of Life mentioned anywhere except their site. Maybe it is new and I am just being suspicious, so I thought I would post it here and see if anyone knows anything about them. It's that Urgent request thingy that always gets me to wondering.....
Urgent request for help from Library of Life and The IFRC
Dear Sir/Madam,
I have been deeply touched by your blog’s coverage of the recent tragedy in Asia. The way ‘Tsunami Help India’ has helped to make the outside world aware of the plight of the affected people, is highly commendable.
I am contacting you with a request for your kind help from the Library of Life; a website (http://www.libraryoflife.org) whose aim is to compile the life stories of millions of people around the world, thereby creating the world’s first universal record of life that lasts forever. The website raises funds for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and in this time of need they have asked us to create a living memorial to all the victims of this tragedy. This will be done through photographs, text, film, sound and scanned documents on the site.
The Library of Life, in association with the IFRC, is inviting all those whose lives have been affected by the tragedy to create a free memorial to commemorate their loved ones, or post their own experiences as a record for all future generations. We have also set up an online ‘Tsunami Book of Condolence’, which we are inviting the public to sign and express their feelings on this terrible disaster.
In order for this great humanitarian project to be successful it is essential that we have as much information and reach as many people as possible. We therefore, kindly request that you give us your assistance by contributing to the Library of Life through posting your experiences and opinions directly on our site, or allowing us to put some information from your site on our own. Furthermore, if you would be prepared to put a message on your blog about us and a link from your blog to our website, that would be wonderful. In return we will happily give you a reciprocated link from our own site to yours, as well as a complementary membership.
Please have a look at our site and contact me at
and let me know your thoughts. I look forward to hearing from you.
The difference is that although Library of Life says that it's currently free, it seems to imply that in the future they're going to start charging money. So you could post a 'life story' now, and then in a year get a message telling you that if you don't pay up your tribute to your great uncle (or whomever) will be deleted.
It's also disingenuous of them to describe their website as "the world‰Ûªs first universal record of life that lasts forever". The internet is about as transient and ephemeral a medium as has ever been created. I'd be willing to bet that in a few years the 'Library of Life' isn't even on the web any longer.
At least the Virtual Memorial Garden doesn't seem to want to charge for the memorials. It also looks like they have been around for awhile. Of course this too could disappear, but at least the web mistress admits could happen.
I didn't like the Library of Life saying that right now it is free, but later on they would start charging. They get you in the door then like you said Alex, poof goes your memorial because you didn't pay up. Bad way to do things IMHO. Thanks for you thoughts Alex.
Reminds me of the Ray Bradbury story where the people living in a mexican village had to pay a regular fee to keep their relatives buried, or they'd be dug up and put on display.
And I couldn't help but add my own name to the Virtual Memorial Garden. I'm just so sacrilegious.
I am writing to respond to the comments published on your website by some of your members about Library of Life. Contrary to what has been speculated by your members, Library of Life is not a hoax website. We take our commitment to recording people‰Ûªs personal life stories online very seriously and pride ourselves on our honesty and reliability.
We raise funds for The International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) on an ongoing basis. As is stated on our website, it is currently free to open a record, but we are encouraging donations directly to the IFRC via a link to their own website.
The Library of Life offers a free service to all members (100 words of text and one photo). These records will remain free in perpetuity. In addition, Library of Life offers an extended service for a one time fee of $30 ($5 of which is donated directly to the IFRC).
Currently, we are not charging for any service. In the future we will commence charging, but this will only apply to new members of the full service. Furthermore, I can categorically state that we will not remove records created now or in the future; nor will we start charging for these records.
Moreover, we do not pass on or sell personal information to 3rd parties nor allow advertising, which is all in accordance with our Privacy Policy (which can be found on our website). Thus, we believe we are an organisation that has structured and abides by a strict moral and ethical code.
If you wish to know anything further about Library of Life please do not hesitate to contact me at
I appreciate your concern for hoax sites and believe you do a wonderful job. However, I hope that this information has alleviated your concerns about the genuineness of our website. We would therefore request that you please remove your previous posts about Library of Life entirely.
Henry, thanks for your response and for offering the information about your organization.
However, I'm not willing to delete the previous posts on this thread. I delete comments for only three reasons: 1) if they're spam; 2) if they're highly offensive (promoting hate, violence, etc.); 3) if they're wildly off-topic and don't contain any interesting thought or information (I'm thinking mostly about those people whose 'comments' consist solely of random strings of characters).
The above comments don't qualify on any of those counts. Plus, I don't see how open, public discussion can ever be considered a threat to something that's legitimate.
Henry Hardy emailed me this London Times article about the Library of Life, part of which I'm posting below (he emailed me a scan of the article, but I found an electronic version of it... but I won't post the whole thing so that I don't get in trouble with the copyright police):
The Times (London)
November 15, 2004, Monday
HEADLINE: Click for your place in history
BYLINE: Ruth Gledhill
A website will be a record of humanity in the electronic age and raise Pounds 50,000 a year for charity, reports Ruth Gledhill
PEOPLE around the world will be able to leave a mark on history with the launch of a not-for-profit website designed to ensure the survival of a record of humanity in the electronic age.
Immortality will be guaranteed on the Library of Life website, which will also raise funds for the 181 Red Cross and Red Crescent societies. In an age when e-mails and text- messaging have taken over from letter-writing, the project aims to create a permanent record for future historians and biographers on the website http://www.libraryoflife.org.
The project has the backing of Prince Michael of Kent, as well as the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
The venture is the brainchild of Stephen Forsyth, an entrepreneur who wanted a way to preserve the memory of his late brother, James.
The aim is to record the names and biographical details of as many people as possible. Those who wish to keep their details private will be able to do so, but others can post a full biography.
To Henry,
I think leaving this thread of discussion here is important. Should someone else question the Library of Life they might find themselves doing a search to find information like I did. When they search they will find this thread here and it may answer the questions they have. Thanks again for stopping in and sending Alex more info.
Hairy Houdini Member
Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2005 | 03:00 PM
My gosh- I'm glad that Alex will remove any wildly off-topic posts. That's the right thing to do. The whole thing reminds me of that old Brad Raybury story about the big tongue that gave birth to all those baby tongues, who the turned and ate the big tongue. WAIT- that's not off-topic. It... ummmm... illustrates the relation that lingual expression has to lesser tangental offshoots, microcosmically representing a Universal Forum that exponentially self-perpetuates, devouring the original thread. Howzabout those Steelers?
Forum Rule #4 (specially for Hairy): Any discussion of Ray Bradbury is always considered 'on topic'.
Hairy Houdini Member
Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2005 | 10:24 AM
I'm sorry. I made an Asimov of myself.
Timothy Plank
in London
Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2005 | 03:43 PM
This posts starts with an attack of what is a very ethical web site with strong humanitarian goals.
While leaving food for thought around for others to see might not seem harmful to the editor of a small forum, I would suggest that when the description "Hoax Forum: Library of Life" is returned on a Google search, it becomes damaging to the brand as people have neither the time or inclination to read this entire post.
Nobody had the right to make accusatory remarks without any justification or reason for doing so and while freedom of speech is perfectly okay, damaging a brand without reason or apology will lead to legal action.
Nobody in this thread flat out stated that this was fraud or a hoax. They wondered if it might be not entirely truthful, which I am stating right now is a fact. It is not entirely truthful. How can they claim that the records will last forever? They can't, in reality.
So sue me.
Oh, and to "damage the brand" would require that because of something said, the "brand" lost money.
Did it not say that the site was free?
Hairy Houdini
Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2005 | 04:08 PM
Did you know that instead of Rain-X, you can waterproof your windshield by placing a McDonald's hamburger patty, sans fromage, under each windshiled wiper? The tallow acts like wax, and beads water... Forever.
You becasue you disparaged their "burgers", and then me cause I called them Rotten Ron's again. And then I just bad-mouthed their "burgers" by putting quotes around the word.
Crap, ther I go again!
Damn, the lawsuits are adding up.
Hairy Houdini
Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2005 | 05:20 PM
I do not concur, Professor Roderickericker... Allow me to elucidate (close your eyes): I merely pointed out the scientific fact that the dead cow grease from a McDonalds hamburger patty will permanently permeate glass surfaces. No disparagement there... White Castle patties are best for ceramic or leather surfaces, in case you wondered
