if anyone has nothing good to say about the dead then best to say nothing about them, there dead …

MJ died today … 'no comment' …

Although the thread is called RIP Michael Jackson not lets all say nice things about him only. People have mixed views and just want to express them. One way or another people are talking about the life and death of MJ. Some more positively than others. I honestly dont see a problem with it.

Just read an interesting article over at the Beeb.

It seems that neither Google nor Twitter could handle all the Jackson traffic! clicky

Hear, hear!

Just a point as well. Since I started posting on this thread everything I have seen has been healthy constructive debate and opinion sharing which should not be blocked. Oh, and despite the latter comment, as you can see I have been posting supportive comments.

The automatic script protection on Google just kicked in. You've got to understand why the software got suspicious when millions of searches for "Michael Jackson" happened in the space of minutes.

Peter.

Nicked that off a mate's facebook status.

I'm with Heather on this, he was a legend, but he's been MIA since the late '80s IMO.

That means they couldn't handle the traffic.

No, it was to stop automatic scripts. Nothing to do with Google not being able to handle the traffic.

Peter.

Check the news section.

I've seen a different take on that one.

With "Thriller" still holding the album sales record, I think it is only fitting to remember him, as an artist, for that achievement. I was never a fan, but it is quite a feat.

OH GOD LOL

4chan's /b/ has changed its name to Goodnight, Sweet Prince.

I don't care at all really. Kids all over the world can feel much safer now.

Obituaries cover all aspects of the deceased’s life. The BBC News channel, which seems to have become a rolling MJ obituary, are covering all aspects of his life - from his early years to his planned O2 concerts. They are documenting everything, the good and the bad.

• His early career - the round faced black kid who made it big with the Jackson 5

• His early adult career, and the rise to super stardom

• His growing oddness - Bubbles the chimp, sleeping in an oxygen tent etc..

• Accusations of child abuse and court cases

• Descent into debt

• His ever changing face, health declining

• Baby dangling antics

…and so on. There is content there which fans would no doubt take umbrage at. However, the man’s life is a tapestry of oddness, and to take only the good elements and focus on those would somehow fail to give us the complete picture of his life and what kind of person he was. And, yes, this moves from a documentation of his life to opinion and speculation about what the real Michael Jackson was really like.

I don‘t think it’s appropriate to censor one’s thoughts about a controversial character. In a forum such as this, we will all have varying opinions, and (I imagine) skills at expressing them.

This is an obituary thread. Let it be a discussion on Jackson’s life, works, controversies and such like. Let the good, bad and questionable continue. For those who wish eulogise him to the level of sainthood, may I suggest a Michael Jackson Eulogy thread instead? The Mods can happily stomp all over that.

I do wonder how long we'll wait to see various people come crawling out of the woodwork to pick over old stories and make some money.
Now he's gone, it would seem likely that all sorts of 'skeletons' might come out of various closets.

Great post Paul. I agree completely.

Was in a club when I heard, everyone was drinking to him, we were like "Erm, really?", didn't really believe it at first, but when the DJ's played a few of his songs in between the others, it kinda clicked, plus the 50+ texts from people saying he's died, plus the Googling I did.

But still, R.I.P MJ, it's weird to see that he's died.