The subject came up on another message board. I’m not going to post a link and I will ask the same of others. That thread is inflammatory and there are hurtful things said about posters, so please respect my wish not to have it posted here.
That being said, the subject of Wally came up. The enigma, if you will. I am not denying his existence nor his death, by any means. But, I said that I would post the query about it here, and I am.
Has anyone verified his death? Has anyone been able to find out anything about him? Has anyone been in contact with his family or IRL friends? Was anyone able to find any articles about him in any newspapers? Was anyone able to go to the funeral? Anything at all?
Supposedly he was in the business of “plastic fittings,” or something like that, and he died from complications of an accident in which he and a transformer toppled off a forklift about 6 meters high.
Intriguingly, his “daughter” (username “Amy”) registered a scant 15 days before his “accident,” and was the one to report it. Her last post was to a thread that was started by Wally. Hmmm. . . .
Just a friendly reminder: be extremely carefull when talking about Wally. He’s kind of a legend here and there may be some who are still quite sensitive about his passing.
I made an extensive search shortly after the time of his “death” and came up with nothing but a bunch of plagiarized material and hearsay. My staunch opinion is still that he orchestrated the whole thing to get away from an affair he wasn’t willing to pursue anymore and didn’t want affecting his home life.
Of course this is as much hearsay as the afforementioned, but until I see a published report of the death or confirmation from a trusted source, that is my opinion.
Wow. He was before my time but I was almost certain that there were a few Dopers that knew him personally or at least knew his real name. Very interesting.
I echo hajario’s statement. He was before my time as well, but I had the impression that there were a number of Dopers who knew him personally, off-board. And his passing left such a ripple that I personally find it hard to swallow that it was all a big whoosh.
Well, I must say I, too am intrigued, because it was obviously before my time as well… but, that being the case, I’m gonna shut my extremely verbose mouth and say nothing on this one. (Still a’wondering just the same) shrugs, sighs, and moves on:dubious:
runner pat, that link doesn’t prove anything. That picture could be anyone. That page is a memorial to an online persona that - as far as we know - nobody here knew in real life.
Moderator’s Notes:
If this thing becomes ugly, I’m gonna shut it down. And given some of the remarks I’ve seen posted to the “anonymous” SDMB Live Journal, I expect that’ll be the case. But hey, y’all might surprise me for once and not start the mudfight that I foresee.
I joined shortly after all this went down and I thought I saw where some posters had talked to Wally or his family on the phone. I’m not going to burden the hamsters with a search, but I never got the impression it was a bogus event. Then again, I’m kinda naive and trusting.
Never having known Wally, even though I was here for a couple of months, I don’t really have a personal stake in this. I do know he posted material from other web sites, I do know that he posted them without attribution, and I do know that no one BUT him got away with that kind of thing without being ripped to shreds.
I understand that his death (whether real or electronically orchestrated) touched a lot of people, but I wish it didn’t mean he was treated as someone who could do no wrong. - or who is given a pass for having done wrong because he passed away.
I have always had my doubts but never said anything, just in case, ya know?
When he died, I did an extensive online search through news sources in Toronto and came up with absolutely nothing. Same goes with obituaries. It shouldn’t be that hard to find an industrial accidental death.
I also had a cousin living in Toronto at the time so I asked him to check around - nothing. Nothing on the news or in newspapers (at least that he saw - and he was watching for me).
Where is the documentation that shows an investigation was done and why doesn’t any governement agency (I appologize for not knowing the proper name) in that area know about it? My cousin called for information but again with no success.
I have also heard the rumors about why he had to disappear from the board. I thought it was curious that his daughter registered so soon before his “death” and there was something strange and familiar about her writing that I couldn’t put my finger on.
I won’t go into all of the plagarized material, but will say that a good part of it is shown on his memorial site. Anyone else would have been banned or at least warned for posting stollen material without attribute.
Is Wally really dead? I dunno, but there is so much that doesn’t add up. Like Demo, until I see actual proof in the form of a valid news article or obituary, I’ll continue to think we’ve all been had.
I was sufficiently intrigued by the discussion to do some poking around on the internet and came up with a big fat zip. The Toronto papers that have archives that go back that far don’t have any hits for “industrial accident” (or “forklift”, or “transformer”) for the 18-22 of June of that year. Which proves exactly nothing – Ontario is a big province and I doubt the Toronto papers record every sparrow that falls in every small town. And it’s possible that Wally fudged his exact location for privacy reasons, leaving it a rather vague “near Toronto”
On the Occam’s razor side of the argument, Wally had just undergone major heart surgery a month or two prior to the accident. If he wanted to disappear from the message boards, having someone report a fatal outcome would have been an even more convenient way of shuffling off the mortal SDMB coil.
So I dunno. He could be dead, or he could be working in a greasy spoon somewhere in Saskatoon side by side with Elvis and Jim Morrison.
(If someone * really * wants to spend a whole bunch of time fighting ignorance, here’s a listing of all the on-line obituaries in Canada. Knock yourself out. http://www3.sympatico.ca/jacquest/online.htm )