Just In Case I Die (.com)

Hello

Justincaseidie.com was a website I ran for a couple of years between 2008 and 2010, and was one of a series of sites I built and launched back then as personal challenges to see what I knock out when time was tight - this site took 8hrs in total from initial idea to launch, and many others were completed during train journeys or even the odd lunch break.

The site enabled you to set up a message and a recipient, who would only recieve that message after a time you specified had passed. If you logged back in before that time, the message got deleted and your intended recipient would be none the wiser.

It included really simple creation and login mechanisms, using unique URLs and email rather than requiring you to create an actual account. This is is not such a big thing these days, but back in 2008, having to create accounts for everything, especially on the emerging mobile platforms, was a real pain in the arse.

I really liked this site. The name might seem a bit morbid, but the intention that drove the development was actually sound - I envisaged it as a way for you to leave messages for people when you headed out on a first date, or were going for a walk up a mountain on your own. Basically, "it's probably going to be OK (or I would not be doing it in the first place), but on the off-chance that something does go south, here's where I am and how you can get in touch with me. That you have received this message means I didn't get back when I thought I would, so you should be worried now".

This site had quite a lot of (fleeting) success - after being featured on coolsiteoftheday.com, it was picked up by Scott Mills on his BBC Radio One show, and from there it spread across the world. I did radio and print interviews for radio stations in North and South America, Spain and across the UK.

It was very much a side project, released at the same time as starting a new job, and following the initial launch I had a lot of plans and no time to do anything with them. The site peaked at about 50,000 visitors and tailed off within a few months as I couldn't give it the time it needed for marketing and updates.

It eventually died off when I was forced to move hosting providers at short notice and couldn't find the time to migrate everything properly. I regret letting this particular site shut down, but it happened and I can't change that.

It has long been my intention to re-launch it, with all the features it was lacking last time (which is 'most of them'). It is high on 2020's list of things to do.