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On Saturday Shoe sent PMs to certain Exewebbers telling them that he was not dead. They must have been so relieved to find out the horrible news wasn't true. You can imagine how great that felt.
But the vast majority of Exewebbers did not know. It's a shame the "privileged few" didn't share that knowledge with the rest of us. Could have saved a lot of unnecessary concern.
So I guess the question for those guys is:
Why didn't you share your good news with everybody else?
Well, I was hoping that those who witheld the information would want to say so themselves. Maybe they had a reason. Or, own up to a mistake, and move on. But there’s a deafening silence. Maybe Elton John said it best:
It’s sad, so sad
It’s a sad, sad situation
And it’s getting more and more absurd
Sorry seems to be the hardest word
Let’s cut the crap then. This will be a long post, I’m afraid, but I’ll try to explain what happened, and also why it matters that we know the truth.
On Saturday afternoon (UK time) like many others I logged on to follow the semi-final at Grays (). After all, for most of us, Exeter City is the reason we come on here in the first place. But not Shoe, apparently. On City’s big day, he decided it would be more fun to register as “Billy McNamara” and post in the Social Club about his tragic fantasy “death”. And naturally, people responded. With real feeling. Fair play to them.
Billy McNamara eventually logs off. But while City’s season is going down the plughole at Grays, “Elvis the Pelvis” registers, and posts. Then Elvis logs off, and “Alf Garnet” registers, and posts. Now here’s the strange part: they start “Private Messaging” as soon as they register. Before even posting on any threads. Who could they be contacting? Why?
So I’m online, and now I’m getting suspicious. I’m starting to wonder about Shoe’s shocking "death", and these mysterious new people on Exeweb, and their PMs. But here’s the dilemma: I could not be sure. When somebody announces a death, for God’s sake, you want to take them at their word. And even though I had my doubts, I could hardly jump in and accuse somebody of lying. What if I was wrong? What if McNamara was real, and these other new posters were just a kid ******* about? How would you feel if somebody close to you had died young, in a tragic accident, and then, when you told other people about it, you were called a liar? It doesn’t bear thinking about.
Plus, I admit, my attention was also focused on that bloody semi-final. Until 5 o’clock, anyway.
So instead of posting my doubts on the “Shoe” thread, after the game I sent a PM to Mr Exeweb, telling him my concerns. (Mr Exeweb replied on Sunday: no doubt he was busy on Saturday with football and life, and fair enough). I also made a couple of separate enquiries of my own.
It was only on Sunday morning (UK time) that I had more information, and knew for certain that Shoe’s “death” was a lie. As soon as I was sure, I immediately told everybody else, by starting this thread. The angry reaction that followed was, of course, fully justified. Enough said.
On the other hand, the people who received Private Messages on Saturday didn’t need to try and discover the truth. They already knew, because they had been contacted directly, by Shoe (or Elvis, or Billy, or Alf, or whatever name the sad person was playing with). But they chose not to tell the rest of Exeweb. Only they know why.
Who were they? Well, I can’t hack into their accounts and find their Private Messages. And unfortunately, they don’t seem to want to tell us. All I can do is tell you that I watched Shoe send out PMs on Saturday afternoon - FACT. If you received one, you know who you are. It’s just a shame you're not man enough to admit it. Speaks volumes.
Now you might say, it doesn’t matter, we know the truth now anyway. But actually, this is not about an idiot called “Shoe”. He’s nothing. It really comes down to this: do words like community or social club actually mean anything on Exeweb at all? Yes, we know the truth now. But what if I hadn’t been logged on for that Grays game? What if nobody had noticed what was going on, and found out that it was all codswallop? Would Shoe still be "dead"? Would a handful of people be enjoying the "joke", while everybody else was learning the sad news, and expressing sympathy for an Exewebber who died tragically young? What were they planning to do, keep up the pretence forever? Look, this is a place where people have a laugh, an argument, a chat. If everybody believed that an Exewebber had died, except a small group with a secret, what would have happened? FFS, he was STILL posting. It would have come out in the end, and been even worse, the longer it went on. A nightmare.
This whole sorry business was a nasty, stomach-churning, selfish, monumental f**k-up. And Exeweb is worse off for it. Let's be clear: The person responsible is, above all, Shoe. But those who were keeping it secret got it wrong too. And they know it.
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