Same here. I looked in those threads and went right back out after the first page. I only really started getting interested after she got zombified (I do love zombies). I do think it’s still possible that we were dealing with two separate trolls, the faker and the banned guy (Gezmo or something?) who posted all the repetitive questions in umkay’s thread.
:eek::eek::eek::eek:OMIGHOD! BIGT WAS RIGHT ALL ALONG! MESSAGE BOARD POSTS CAN KILL YOU!!!1!!:eek::eek::eek::eek:
This isn’t as farfetched as some people might think.
I belong to a board for people interested in high-end designer goods (s’okay—I’ll wait until you finish laughing…) and one of the sub-fora is about buying and selling items. More than once, someone has come in as a new poster and said they were scammed on ebay, laying out a series of events. As people ask more questions and possibly find flaws in the person’s story, that “new poster” learns what will and will not work when trying to scam someone. Once they’ve learned enough, they go off and scam someone on ebay for a high-end item. They use the forum as a testing ground until their story is perfected.
Such an easy evil,
Such a sensuous sin,
Sometimes I don’t know where I’m goin’
Til I’ve been
Taken in.
Such an easy evil,
Such a promise of fun.
Sometimes I don’t know what I’m doin’
Til I’m done.
(You’re a sneaky one.)
Here she comes now, touchin’ me,
Callin’ my name
Again.
There I go now,
Like a moth to a flame.
I’m a sucker for you, baby.
Such an easy evil,
Such a sensuous sin,
Sometimes I don’t know where I’m goin’
Til I’ve been
Taken in.
– Alan O’Day, (part of) Easy Evil
Man, you’re stupid: that was the first thing I did.
I’d tell you which post, but we’ve already determined that ‘one’ is too complicated a concept for you. So I think we’ll have to consider this discussion to be at an end.
Nope, I believe this WAS a pretender. I initially thought it was devotee but after Umkay’s vitriolic response after being “outed” here, in which she replied to one of my posts in which I had levelled the accusation of her really being a devotee lying about who he/she was, she told me what a “dipshit” I was for “mixing up my diagnoses”. If she really was lying about everything, she said, would that make her a “pretender”?
I think she just couldn’t help it. She had to rub it in my (and the board’s) face. “No, this is what I am, you stupid motherfucker.”
It’s kinda interesing going back and reading the gabriela threads. I have no reason to believe they’re the same person, just some similarities in the situations. Someone who had all the right answers and definitely knew his/her stuff–all the medical types agreed on that. Some skepticism on her credentials, and some scorn directed to the skepticism. I’ll repeat, I’m in no way implying that they had any person connection, just similar situations. The adoring fan base, the short missing period. The return. And the disappearance (just with no dramatic send-off–he/she just left). (She had responded to a couple of my posts with really good info–whether that was off the top of her head, or from some other source, the info was good.)
Ask the forensic pathologist.
Embarrassing medical conditions
Has anyone seen gabriela lately? She had been missing for two weeks or so, but comes back in this thread.
I fear we won’t see gabriela again
You don’t look Nigerian. 
I give the troll a lot of credit for a well executed hoax. I found the story plausible, and Broomstick and others familiar with SCIs verified that the story checked out. As one of my mentor profs who works in special ed used to say, people with disabilities are the world’s largest open minority group. Anyone regardless of income, age, gender, nationality, etc. can join any time. So being a super-rich quad didn’t set off any suspicion with me. Rich people get paralyzed too!
There was a wealth of good info in that thread, and it was entertaining to read. What’s impressive about the troll is that it wasn’t just her show; a number of Dopers made great contributions to the conversation. I learned a lot, and sami no doubt got some much needed support and advice (which in truth made it worthwhile, IMO).
As for the fanclub… there’s nothing wrong with telling a poster you appreciate their posting style, that you find them engaging. It’s actually quite sweet and I know having a compliment from a Doper has often made my day. I did find it a little irksome but that’s for the same reason I hate the Arcade Fire, or wouldn’t watch Titanic for years. Fanaticism makes even the appealing unappealing. But it’s not the OP’s fault that others are fawning over him or her, is it?
I didn’t see anything suspicious about the days of logging out. I’m usually logged into the SDMB on one of the six devices I use daily. And the malady seemed real enough.
Giraffe’s point about the fast response to questions did make me think that something might be askew; but again, the troll did a good job of explaining how helpers could type, and the Dragon software was effective. For me, the conclusive evidence came when crazyhorse found the passages. Having said that, I think it’s faintly, faintly possible that umkay is real, or is partially real. Of course, a real person would likely be so incensed by the accusations of lying that they’d be explaining the situation to the mods. Someone who professed to enjoy the Dope so much would likely not go down without defending themselves. So barring a resurrection via the mods, I’m convinced we were took. 
I actually have so many more questions for the troll now. I’d love to see him/her back for a “Ask the Troll” thread!
If the board ever doubts the truth behind my charming nature and useful expertise, well… fuck you guys.
I get that, and that’s why it all seemed so fuzzy, until Crazyhorse posted those clear parallel quotes. “Fitting the profile” is all well and good for initial hunches and suspicion, but dropping the banhammer should, IMHO, require a little more than suspicion. Assuming the mods compared the two a bit better than I did at first, and saw confirmed parallels like those, then the banning was fully warranted. But all people kept saying when anyone expressed doubt was “c’mon, no one could be that perfect! you fool! and the two stories are mildly similar!”
I think you may be confusing me with other posters, or misinterpreting my posts. I do see the reasons to doubt, just not the almost certainty, pre-sezyoo. If you think that profiling is conclusive, well let’s just say I disagree and leave it at that.
I don’t think I ever accused anyone of lying, just jumping to conclusions too soon.
Well, I’ll defer to your vast experience as to where your dial falls. For the record, mine is calibrated differently. I agree she started at unusual, but not unusually unusual, if that makes sense. The death hoax didn’t really add anything, and, like yellowval I still think it just as likely to be a second hoaxer on the grassy knoll. sezyoo is where “extraordinary” started, but I was willing to hear a rebuttal, and HFSTIOTCRI was only hit when direct quotes from the two were seen to be nearly identical. If that makes me a bit more gullible than you, I’ll accept that.
I’m not blaming anyone for outing the troll, only for declaring the case open-and-shut without pointing to better proof than a behavior pattern that I’m betting applies to as many real posters as trolls.
In the end: well spotted for those who got the hunch, and for whoever found sezyoo, and well researched for the mods who (I assume and hope) dug into sezyoo’s posts a bit before banning.
What if Gezmo, umkay, sezyoo, and NotOkay are all the same person!
The “truth” part isn’t the part we are doubting 
Why would you bet that? You’d bet incorrectly.
Look, there’s no shame in being duped, ok? It’s fine, it really, really is. It’s not a big deal. You don’t need to try and find some way to twist those of us who were right into being somehow wrong.
Maybe a double feature with “Exit Through the Gift Shop”.
Sigh
Maybe that’s what YOUR heart is for. Mine will go wherever it wants, free like a butterfly. Until it clogs or whatever it’s going to do.
There’s no need for me to apologize for being a softie. Just enjoy it while it lasts, everybody.
A man after my own heart. They ‘felt’ similar to me from the beginning.
Kinda like playing mafia.
Please tell me I’m not the only person that thinks **Tapu **is Umkay.
True. I used to do my share of trolling, and still enjoy seeing a good one. This one (or two, if NotOkay was actually a drive-by who got lucky (and it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve seen (or made) that happen, where one troll steps on another troll, for massive lulz)) was classic. Much troll-food has been posted in this thread, even after the bannings. And apparently is continuing. Keep feeding the Trolls, people. Trolls need nourishment, too…