Technology is playing its part during the mourning period for Barrie’s first murder victim of 2007.

The popular teenage website known as facebook.com has been inundated with messages to and from Joey Tanner’s relatives, friends and neighbours – in his native Hamilton, in Barrie and beyond – paying tribute to a kid who didn’t deserve his fate.

The 16-year-old Tanner was involved in an altercation late Saturday morning outside an apartment building on Strabane Street in Barrie’s east end, in which he and an 18-year-old Alliston youth sustained serious stab wounds.

Tanner died of his wounds that afternoon; the other victim remains in Royal Victoria Hospital and is expected to make a complete recovery.

Two men, ages 19 and 20, arrested on Toronto Street that evening, are to appear in Barrie court this Friday, charged with second-degree murder and attempted murder

To join the discussion is simple: all it takes is your e-mail address and a six-plus-digit password. You then key in to join two discussion groups.

 “RIP Joey Tanner” and “Respect for Joey Tanner” have attracted expressions of emotion running the full gamut – joy at memory of Joey, to sadness at his early death, to outrage and even thoughts of revenge.

Many of these messages, from high-school-age kids, are written in the language of the street and cannot be reproduced here. Some suffer from bad grammar and misspelling, but the feelings are raw.

A common thread is that Joey was a good kid who would never have gotten mixed up with a gang, but may have fallen in with bad company when he took a trip up to Barrie last weekend.

One of those travelling companions comes in for some grief from respondents, one suggesting he was “just a deadbeat goof” who included Tanner in his “beef” and deserves some harm – again, the language becomes graphic on what the writer thinks that harm should be.

(A conversation with Barrie Police spokesperson Sgt. Dave Goodbrand fails to fix this mysterious teen’s role in the incident. Some say he may have been involved in taking Joey and the other victim out of a stolen vehicle blocks from the stabbing).

Amazingly, one of the teens behind the discussion boards takes some criticism for talking to the media, prompting others to steer the conversation back onto Joey and what a good friend he was.

One writes: “he lives by my grandma and i knew him and a bit of his family when we were younger. i think its so (censored) up that he got stabbed no one deserves that, at all.” Still another Facebook user, slightly older, remembers Joey as the sweet little boy she used to babysit.

There have also been messages from adults expressing their horror at what befell a young boy, and urging teens to stay away from violence.

As of Tuesday morning, the two discussion boards had garnered more than 150 messages of tribute and support. Two dozen photos of Joey, in various poses – some tough, some vulgar, some just displaying the sheer joy of being a teenager – are also posted on the site.

Facebook.com has also been very effective in passing along word about how relatives, neighbours and friends can say their final goodbyes.

Details are included about the visitation at the Wallace Funeral Home on Ottawa Street in Hamilton, to take place Wednesday from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. The funeral is to follow at 11 a.m. Thursday, also at the Wallace.

Someone even issues a caution about how to dress and behave, out of respect for Joey Tanner.

“All I ask is that you get people to dress nice. Gold chains and pants to your ankels (sic) are not standard funeral attire unless (you’re) Joey.”