Before Closing a Digital Memorial Account: Offboarding Checklist

Direct answer and scope

Start by selecting the memorial content and versions that have continuing value. Record whether each item is a master, approved, display, export, or documentation version when those labels are relevant to the material. Use descriptive file names and an organized folder structure, and document that structure so the collection can be understood without relying only on the live account.

Next, ask the service what an export contains and which descriptive details accompany it, such as a site name or creation date. Do not assume that an export is offered, that every item or function would be included, or that saving a visible screen captures the hosted memorial. The export-contents question stays open until current service documentation or a completed, inspectable export supplies an answer.

Record independent-copy status separately from live-account status. Note whether copies exist in different places and whether each claimed copy has actually been checked. A copy that has not been located or opened should not be counted as confirmed. Also list any unresolved reliance on the account, destination, domain, redirect, host, or other live component rather than combining those elements into a single continuity conclusion.

How to use the official evidence

The Library of Congress personal-archiving guidance supports a content-focused process: identify important material, export selected information, retain useful descriptive information, organize the files, keep copies in different places, and check them periodically for readability. Apply those recommendations as separate review steps. They do not establish what a particular memorial service provides or whether any specific export will preserve hosted behavior.

The Federal Trade Commission business guide addresses responsibilities for organizations handling personal information. Its headings can be converted into questions for a service: what information is held, why each requested category is needed, how retained information is protected, when it is disposed of, and how incidents are planned for. The guidance does not supply the answers for a particular account and should not be treated as a certification of any service.

The same business guidance recommends examining where sensitive information is stored, how it moves, who receives it, and which outside service providers participate. Relevant offboarding questions can therefore cover hosting, support, processors, export, backup, and disposal. Because no validated service manifest is attached, do not fill in architecture, provider, location, access, transfer, or protection details from assumption.

Decision framework

Use four records for the content exit. First, list the selected material and its version status. Second, write the exact export-contents questions that remain unanswered. Third, record independently held copies without counting an unverified copy. Fourth, record the latest readability review for each confirmed copy. Keep file organization notes with the collection rather than relying on memory or the organization visible inside the hosted service.

Use a separate record for information-handling questions. Ask what categories are retained, why each category is needed, what the written retention and disposal terms say, who receives information, and whether hosting, support, export, backup, or disposal involves outside service providers. Ask where current explanations of safeguards and incident procedures can be found. Leave every service-specific response unknown until current primary evidence is validated.

Finally, inventory live dependencies one by one. An image that can be scanned, its destination, control of a domain or account, redirect control, a human-readable fallback, an export, independent copies, periodic tests, and a continuity handoff are distinct evidence states. Record only what the available evidence directly supports. Do not turn the presence of one component into a conclusion about the others.

Review the records together before making an account decision, but do not collapse them into a score or a single ready status. Selected content, export scope, independent copies, readability evidence, retention and disposal answers, and live dependencies require different documents or checks. An unanswered field remains an unresolved question.

Limits and what to verify next

No validated service, account-control, export, file-format, backup, restore, privacy, retention, deletion, processor, incident, hosting, or continuity information is supplied. Verify service-specific answers through current primary documentation associated with the relevant service and account. If a response is absent, ambiguous, or unsupported, record it as unknown rather than completing the field with an inference.

For the content itself, verify which versions were selected, whether the expected items and descriptive information appear in any completed export, where independent copies are held, and when each copy was last opened successfully. A readability check records a check at a particular time; it does not establish future readability, recovery, or continued operation of linked material.

For information-handling questions, request the written terms or explanations that address collection purpose, retention, disposal, participating service providers, safeguards, and incident planning. Keep these categories separate because a general policy statement does not answer every operational question. The federal business guide supplies question categories, not a California-specific determination or an assessment of a particular service.

Questions people ask

The questions below distinguish content selection, export scope, independently held copies, readability checks, information-handling terms, and remaining live dependencies. Each answer is limited to the supplied preservation guidance, federal business guidance, and validated checklist method. Service-specific values remain unknown unless supported by separately validated primary evidence.

Evidence behind this page

Each point below is restricted to what the cited primary source supports. Administrative listing status is not a quality endorsement.