SDMB thread "The mystery of Wally."

[Gjallarhorn]

To answer the questions you pasted:

Has anyone verified his death?
No. No one even knew his real name (which may or may not have included the name "Wally" or some variation).

Has anyone been able to find out anything about him?
Not other than what he wrote, which was often plagiarized. He also had claimed to have had open heart surgery earlier in the year. That also may or may not have actually occurred.

Has anyone been in contact with his family or IRL friends?
I think the poster called "Amy," who was supposed to be his daughter traded emails with Shayna, maybe. That was the only familial contact.

Was anyone able to find any articles about him in any newspapers?
No. Another dead end. No articles detailing such an accident were found.

Was anyone able to go to the funeral?
No. SDMB mod John Corrado said he "wanted to go." However, without a name and location, I think he had a difficult time making the arrangements.

Anything at all?
Not other than the posts by "Amy." That is the sole source of info.

[Dark Wing Duck]

Not other than what he wrote, which was often plagiarized.

[moderating]

Now that this has been brought up here, can we see some proof? I don't necessarily doubt you, and I don't have a dog in this fight. But unsubstantiated allegations are just the kind of thing that could cause this discussion to go off the rails.

The same goes for the comment about Shayna. If Shayna wants to come here and tell us herself, she can do so. Or if you can link to statements Shayna made on the subject, that's fine too. But please don't bring up rumors that you heard from a friend of a friend. This applies to everybody.

[/moderating]

[Gjallarhorn]

Good points. I know for a fact of only one definitely plagiarized event, the "Wally tries Cybersex" post. It does create some questions about some of his other lengthy posts, and whether or not they were original, but that is the only definite. It was wrong to say "often" plagiarized.

Shayna mentions trading emails with "Amy" concerning Wally's "death" in this thread:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/...threadid=28392

[concrete]

Originally posted by Ruby
That's IT! WallyM7 was a concrete sock on the SDMB! Now that I think about it, the posting styles are similar and I'm sure I heard someone say something one time at band camp that Wally was a concrete member of the Dope.

Opal, you've just hit the nail on the conspiracy head, girl.

I, for one, feel better now.

You are onto me my dear.

[EJsGirl]

Ok, a comment and then a quick question-

I missed this thread earlier, and am hella confused now. Which leads to the question- is this the thread that prompted the stickies about post editing? I notice that Anna deleted the text of all her posts.

I obviously have no comment, because I have no idea what the hell has been said.

[OpalCat]

The poster in question deleted all of the contents of all of his posts by all of his various names, including "Anna Lamerino". And yes, this is what prompted the rule change.

[SarahH]

Ahem, well....I enjoyed reading the posts by Wally7m as I enjoyed the postings of many others that no longer post on SDMB or here for that matter. I was very sad at the time of his death whether it was real or staged. But I didn't know the man personally. I did enjoy his comments and posts and his sense of humor.


But he's gone, whether through death or a staged event and he's been gone for years. Does it really matter anymore?

[Tinker Grey]

Originally posted by Suerreal
Far better to have been taken in than to assume ill intent behind someone's actions when you will never really know for sure.

This ought to be someone's signature, if not a motto for life.