How do we judge whether a Sci-fi/Fantasy figure is important enough to get an "In Memoriam" meta post?

Question

At the time of this post's creation, the leading answer for the meta discussion Should meta posts regarding the deaths of figures that are important to SFF:SE be on topic? is that these should be allowed (18 votes vs. 9 for the opposite view). That answer was based on the high number of upvotes—and relatively low proportion of downvotes—for recent such posts. But how do we judge whether someone is an important figure to science fiction and fantasy deserving of a meta post? For this discussion, let's just focus on celebrities and not users on this site (that would be better as a separate meta discussion).

I think that we ought to figure this out long before someone tries to create a meta topic for someone who is "not an important figure", given that an In Memoriam post is not a great place to have an internet argument or downvote the thing to oblivion (that would make the community seem insensitive to their death).

To give a few concrete examples:

• Leonard Nimoy was given a meta post, with the question and every answer focusing on his role of Spock on Star Trek. Will we give similar meta posts (hopefully many years from now) to his surviving costars William Shatner, George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, and Walter Koenig too? Could we have made a meta post for other sci-fi/fantasy actors who have recently passed away like Ron Glass, Richard Lynch, Anne Francis, or Gareth Thomas? Will Reb Brown someday get one too?
• Terry Pratchett's meta post focused on him writing Discworld. Could we have made a meta post for other sci-fi/fantasy writers who recently passed away like Ray Bradbury, Tanith Lee, Harry Harrison, George Clayton Johnson, or Sara Douglass? Will Stephenie Meyer someday get one too?

If any of these answers are no, then why is that? What sort of litmus test could we develop to determine if someone is an important enough figure to get a recent death meta post?

Answer 1

On a case-by-case basis

Ultimately, there is no exact test we can use to determine if an figure deserves to be commemorated, any more than we can judge whether any other class of announcement (such as a convention) is relevant to the community. We have to use our best judgment with respect to notability and relevance, and only post memorial notices for figures whom we genuinely believe to be important to the community.

That said, I think there are some general guidelines that we should keep in mind, which generally center on the the relevance of a post to the community.

• Will a majority or significant minority of users be familiar with the figure?

  A meta post should be relevant to the community, and this applies even to posts that are announcements, not questions. Most people on this site, though they might not know who Carrie Fisher is, are at least aware of her most famous role (Leia Organa, i.e. Princess Leia). Similarly, while not everyone here will have heard the name “Leonard Nimoy,” at least an appreciable minority are familiar with Mr. Spock. Even Terry Pratchett is a fairly familiar name.

  What we don’t want is every person who acted in a science fiction or fantasy production, or wrote a science fiction or fantasy book, to receive a memorial post. There’s a place for memorial posts for famous figures, but we don’t want to turn into the obituary section. Before writing a post, we should ask ourselves, “How many other people will this matter to?”

  This guideline is self-reinforcing, to some extent: a post about George Clayton Johnson or Ron Glass will simply not get as many upvotes as one about Carrie Fisher. A post about truly obscure individuals might even attract net downvotes. We know your third cousin twice removed wrote a really nice Twilight fanfic, but they’re still not getting a memorial post.

• Is this person’s work relevant to the site?

  Carrie Fisher is a major figure in star-wars, which has over 3900 questions. But she also is the originator of the role of princess-leia, which has 18 all by itself. There are over 3000 questions about star-trek, of which spock has 38 just by himself. And discworld has 45 and terry-pratchett has 40. Christopher Lee plays major roles in both star-wars and lotr In other words, these people are central to major tags on the site.

  By contrast, consider the proposed memorial notices. Ron Glass plays a major role in firefly (87 questions, plus probably more for serenity, so his work is definitely relevant). On the other hand, Reb Brown’s Captain America film has very few questions. Anne Francis is best-known for Forbidden Planet, which has only 3 questions here. If someone has no (or very few) questions on the main site, we should think twice before writing a memorial. This also takes into account the relevance of the person to the work. Ron Glass is relevant to Firefly. Your third cousin twice removed who played a nameless Reaver in Serenity? Not so much.

Answer 2

What sort of litmus test could we develop to determine if someone is an important enough figure to get a recent death meta post?

I think we have a good and working litmus test already, namely that such a post can only happen if some user is willing to go through the effort to create such a post.

Should the person in question be not relevant to this community, this can be decided by close votes on a per-case basis. Whether the posts makes it to the sidebar on the main site can be decided by the existing system for hot meta posts (namely that it has to reach a score of 3).

Sure, it may be possible that somebody overdoes it, but so far this has not happened. If it does, we can always re-discuss this. Right now, this (over-zealous obituarists) does not seem to be a problem that needs to be addressed.

Answer 3

I would not support actors, bearing in mind Noel "The Master" Coward's remark that they "... were the opposite of real people". However I would advocate for Iain M Banks in the illustrious list.