By Steven Shukor BBC News Online

People who were at the disco left tributes on the site

Dozens of messages have already been left for James Andre Smartt-Ford who was shot on Saturday night at Streatham Ice Arena in south-west London.

They include posts from people who were at the ice rink disco and one from a friend of Jessie James who was shot dead as he cycled through a Manchester park in September 2006.

It read: "I feel for your family and can imagine what they must be feeling. I pray they catch your killer. We must put an end to guns, life is too precious."

The Leeds-based website, Gone Too Soon, has been growing in popularity since its creation in November 2005.

It's such a powerful thing to have a place to go - wherever you may be in the world - to share your feelings about a loved one Terry George website founder

More than 3,500 memorial pages have been created so far, and the site receives about 16,000 visits a day, according to its founder Terry George.

Stars such as snooker player Paul Hunter, TV host Richard Whiteley and environmentalist Steve Irwin, have had sites devoted to them following their deaths.

One of the most popular sites is dedicated to late footballer George Best, which has received more than 47,000 hits.

There are also pages created in honour of victims of crimes, accidents or events that made national headlines.

They include Pc Sharon Beshenivsky, who was shot dead in a robbery in Bradford, Ellie Lawrenson, a five-year-old killed by a pit bull terrier in St Helens and Anthony Walker, 18, who was killed in a racist attack in Huyton, Merseyside.

Mr George says the site can help with the healing process

The website was created by Mr George, 41, from Leeds, who earlier developed a smaller site he set up to enable well-wishers, unable to make the funeral of a mutual friend who died in Thailand, to leave tributes.

Mr George says he had to deal with the deaths of his father Richard in 1996 from a stroke and his brother James in 1989 in a road crash.

"I found when I put a message in the newspaper for my brother, I was saying things that I thought really should have been more original," he told the BBC News website.

"I had to fit it into a limited number of words, and do it quite quickly. With the website, you can keep adding your thoughts. It's a lasting, living, evolving tribute that you can go back to."

Mr George says he wants the site to become as popular as the Friends Reunited website.

"I believe it's such a powerful thing to have a place to go - wherever you may be in the world - to share your feelings about a loved one and remember them," he said.