I've actually appreciated reading how thoughtful and careful everything has been.
I know I differ from most of you in that I think being lied to, even in cute narrative form, in a community where we are our words and we know each other based on text, is something I loathe. I'm not saying people with pseuds are bad.
But I personally feel manipulated when someone creates an entire persona to play out a narrative with the group, one that is presented real, mainly because it evokes real emotions to people who believe it.
I'm not saying Cass not posting as her real name is the problem, because it totally isn't. But if Cass created this elaborate, even if well-sustained, persona, and then created situations like a disease, a debilitating accident or whatever, one that created sympathy and upset in others.... well, that's kinda shitty. But with Cass, I'm certain she has not.
With Gus, I'm not so certain. So, frankly, I'm already feeling gullible for buying any of the narrative and thinking of Gus now as "Gus" doesn't make me feel better. Sure I liked the stories. But I could have just as easily not worried about the "man who returned from Africa with a debilitating monkey bite" if he weren't real.
Again, realizing I'm in the minority.
I'm feeling Big Fished, I guess. without the lovely effect of seeing the beautiful Ewan.
I knew people faked illnesses and deaths online; I just never knew there were so
many....
BTW, there's no Guy Straley at www.ratemyprofessors.com, either.
Hah. That was the first place I checked. Of course, I have colleagues that don't appear there despite teaching at multiple universities.
Regarding PhD/teaching evidence: There is no reference for my dissertation that shows up via Google. However, there are conferences, articles, university websites, etc. In the past, I've googled people that have gotten jobs I applied for and found no trace, so it is possible, just very unlikely.
I think it is good that we have this conversation and do what we can to figure out what's what. At the same time, I really don't think we should repeatedly try to contact "kimi" to find out. Either it's a complete ruse, in which case, what's the point?, or she has just lost someone close to her and I think we should be sensitive to that.
FYI, in googling myself, I found a whole string of email messages from the DCista list. I thought that was a bit troubling.
When do we stop? When do we say, this is the most information we're going to get, and we aren't going to know any better than this?
Yup, that.
Thanks, I'm sorry I misinterpreted that. I misstated it a handful of times in this thread.
Off to
thread suck and edit.
When do we stop? When do we say, this is the most information we're going to get, and we aren't going to know any better than this?
Well, I'm thinking we're starting to hit diminishing returns. I mean we could write the States of WI and MN offices of records thingies and ask for death certificates, but I think it's unlikely we'll find any.
eta: Anyway, after that the steps get to be more work, and the probability of finding out anything gets lower.
Or we could do what P-C says and look for evidence he's alive.
Tommyrot's call resolved my doubts. Thanks to everybody who did research; it all cumulated for me. I don't begrudge anybody who needs more information; I'm just saying that I'm not going to worry any more.
I'd agree, with the exception that I do think that an exploratory email would be worth doing. After that, I think we'll eventually learn more, but it may not be by our doing, or any time soon.
