I think we are all ok here, vw. We may have a variety of opinion on this, but I don't see anyone suggesting another's feelings are wrong.

I hope Trudy and anybody else who'd rather we not uncover anything unpleasant will be able to accept it, too.

I really don't care about that. I care about upsetting his family if they find this. Their potential hurt is so much more serious and important than our potential hurt. And could have been prevented by discretion.

I thought discretion was why we were limiting this discussion to Bureaucracy? It's not a place where non-boardmembers would think to look.

Chemistry professors at University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire

I guess we could email somebody there and ask.

It's a permanant link on the main page. It's not exactly a secret place.

I really meant it about not continuing with this discussion, but I guess I didn't want words put in my mouth moreso.

What a wonderful community this is. It is to be marveled, that such a thoughtful, powerful discussion happens here...including support and dissent. Regardless of the validity or lack there of, of the catalyst, it is a wonder to see the intelligent, caring discourse. Not to mention a perfect grieving arc...

I too googled my brains out yesterday...not because it even remotely occured to me that the announcement was pseudicide (a fascinating term). The fact that it DIDn't occur to me surprises me now. While this is my first (and probably forever only) online community, I have been involved in a number of Munchausen events in real life. As a result, I am generally pretty wary of the fantastical story.

I was mostly charmed by Gus. When I found a set of Felicity screeners (or so I thought) at a yard sale, Gus was quick to claim them. I mailed them to an address I cannot recall. He was gracious about informing me that they were worthless and offered to pay for the shipping. I declined. I felt sort of silly, but thought it was cute that he was so excited about getting them.

His emails came from a gmail account. When I searched on his username this morning, I found a post from him on a 'telecommute...work from home' site. I also found nothing at all on searching "Seamus Straley". Niether is meaningful but still odd.

In terms of the impact of this event/discussion, Beverly pretty much speaks for me. Sometimes life's mysteries remain mysteries. I'm a big fan of closure, but in this case, the closure may just be what we make it.

t begin snark mode

AFter seeing all this stuff, I'm thinking the CIA should stop trying to find Bin Laden and turn the job over to us.

t end snark mode.

There's nowhere else we could have a community-wide discussion, and I think it needs to be a community-wide discussion. Look how quickly ten or fifteen different people have provided different kinds of information. No one wants this to be fake, but if it is, I think the greatest benefit is in finding out what we can as quickly as possible.

I don't think that family members would think to click on a thread whose slug is "Administrative discussions." Because if this is a real death, why would a non-Buffista think that there would be anything "administrative" about that?

What Teppy said.