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[Patroclus]

I just lost a mason because he built himself in behind a wall, and I didn't notice until he died of dehydration.

A week after he died, I got the message "Oddom Istbarbesmar has been missing for a week."

Except, he wasn't missing for a week.  He was missing for much longer than that, because it takes much more than a week of in-game time for a dwarf to even get thirsty.  If I had gotten that message earlier, I could easily have saved him.

Maybe add a hook so a thirsty/hungry dwarf, with no path to any food or drink, can trigger the "missing for a week" warning?

Alternatively, we already have a warning system in the upper left -- the colored C, H and S that appear when we have combat, hunting and sparring reports.  Maybe add a couple more of those warnings?

N - a noble mandate has been issued, and is awaiting fulfillment
T - a dwarf has found himself trapped
M - a dwarf is in a strange mood and either has no workshop or is missing a good
U - a dwarf is getting an unhappy thought

[knutor]

Or 'dwarf screaming is coming from level x.'  when a natural death is occuring.. drowning, thirst, hunger, burning or smoke.  Its a little depressing just finding a dead body, that could have been avoided.  However, in permadeath games I see the need for it, I just don't necessarily agree with how DF currently implements it.  The change doesn't have to be so blatant a clue as I suggested, just something more than, it is.  Especially when refering to dwarfs, I don't speak for everyone, but I cannot see anyone much caring about a message for a missing pet.
*thumbs up* 
Knutor

[NW_Kohaku]

This would be something that would presumably be for Announcements.txt - there isn't any sort of flag for "dangerously thirsty" that I can see.

I remember there being a thread I was in talking about how there would be some sort of noble that every dwarf would have to "report in" to in order to keep tracking them...

But hey, I did find a thread from way back when Footkerchief was a wide-eyed and enthusiastic enough innocent to be making his own suggestions on a similar vein. 

[Patroclus]

This would be something that would presumably be for Announcements.txt - there isn't any sort of flag for "dangerously thirsty" that I can see.

I had never looked at announcements.txt -- there would seem to already be a mechanism for handling those sorts of events.

I like the combat report icon -- whenever I see that red C, I go check it out to make sure nothing's snuck in that needs military attention.  Having a fourth one for important events would be nice. 

[maxi]

I wonder if a dwarf that builds itself inside a wall to die should be able to start digging itself out, or if it would cause more fun than is necessary, or make it impossible to kill dwarves this way. The obvious way for the dwarf to check if it made a mistake would be to destroy any construction it or other dwarves made just before it got cut off from food and drink.

Giving a small notification when a dwarf is starving or dying of thirst would probably be better.

[Jothki]

It might be possible to make a much more general system out of it. Have dwarves like to know that their friends are all right, and worry if they haven't seen or heard about them for a while. Have a worried dwarf ask around about their friend, and generate a complaint to the mayor if they still can't find anything about them.

This would lead to interesting side-effects, like a highly social dwarf who has been working on their own for a while getting anxious and occasionally taking breaks to check back in with society. Loners would tend to handle isolation much better, but could end up dying alone with no one even noticing for months because no one knows them well enough to worry.

[SuicideJunkie]

I have to agree that the "has been missing for a week" means they are guaranteed dead.
It would certainly be nice if friends could report a dwarf missing to whomever is in charge.

Does the "passing acquaintance" to "close friend" scale take into account how *often* a dwarf is seen rather than just how many times they have met?

If so, then that naturally gives a source for how long a relation would wait before reporting the dwarf missing.
Passing acquaintances might never inquire about each other.  (Hey, remember that creepy Urist McHermit guy?  No?  Me neither.)
Long-term Acquaintance should ask around after not seeing that person for a season.  (Say, what happened to Urist McMiner?  I haven't seen him do that sewer-brew trick in ages!)
Friends should start asking around after a month.  (Is Urist McParty sick or something?  He's missing happy hour!)

[IT 000]

It should be based off the dwarf's personality, altruistic, and friendly dwarves will report more frequently and will need less qualified friendships to do so.

[NW_Kohaku]

Actually, I think it would be a nice bit of realism if a dwarf recognized that he/she had been forgotten, and was being left to starve to death, and started deconstructing walls, regardless of the consequences, in a desperate act of self-preservation.  If he/she got out, they'd just beeline straight to the booze stockpile, regardless of the torrent of magma he/she just let loose in the fort.

[thijser]

I would like to see it as a timer using the total relationship value as a sort of count down. Give every dwarf a missing value of 5 000 and subtract the total relationship value of that dwarf of the the total every day (close friend =100 so if he only has 1 friend he will be reported after 50 days).