I have only been a member here for about 2 weeks, and I’ve seen several references to WallyM7. At the risk of sounding stupid—
Who is WallyM7, why isn’t he here anymore, and why is he so special to everyone here?
You’re in need of a little research, my friend.
Hit the search button, type in WallyM7. Read his posts, all extremely funny. And read the posts about him. You’ll get the picture. And when you speak of him, speak well.
WallyM7 was an all-around great human being who was a long and respected poster on this board. He tragically passed away recently.
Here is the link to the announcement.
Read it and the condolences. I’m not saying you have at all, but due to the emotion involved please be careful to not take his name lightly, as some other new posters have.
Thank you! While reading Wally’s posts, I have laughed, cried… I can see why you loved him! I am sorry if I offended anyone with this thread… I simply wanted to know why he meant so much to so many people. I wish I could have interacted with him on the Straight Dope… 
Thank you.
We also created a smilie named in his honor.
The WallyM7-- :wally
The board tore out all the ads for at least 2weeks, & put up memorial banners.
Oh, I wouldn’t worry about offending anyone with a simple question. As new people join the board they are bound to find multiple references to Wally (particularly in sigs) and will naturally be curious as to who he is. Heck, it is vaguely along the same lines as trying to understand in-jokes, phrases, issues. If you weren’t there when it occured, you will be curious. Not a bad thing, especially on a site that strives to fight ignorance.
Now, if someone starts trolling in regards to Wally’s good name, then that person will have some serious issues to deal with.
zINGER:
Thanks for posting your question. As a fellow newbie, I too had wondered about WallyM7, but also did not want to offend by asking.
Welcome to the board Jason and Zinger. Now I suggest you get the dirty stuff outta the way and go ahead a research “felch” and “squick” on the engine. It’s best you know about it now.
I too am relatively knew. In fact it was reading Wally’s posts which prompted me to register to this board. I was enthralled to find a meassage board on the World Wacky Web flowing with intelligence and wit. I credit Wally.
Bluepony, let’s not forget “mung”. ::shudder::
I have seen a great many of these kinds of questions over the past several weeks. So long as those of us who remember Wally fondly and still feel pain from his loss continue to make reference to him here, the questions won’t stop coming. And some of them have been far less tactful than this OP, tending to cause pain to some healing wounds for many people.
In an effort to keep this from becoming redundant every couple of weeks – and in an effort to keep Wally’s classic threads from being polluted by page after page of bumps to bring them up so people can read them every so often, I wish something could be done to make some factoid link somewhere here on the board, telling about who Wally was, what happened to him, and referencing his posts (which I’d like to see locked, with all the bumps removed at the end).
I can’t imagine it would take up an inordinate amount of space.
Just my 2 cents.