I'm In Shock!

[CountValentine]

No one knows for certain what his intentions were. If the family feels it is a positive you should leave it at that.

[thaber]

I wrote most of this in response to OP's original post and never hit Post. I know its devorim peshutim, but since I wrote it already.....

My thoughts, mostly formulated after I was intimately involved in an incident several years ago where a news outlet violated the privacy of a grieving family moments after confirmation of death, before everyone was told, with a callous, "we have our poskim" answer:
1) The seforim talk about how people gravitate to fill an emotional void, and if its not filled with devarim shebekedusha it seeks out horror and other stimuli. Hence the attraction to horror movies, and car accidents.
2) People who profit off that, even if done k'das ukdin are no different than loan sharks with the right paperwork. Maybe muttar, but I'm glad I'm not in that line of business
3) We need to teach our kids tznius bechol inyanim, and ingrain deep within them a respect for other's privacy as well. And that is the only hope.
4) and surely, we should not be the ones forwarding or sharing other's texts or whatsapp's,  without express permission, as is explicit in halacha

my .02

[mevinyavin]

I kept quiet until now, but I see the oilom seems to be striving to express the shita of Chazal on these matters. Here's a few maareh mikomos to put this in perspective.
What do you think Chazal meant when they said, ומוצא דיבה הוא כסיל (See Pesachim 3b and 4a, based on Mishlei 10:18)? Or Avos 4:18:
רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן בֶּן אֶלְעָזָר אוֹמֵר, אַל תְּרַצֶּה אֶת חֲבֵרְךָ בִשְׁעַת כַּעֲסוֹ, וְאַל תְּנַחֲמֶנּוּ בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁמֵּתוֹ מֻטָּל לְפָנָיו, וְאַל תִּשְׁאַל לוֹ בִשְׁעַת נִדְרוֹ, וְאַל תִּשְׁתַּדֵּל לִרְאוֹתוֹ בִשְׁעַת קַלְקָלָתוֹ:

Basically, Chazal did not truly assur it - but they said it is bad middos. It is better not to do this stuff.
Peripherally: we understand that every tragedy that affects us, even from the outside in an agav way, is in some way our responsibility. (See Ohr Hachaim Devarim 1:37 where he explains why Moshe blamed Klal Yisrael for his not being allowed to go into EY. He is saying that someone else's onesh is your problem if you suffer from it.) Rav Elya Brudny told us this, emphasizing that Hashem is the Kol Yachol. He can make someone else suffer without affecting us. If we are affected, it is (also) our problem. So a cheshbon hanefesh on our part is also required.

Why would one want to cause pain to another by sharing bad news? Let someone else share it! There are enough fools (Shlomo Hamelech's words, not mine) out there.

[jj1000]

I kept quiet until now, but I see the oilom seems to be striving to express the shita of Chazal

I wasn't going to say anything, but being that you want Chazal's opinion I will speak.

Has to be one of the most conceited lines I have ever read on DDF.

(Nothing personal! It's fine in context, but reading that, struck me as a really funny way to start a post.)

[yelped]

I wasn't going to say anything, but being that you want Chazal's opinion I will speak.

Has to be one of the most conceited lines I have ever read on DDF.

(Nothing personal! It's fine in context, but reading that, struck me as a really funny way to start a post.)

Lol. Sometimes things like this are either conceited or exactly opposite. It really depends on who's saying it.

[yesitsme]

JCN is not the scammers, their clients are the scammers. Although the fact that they aren't bothered by it says a lot about them.

they may not be scammers but they are definitely spammers i wish they would have a ddos attack every day of the week

[free123cc]

A roommate of mine in yeshiva found out that his nephew was ran over by a car and killed from YWN!! I don’t know exact details as this was before I knew him but that is what he told me. I don’t know if YWN said the name or just said -“child ran over in so&so town”…happen to be a really really small town…at the same time he got like a whole bunch of missed calls from family so it was a pretty simple connection…..and all this was 13 yrs ago, so I’m sure now it’s 10x crazier w WhatsApp…..


When he told me the story he did say that his mother did send a serious letter to ywn to complain but does that really help?

[mevinyavin]

...struck me as a really funny way to start a post.)

I strive to entertain always.

Lol. Sometimes things like this are either conceited or exactly opposite. It really depends on who's saying it.

I don't feel very conceited... Does that help your deliberation on the matter?

What I meant to say, in case it wasn't clear: I saw a lot of talking about feelings and vague declaiming that this kind of thing is not right. I had nothing to add to this, so I didn't. Then I saw one post that brought in Chazal, but not the basic Chazal on the subject, so I wanted to point out how far back this concept goes in Chazal. I'm sorry about how it sounded... 

[JMHO]

his mother did send a serious letter to ywn to complain but does that really help?

LOL
The only way to change this is to call their advertisers and inform them that you are boycotting them since they advertise on these sites. #votewithyourwallet

[yoohoo]

DDF, what do you think? Make a post update with the screenshots and Chaikel's explanation from the family and his rov or just leave it as written?

I don’t think it needs to be shared but I think it should be known that it was first sent to his wife as chaikel says.

[Yehudaa]

DDF, what do you think? Make a post update with the screenshots and Chaikel's explanation from the family and his rov or just leave it as written?

Leave it as written, IMHO. The fact that the family views the screenshots as a ‘net positive’ post facto doesn’t necessarily mean that they’d choose to do it again. They might simply know that looking for the good in what happened will help them heal, and that being resentful of what people did won’t help.

While it’s positively admirable that they’re not resentful, I don’t think the screenshots should be further disseminated unless the family explicitly requests it.