Board Thread:Policies/@comment-1895174-20130128004155/@comment-100066-20130129181040

LW: And this is how the massive discussions begin. There are solid arguments on all sides as to how to categorize the living and the dead. A status of "Unknown" for all 'dead' characters seems a little odd, but we know that people come back from the dead all the time. But if we call them "Deceased", then we are back into the "appearance of death" discussions.

Since "are you alive or dead" is one of the more fluid categories in comics, it is very hard to pin down a consistent policy.

Good conversation at this link.