In this instance, the man's name had already been splashed all over the press, so posting the Airman's database screen grab was nothing more than immature grandstanding.
If the man's address hadn't been redacted, that would have shown up on the screen grab. Reporters going to the home of air crash victims after learning their personal information on aviation forums has already happened, and in some cases before the family was notified.
The poster received some sort of titillation by being the first one to reveal the dead man's personal information. That's juvenile and disgusting. The media knows they can get more detailed information about airplane crashes on forums like POA, Beechtalk, PPrune, etc. I think it's highly improper that forum members post this information. The media ghouls troll the forums so they can be first to press with the decedant's private details.
Like most of us here, you have experienced the death of close friends in an airplane crash. Did you forget the stinging pain? Do you not recall the grief of the spouse, the young children blinking back tears as the preacher drones on?
Don't you remember the anger you felt when you read the newspaper article that got all of the facts wrong and maligned your friend? Of course it's obvious the information will make its way into websites and in print soon enough. Why should POA be the vehicle for that?
I have enough respect for the dead and their families to consider assisting the vultures a gross invasion of privacy. Let them find out somewhere else.
