I’m just sick of the Opal saturation period.
We’ve never done that for any other Doper that has passed away.
What really creeps me out about this whole thing is, now, it seems people are doing it not because they actually morn Opal, but rather they’re doing it just because it seems like the “cool” thing to do right now.
Of course you’d say that, sitting there in your Mod Hat and jackboots, drinking tea from your free Straight Dope mug.
hopes the hamsters won’t devour this post
Dude, seriously, did you sleep through the whole Wally thing? That was absurd.
Not unless he was lurking. Wally died in June, 2000. In one of the most horrific accidents imaginable. Crushed like a can of pineapples, he was.
Cans of pineapple are notoriously resilient.
I joined this board in 2002. I had been lurking for maybe a year before that. But even after I had joined, threads about Wally were bizarrely moderated. Threads that questioned his death or called into question the veracity of his posts were shut down, usually to avoid hurt feelings or flame wars. I remember responses to legitimate questions being met with such hostility that mods would automatically close threads and instruct users not to post such questions on this board.
Then I found the LiveJournal threads, where people were free to post what they thought about the whole matter of Wally. I believe that was the birth of the snark boards.
The current situation with OpalCat is nowhere near that level of hero worship.
I’m glad you posted this. The maudlin post-Opal tributes seemed cheap and tacky but now I can see them as ironic and quite hilarious. Kind of like the original plans to have FDR in a wheelchair. Now that’s thoughtful memorialisation.
Should have embalmed him and put him in a glass case, like Lenin.
The whole meme thing doesn’t seem as popular as it used to be.
I’m pissed that no one told me there was going to be a parade. I guess I’m not one of the cool kids. 
I’m with you. I love me some 1920s-style death memes.
What happened to him?
Almost certainly nothing. Best thing would be to search for old threads in MPSMIS with “Wally” or “WallyM7” in the title.
I think this thread was one of the first threads posted that openly questioned his death on this board. Theretofore, the random posts about it were more along the lines of “Gee, why couldn’t we ever find any details on his accident or the services?” You can see the battle lines being drawn between the Wally Believers and the Wally Skeptics.
Parade? I didn’t realize Opal lived in New Orleans.
Hadn’t noticed.
Sometimes it gets quite baaaaaaaaaaaaaaad.
Why do you care?
Few of the posters that have passed previous to this have been around as long, nor been as prolific as OpalCat. Love her or hate her, she was one of the lightning rods of the boards in the early years.
When word reaches that TubaDiva. Drain Bead, or other early era posters have gone you can expect to see a similar outpouring.
Though with probably less complaining from inconsiderate folks.
I made a list that originally had three items, but the third one became unnecessary, so I wrote my litle shout-out to Opal because it reminded me of her at that time. There’s no “meme” here to worry about.
But how else will they be able to attract attention to the fact that they totally hated how Opal was always trying to attract attention to her feelings about various things?