So would it be worth having a stompy try the email she did register with and see what happens? Saying what, I'm not sure, but if there's a way to clear any of this up...

Saying what, I'm not sure

"Are you sure he's dead?"

Yeah, there's really no good way to say anything here.

Is it possible that there really is a person G. Straley, who is truly deceased, but perhaps misrepresented himself in other ways? On my way home from work I was thinking about how easy it would be for me, for example, to represent myself as a professor of my uni, instead of a secretary-- although it would be solvable with a quick google. In that case, I am not sure that kimi would be able to answer the queries. The point against this, of couirse, is that kimi said that his students call him Dr. Straley, but I have had students call me "Professor RealLastname" even though I am not. (My uni does not actually call people Dr unless they are an MD. Professors are called "Professor")

How about, "Is there an obituary online somewhere?" We don't have to be rude. It's not an unusual request.

Intelius says there's a G Straley in that town in Wisconsin (they tell you that much to get you to pay for more). Unfortunately, since a lot of their information is derived from public record, they could be getting that from the WHOIS entry and I wouldn't know either way without paying for it, which I'm loathe to do since I'm currently somewhat embarrassed for cash.

I think that these are the possibilities:

1. There was a Gus and his name was Guy Straley and he was as he described himself and he is dead, and the fact that we cannot locate any evidence of his existence is just freak chance. (This strikes me as vanishingly unlikely, but possible.)

1a. There is a Gus and his name is Guy Straley and everything he said about himself was true (but strangely unverifiable) and he's still alive. (Which means either Gus is Kimi, or Kimi is lying for his/her own purposes.)

2. There was a Gus and his name wasn't Guy Straley but everything else was true, and that's why we can't find any evidence of him. And he's dead. (This requires explaining why Kimi said his name was Guy Straley.)

3. There was a Gus and his name wasn't Guy Straley and not much else he said was true either, and he's really dead. (See above: why insist his name was Guy Straley?)

4. There is a Gus and his name wasn't Guy Straley and not much else he said was true and he's still lying because he's not dead. (I like this one the least, because there's lying, and then there's lying; I can handle a certain amount of obfuscation on the internet.)

5. There never was a Gus, he's the product of a group performance art project, and what are we arguing about anyway? (I think we can set aside the possibility of mass hallucination at this stage.)

I'm not trying to be facetious, or hurt anyone's feelings. I liked Gus a lot: and if he lied about himself, well, I don't know why he needed to, because he was funny and quick and flirtatious and knew a ton about a lot of things. I will mourn him honestly even if it turned out he wasn't who and what he said he was, for what he brought to this place.

But I'm gonna like him a lot less if I find out he faked his own death just to get a rise out of us.

Deena, where did you see a G. Straley in WI? I saw a big list on Intellus, but nothing in that state. Am I blind?

Why not the possibility that:

Gus's real name is/was Guy Straley, he lives in Wisconsin, but not much else of what he claimed about himself was true. In other words, if he were a mechanic in small-town Wisconsin, or a baker, or worked at Kmart, he might not be very Googleable, and it would certainly explain why there's no record of his PhD or his work or his novel or anything else.

I'm putting this out there because he did interact with brenda and ... someone else I'm forgetting while using the name Guy Straley, since she sent him a check and worked with him (right, brenda?). My gut says that's his real name, but the stories about his scientific research and travels and heritage were probably fabricated for effect.

Dude! I called his fictional nature! GusSue!

Seriously, though, if he just made up a lot of "himself", it sucks, but whatev--a little irksome, given the amount of time he participated here and the nature of this community, but I'd get over it. If he made up the "dead" thing, and made people here grieve? Not cool. Ay.

Intelius says the telephone number listed with WHOIS is from Ashland WI.

If you search Intelius for Straley in Wisconsin, result #46 is Guy Straley in Cameron WI. They have an address, but no phone number, and 70 total public records they will provide for $7.95.