For many years, those in mourning reported that tapping on their typewriters gave them tremendous release. The advent of the personal computer took this one step further. In the privacy of their homes, survivors can now pound on their keyboards and find social support at the same time. Over the past six years, the World Wide Web has experienced a groundswell of domains designed by and for the bereaved. Tom Golden, for instance, constructed a site called Crisis, Grief, and Healing (www.webhealing.com) in honor of his father. It currently receives about 500,000 hits each month from people around the globe.
Survivors can create online memorials for their loved ones at sites such as Link for Lights (www.1000deaths.com). Angel Babies, A Place to Remember, and GriefNet also provide free online memorials, chat rooms, e-mail support, directories, and other services.
The field of bereavement, however, is like any other: among these dedicated and remarkable people are some who are less than honorable. Beware of expensive online services. Listed in our resources section are some of the free or minimally priced (at the time of this writing) Internet domains that provide the same quality service as those that charge exorbitant fees.