In at least two threads in ATMB, passing mention is made of the fact that WallyM7’s death may have been greatly exaggerated.
I haven’t been around this SDMB much lately, so I’ll admit I might have missed something. What’s the evidence for this assertion?
I don’t think there was evidence that he faked his death, as such. There was evidence he plagarised, though; some dopers found some of his stuff online as random funny things.
The fake-death proponents point out that;
There’s probably more, but that’s all I can remember. I wasn’t here while he was, so i’m unbothered either way.
Also, an upgrade to the board software revealed that his account had been active some ten months after his alleged death. Scarcely conclusive, but his death (or disappearance) was before my time, too, so I can’t get too excited either way.
Also, IIRC, no one else on the board ever met him in real life.
What do you mean when you ask for evidence? Evidence of what?
We actually have no evidence that “Wally” as he held himself out to be ever truly existed or really passed away.
Most everything said and done on this board is taken on faith, really; the goodwill of the community is based on a very thin body of evidence, that’s true for all of us.
There is conclusive evidence that Wally appropriated the copyrighted work of others and claimed it as his own. As for all the rest, who knows?
TubaDiva
Like somebody found a post on another message board by a WallyM7, who had a posting style similar to ours. Or something.
Generally speaking: This may come as a shock to you, but we do not card people for ID here. You can pretty much claim to be whoever you wanna and we’re not going to object much (within limits). In fact, we discourage people from sharing real life information that can come back to bite them in the butt, so there’s some degree of anonymity here. Not a whole lot; people can still be tracked (as I have come to discover; now I have to worry that someday me or mine will have to shoot some deranged jackass from cyberspace who comes calling, thanks a lot), but most people can pop in and out of circumstances and not be tracked.
Yes, we do get credit card information from subscribers but that information is in no ways available to anyone on the Straight Dope staff and is not attached in any way on this board with your screen persona except in the Reader membership database. Which we have zero access to.
Speaking in specifics:
Let’s play “just suppose.”
(No proof, btw, just some wildassguessing here.)
Just suppose you had been a very popular person somewhere, say, at a [del]message board[/del] neighborhood bar where you hung out a lot. Just suppose you made some really good friends because you saw them every day. You told 'em some funny stories, you flirted a bit, you got real comfortable and tight with folks, so tight that some people loved you like a brother. Or a father. Or more than that, even.
Now just suppose you went a little bit too far. Maybe not all the “true life” stories you told were really your true life . . . maybe you got too friendly with people . . .
Just suppose you knew that when they found out your stories weren’t so original and your intentions weren’t so pure you wouldn’t be so beloved. Maybe it wouldn’t be in your best interest to go to that neighborhood bar anymore.
That being the case, the last thing you would do is go to the bar next door, or across the street and start telling the same stories, etc. . .
Just supposing.
TubaDiva
Yeah, it’s me.
Please forgive me for whatever it is that invited such snarkiness. Like I said, I haven’t spent much time at these boards lately and these allegations about the WallyM7 affair were pretty shocking to me. Sorry I brought it up.
I just don’t get that last part…
You are really TubaDiva?
I don’t recall allegations that WallyM7 faked his death until that board upgrade which allowed other members to determine the last time a poster logged in by accessing that poster’s profile. As Taran noted, Wally’s account has been last active at a point many months after his alleged death.
At the time of Wally’s “death”, that information wasn’t visible to the general public, so Wally may have felt safe accessing the account and lurking, figuring that he would not be found out by doing so. Or, it could have been someone else using his computer.
Perhaps there had been allegations before that…but I think that’s when many people started to say “Hmmmm, wait a minute…”, especially since there were the other, better substantiated, allegations that some of his funny stories were plagiarized.
There’s no proof that he died or that he didn’t die.
His daughter joined the board a short while before the incident. She said hello and got welcomed, flirted with etc. A jokey ‘leave me daughter’ alone thread was started by Wally IIRC. Then she came in and told us he had died. BIG DEAL for a few weeks. Banner was changed to remember him. Other message board(Fathom) also had a major mourning period.
Then things started to come apart. Some wanted to attend his funeral but that didn’t happen. Then it came out that he was to meet up with dopers for the first time around the time of his death and also word of a possible online relationship that would have been out of place for a married man to have.
Then people started poking around and found no evidence whatsoever of an industrial accident or a death in the manner described by his daughter. Then the profile being updated thing came up.
Other than that I don’t remember other ‘evidence’.
All in all nobody can e sure but people close to the issue seem to have real concerns about the whole affair.
If he died or was even the Wally that he created is still in question and I think will remain so unless somebody came here and said that they were Wally and could provide evidence of personal communication between himself and others. After this amount of time it’s very doubtful we will ever got a solid answer.
Thus is the way of internet message boards. Part support group, part entertainment, part soap opera.
I do think that the putz smilie should be renamed as this just leads to questions about someone who probably the majority of current members never even heard of but that call in in the hands of the Admin.
I don’t think **Tuba **was really being that snarky. Most people around here kind of tend to shoot from the hip.
And I think it should be outright expunged from the SDMB, forever. IMO.
Snarky? You think this is snarky?
I’m trying to give you the benefit of the doubt and answer what I thought was a legitimate question without slamming you over the fences like a softball.
Then again, perhaps you’re just stirring the pot of controversy for the sake of being a dick, in which case I am being the nimrod here. Which, gee whiz, is also possible, now that you mention it. Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been fooled. Maybe not even the first time today.
TubaDiva
Who deleted a lot of really snarky things before she hit the send button.
Good christ!
Ooh NO. If we get on to whether he ever lived or died or posted, there will be no end to it. :eek:
Today’s special offer. Free calm and happy pills for all. And some lovely dark chocolate too. 
One too few, apparently.
I concur. It’s useless anyways.
I haven’t been around for quite some time and in fact my return was prompted by a notice that my membership was about to expire. This is the first thread I visited and I’m appaulled by this attack on Wally. He has always been a legend to dopers and should remain so. What good comes from debunking him? Nada! Does it matter that most dopers don’t remember him? Nope! I am not grateful to the person who told me that George Washington didn’t chop down a cherry tree and I’m not interested in all the revelations revealed in this thread. Get a life that doesn’t involve gossiping about dead people. :wally