It kind of freaked me out a bit,” she said. “It was like he was coming back from the dead.

That's a bit hyperbolic for sentence four, don'tcha think NYT?

Seriously though, detecting an actual "dead" user, vs an inactive user is definitely a difficult thing to model well. "Facebook says it has been grappling with how to handle the ghosts in its machine", wait for it... wait for it... " but acknowledges that it has not found a good solution."

I wouldn't look for a fix soon, even with the NYT's totally click-friendly title, "As Facebook Users Die, Ghosts Reach Out."

As recently as a few months ago, Facebook suggested my ex-wife in the "People you might know" widget.

People I might know?! Is that some sick digital karmic joke?

Even with all the data Facebook needed -- It went something like friends, in a relationship with, engaged to, married, it's complicated, single, unfriend -- the system still totally failed to spot the hint.

The Times opines, "These are issues that Facebook no doubt wishes it could avoid entirely. But death, of course, is unavoidable, and so Facebook must find a way to integrate it into the social experience online."

As my boss is fond of saying, "If you're complaining about something without a solution, you're just bitching."

So NYT, what's your master plan for tying Facebook directly into the grid? That could make them not only omniscient, but by extension totally infallible! Of course, then you'd be stuck looking for sensational Sunday headlines -- so maybe that's not the best solution.

If you really must make sure Zuck knows you've kicked the bucket, Facebook provides a handy form.

Zuck already knows more about my family than any stranger on earth -- save maybe for The Goog. 

At the risk of sounding like a troglodyte, I would much prefer mis-guided widgets encouraging me to reach out and touch someone who died ( or even someone who is just 'dead to me' ) over the alternatives. I'll keep the lousy suggestion engine, thank you very much.

It's those visible cracks in the surface which reassure me we're not already head-deep in a world where the social web not only has the data to know when major personal events happen, but the 'awareness' to use that data to tailor my experience.