I am stuck on my iPhone for now and can’t easily get through the linked thread - how do we know it’s the same person? Similar details, although a married pregnant person this time? Or some IP address tech stuff that proves it came from the same source?
I hate this.
Why might we think they’re the same? The fraud on the Whattoexpect boards is an:
Then, when someone recognizes the picture she’s posted as being someone else, she’s outed as a fake on April 1 (coincidentally!). Swiftly she (or possibly the admin) deletes her “Ask the” thread, and sezyoo disappears into the transom. May starts and… Welcome to our newest member of the Straight Dope, umkay! Rinse, repeat above. :dubious:
Now, the case for the defense: obviously the other details are very very different. The writing styles aren’t 100% the same, though the use of double-hyphens is noticeable. And it’s certainly not impossible for there to be two women matching the above description.
But the closeness in time period is awfully on-the-nose.
Hence the dubiousness.
And this one.
I am reminded of:
If you remember details that umkay has posted, there are actually a lot of similarities. Sezyoo also has the perfect life other than being a C4 quad but she doesn’t let that get her down! She was hot, rich, awesome family, married to the bestest guy ever, etc. She also lives in CA and has a ton of very similar deals as far as the equipment she uses and medical procedures and stuff (although I can’t say how common all of that is).
Here are just a few of many random coincidental details:
Yes, I have no life today (or most other days) 
Minor nitpick. I haven’t read Umkay’s Ask The… thread (so I could be wrong), but I thought both Umkay and Sezyoo had rich husbands.
Umkay isn’t married, but her family is loaded bankers.
The writing does seem to be a little less sophisticated than what Umkay has done here, but that could have just been a trial run for her and she learned some lessons along the way ( She at least learned not to post pics). In light of this new information I have to admit it would be a mighty coincidence for her to be the real deal. I suspect it would take some seriously convincing evidence for anyone to believe her now, the kind of evidence that she has always (rightfully until now) refused to provide so I’m not holding my breathe.
Now it’s just a matter of if she doubles down and provides evidence, or disappears into the wind and leaves us absolutely certain.
umkay and sezyoo both have rich parents; only sezyoo also has a rich husband. (Naturally she had to be married, she’s pregnant in that role!)
To me that’s independently wealthy (as opposed to earning it yourself). I might’ve gotten my terms mixed up.
And Sezyoo was paralyzed by a drunk driving loaded banker. She doesn’t seem to know very many different occupations.
Once things started looking fishy I was just hanging back to see what happened because I was really unsure. I must admit I was starting to get a little miffed at all the naysayers being so adamant based on the little evidence we had at the time. But it’s times like these I’m glad this is still a skeptic’s board, maybe I could use a little of that to counteract my soft heart.
Unless she comes out and proves herself. I’m still open to that highly unlikely possibility.
I’m dying over here, thinking of the burning egg on all the faces of the people who cried “Guys! Of course she’s real! And you just chased her away from the board!”
While I do have egg on face over this one, jumping to certainty about a conclusion before the evidence is in is nothing to be too proud of there..
Maybe I’m a little slow on the uptake, but are some people saying umkay is *not *a wheelchair bound quadriplegic or anything else she claims to be? Or just that she frequents different boards?
Two things:
*I’m not convinced she is sezyoo fwiw
It’s not just that. Both quads (and their families) got their wealth from the banking industry. In Sezyoo’s case, it came from a civil settlement resulting from a car accident with a rich banker. In Umkay’s case, her father was the rich banker.
ETA: I just now see that someone else upthread already made the same point. :smack:
Or just be nice to the good people who took something valuable from that thread. Yea they were duped, but to be fair it was an extremely convincing hoax and it did actually provide something of value.
I just hope we don’t get too much mean spirited cockiness as a result of this.
This is not the first rodeo with an internet imposter for many of us (heck, I would lay money I’m not the only person here who did it for kicks in college himself). Just because YOU can’t smell 'em a mile away doesn’t mean the evidence isn’t there. =P
Oh, for fuck’s sake. A “slangy username” is evidence now?
I read 4 or 5 of those posts and “sezyoo” sounds nothing like umkay. I can accept that a caught faker would learn from their mistakes and not post pics, but I can’t accept that they’d change their whole phrasing and style. umkay says “carers,” sezyoo says “attendants.” umkay says “f*cked,” sezyoo says “effed”. Would a troll really make such mundane changes when reappearing on a different board? I’m not buying it.
I missed Wally, but I remember being suckered by that guy who claimed to be a budding transsexual that looked like Boomer from BSG (what was his name again?). I could be falling for another one, sure, but this “evidence” really looks like wishful thinking to me.
HOLY CRAP I just realized I forgot three important steps in my list of similarities!
BTW, please don’t do triumphal dances, A Clockwork Melon. There is a possibility we’re wrong. Small though it may be, it is a possibility.
Besides, the smuggest, holier-than-thou people who made us sound evil will just say “well it’s better to believe in something than to hate and doubt and mistrust!” To a degree I can understand that philosophy, but I wish they’d see that there’s no one here nearly as cynical as the fraudulant fucker jacking off to the good intentions and open hearts of community members.
I think even most of her defenders will see it as a smoking gun unless Umkay can convince us otherwise.
If it was a hoax I’m just hoping he/she sticks around to explain themselves a little this time instead of flat out disappearing after being caught. It’s not likely though.
But hey I do agree that she did dispense good helpful information for what it’s worth. There’s nothing wrong with being inspired by that story even if it was fake, same as being inspired by a fictional movie story like that. I think it does make you a good person, not to say that the skeptics were bad people by any means.