What do you do when an internet friend dies?

I've wonder this for a while now.

I've had a few internet friends die in real life before. One more passed away yesterday 1/20/2010. I've known this person for four years now. That's longer than a lot of my real life relationships. The problem is I've never meet him in real life. I knew where he lived. I've spoken with some of his family, the ones that are online that is. I knew what his favorite foods and sports teams were, but in the end I'm just a stranger to most of the people who really knew him.

Now I'm looking over his Obituary and it matches what I've been told about him. He didn't have a fake online persona and the things we talked about were real, but does that mean I should contact his family who is grieving right now?

It seems a bit hollow to say "I knew your son online and I'm sad for your loss". What do I know really? I wasn't with him at the time. They might only know me by my online moniker. They might not know me at all.

Sometimes it's good to know your family has friends, but sometimes it just hurts more to know that you aren't the only one who will miss them. It's a really awkward situation.

I guess I'm just thinking about it too much. I'm going to contact his family and hope they don't misunderstand my intentions.