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The following has been sent.

I am acutely aware that it sounds very (perhaps excessively) formal, but we--none of us to my knowledge--are acquainted with the Enola's family, and they very likely have no clue that we as a community even exist.


Dear Mr [Omitted],​
I hope that you will forgive the unsolicited contact.​
I have been sent your email address by your late cousin’s friend [Omitted] in order that I might convey both my personal condolences and those of the membership or the Forteana Forums, an online forum of which Randy was a member for some eighteen years; indeed, that understates the matter considerably: he was part of the core membership, and since 2018 served as a member of our staff. I regret that apart from what I knew of Randy's late brother, I am not at all acquainted with your family, but I should like, all the same, to offer you and his other relatives our deepest sympathies on your loss.​
Although Randy and I never met in person, we spoke on a daily basis and were in a ‘virtual’ sense friends. Randy alerted us to his health problems in the wake of his hospitalisation prior to Christmas, but it has still come as a great shock to learn of his death; when last we spoke, he seemed in good spirits and was making plans for his rehabilitation. Since we announced his death to our membership 48hrs ago, we have seen a long succession of tributes to a man equally liked and respected for his generosity of spirit and prodigious intelligence—[Brief personal anecdote omitted]
If you should be so inclined, I am certain that Randy’s other virtual colleagues and fellow board members would be very glad to hear of any plans there might be for a funeral or memorial service, although, of course, I quite understand if such arrangements are to be kept within the family.​
With sympathy at this difficult time​
[Real Name Omitted]​
Tone perfect Yith.
 
Given recent activity, I had sensed that Lloyd was an extension of EG. I am even more touched that Lloyd's last post quoted one of mine - even if it was made by one of the other mods.

As with Lloyd, I wish Randy a peaceful and wonderful journey to wherever he's going.

:(
 
Given recent activity, I had sensed that Lloyd was an extension of EG. I am even more touched that Lloyd's last post quoted one of mine - even if it was made by one of the other mods.

As with Lloyd, I wish Randy a peaceful and wonderful journey to wherever he's going.

:(
I'm starting to wonder if he was also an Andy Kaufman fan what with the whole alter ego none sinister persona of Lloyd. Excellent work mate. :cool:
 
Oh no, we have lost (Enola as) Lloyd, too?
He only served me a traditional cream tea last week :(

Lovely to have a tribute thread, thank you.
That's what got me - how quickly it all came about. He was here until 21st December at least. He gave me a 'like' that day and then look what happened; just a few days later - gone. Difficult to comprehend.
In the words of the final episode of my favourite TV series;
'Goodbye, Farewell And Amen'.
 
Pilgrim's Progress by Procol Harum.


I don't want to make this a music thread, but I happen also to know that this was one of Randy's favourite songs. It may prove an antidote to maudlin thoughts—because it's infectiously upbeat.

He wrote a few things about PH, here and here. As a musician, I'm interested in his sometimes-mentioned but mysterious former career as a professional musician before becoming a scientist.
 
The following has been sent.

I am acutely aware that it sounds very (perhaps excessively) formal, but we are not--none of us to my knowledge is--acquainted with the Enola's family, and they very likely have no clue that we as a community even exist.


Dear Mr [Omitted],​
I hope that you will forgive the unsolicited contact.​
I have been sent your email address by your late cousin’s friend [Omitted] in order that I might convey both my personal condolences and those of the membership or the Forteana Forums, an online forum of which Randy was a member for some eighteen years; indeed, that understates the matter considerably: he was part of the core membership, and since 2018 served as a member of our staff. I regret that apart from what I knew of Randy's late brother, I am not at all acquainted with your family, but I should like, all the same, to offer you and his other relatives our deepest sympathies on your loss.​
Although Randy and I never met in person, we spoke on a daily basis and were in a ‘virtual’ sense friends. Randy alerted us to his health problems in the wake of his hospitalisation prior to Christmas, but it has still come as a great shock to learn of his death; when last we spoke, he seemed in good spirits and was making plans for his rehabilitation. Since we announced his death to our membership 48hrs ago, we have seen a long succession of tributes to a man equally liked and respected for his generosity of spirit and prodigious intelligence—[Brief personal anecdote omitted]
If you should be so inclined, I am certain that Randy’s other virtual colleagues and fellow board members would be very glad to hear of any plans there might be for a funeral or memorial service, although, of course, I quite understand if such arrangements are to be kept within the family.​
With sympathy at this difficult time​
[Real Name Omitted]​

Beautiful.
 
The largest version of his photo I've found so far:
https://constructivist.info/authors/randall-whitaker
enolagaia.jpg

And I found a listing for his dissertation:

Venues for contexture : a critcal analysis and enactive reformulation of group decision support systems​

Whitaker, Randall.   Umea Universitet (Sweden) ProQuest Dissertations Publishing,  1992. CB16974.
 
The largest version of his photo I've found so far:
https://constructivist.info/authors/randall-whitaker
View attachment 62242
And I found a listing for his dissertation:

Venues for contexture : a critcal analysis and enactive reformulation of group decision support systems​

Whitaker, Randall.   Umea Universitet (Sweden) ProQuest Dissertations Publishing,  1992. CB16974.

Believe it or not, this is almost just as I'd imagined him to look. Perhaps the only thing missing is a pipe.
 
We have been fortunate to have had his contributions and guidence.
No matter who, it always feels like people are too young when they die.

Thank you Yithian for bringing us news and for drafting condolences to his family.
Thank you Stu Neville for answering questions.
Thank you MrRing for the superb photo.
 
Believe it or not, this is almost just as I'd imagined him to look. Perhaps the only thing missing is a pipe.
Heh! Same here.
Beautiful.
I agree. Very nicely done, Yith. Thanks for doing that.

Randy's passing has thrown me out of kilter for a few days. It's interesting to think that he'd be very much into studying the way his passing affects those of us here, given his professional career and private pursuits. The past 25 years or so have held some surprises for me, while I learned how our emotional connections to people we've never met can develop so quickly in places like this forum. It still surprises me how strong and how immediate those responses can be.

This reminds me of the time, thirty or so years ago, I lost a friend to cancer at far too young an age. He was a research librarian I met as a founding member of a volunteer organization. While I wasn't a close friend, I did enjoy his presence at meetings, especially when he spoke from his vast knowledge of history and sociology. He was excellent company and a blast at parties. When he passed, it dogged me for a couple of weeks. The universe had been diminished, life seemed tedious and dull, and his passing was something of an insult, it seemed. His memorial service was cathartic. Old friends, many from college, stood up and told stories of some of his antics over the years. We all roared with laughter, being able to picture him doing exactly what was described. It's the best "funeral" I've ever been to.

This thread seems to be invisible to my usual surfing of the forum. I've tried different buttons, different browsers, and so on. I wouldn't call this a complaint, as it makes it seem a bit more private. Of course, I would normally just send a PM to EnolaGaia and he'd have it fixed in a jiffy.
 
This thread seems to be invisible to my usual surfing of the forum. I've tried different buttons, different browsers, and so on. I wouldn't call this a complaint, as it makes it seem a bit more private. Of course, I would normally just send a PM to EnolaGaia and he'd have it fixed in a jiffy.
Do you have anyone on ignore? I have lost threads due to butterfingered button pressing that means I end up putting thread starters on ignore. This makes their threads invisible too.

I have been in two minds whether to post this as it seems to trivial for a poster of Enola's magnitude. I don't have a song or any special quote (how could I choose?). But I do have a smiley that he used enough to make me associate it with him. I hope people like this!

--->:reyes:
 
Do you have anyone on ignore? I have lost threads due to butterfingered button pressing that means I end up putting thread starters on ignore. This makes their threads invisible too.

I have been in two minds whether to post this as it seems to trivial for a poster of Enola's magnitude. I don't have a song or any special quote (how could I choose?). But I do have a smiley that he used enough to make me associate it with him. I hope people like this!

--->:reyes:
Hadn't thought of that. I'll check. I've found people I had never heard of in my ignore list. Not sure how something like that happens, but one episode involving a new member had me very puzzled until I noticed the "Show ignored content" link and clicked on it. The new person I had never heard of was in there with the long gone troublemakers and a couple of crazy people. Probably something Randy fixed.

Well, that's not it. Pretty sure Yithian has never been on my ignore list. :) I cleared out the cobwebs from that list, and nothing has changed. It appears that I haven't had access (through the buttons at the top) to anything under Forums>Members' Lounge. Lots of stuff there that I haven't seen. From what I could recall, this seems to be fairly new. I did look at some of those threads within the past month or so. Guess I'll be busy catching up on Royal News and Old School Cool for a while.
 
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I have only just heard this very sad news. EG will be much missed. He was a diamond. The tributes on here are very touching and say it all. Feel silly that I have been chirruping away on here not knowing.

R.I.P. EG. Wherever you are, I hope it's interesting.
 
His quote in his signature - I knew the job was dangerous when I took it - I believe to be a quote from the true-life adventures of Henry Cabot Henhouse III, better know to one and all as Super Chicken.
I was always intrigued by the other quote under his signature : 'Of course I know the difference ... I don't want you to kiss a hole in the ground!' and a search last year lead to Enola as a long term moderator on the Toyota Tacoma Forum (for truckers) and his biographical site. Cannot now find the post from Randy explaining the origin of that reply/put-down and the sign-off on the forum has changed. Now he has gone and the past is already clouding over before I got to know him. A big sad shock.
 
My gosh , this has been a shock to hear! He was online last time I had time for a good browse, around Christmas eve?

I can only agree what a monumental loss his passing is to this message board.... He had a really uncanny ability to find long lost posts and info in seconds..... I knew he was a super intelligent man from his posts on here , but his CV is something else..... Wow, really impressive super intelligent man ....

. I've not been on here as long as some of you but even in that short time I know that Enola Gaia was such a huge presence who was always online a lot and very helpful to all members , as well as an amazing source of interesting facts of course....His passing is a great loss.... And he had time to moderate a truckers forum too , what a guy!!! All should check out his website , he certainly lead a very productive life indeed.

Rip Randy - the FTMB will not be the same place without you

ps - the letter to his family written by Yithian was spot on I think.
 
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Well, that's not it. Pretty sure Yithian has never been on my ignore list. :) I cleared out the cobwebs from that list, and nothing has changed. It appears that I haven't had access (through the buttons at the top) to anything under Forums>Members' Lounge. Lots of stuff there that I haven't seen. From what I could recall, this seems to be fairly new. I did look at some of those threads within the past month or so. Guess I'll be busy catching up on Royal News and Old School Cool for a while.

For some time now (I forget how many months) the whole CHAT section has not been included in NEW POSTS; you have to browse to it to manually check for the latest content.

This is deliberate--it keeps us Fortean focused.
 
I've only just spotted this too - reality getting in the way again. I'm very sad to hear that Enola is no longer on this plane. He was erudite and gentlemanly, and I always felt quite honoured if he noticed one of my lowly posts. Who will check my facts now? Godspeed, sir.
 
I'll tell you what feels strange - I jump around the archives a lot and like to dip in to them on and off, so always leave a signed-in browser window up even when I am not online.
I had been part way through an old enormous thread when I heard the news.
Enola was a heavy contributor to that thread, so it felt very upsetting (yet kind of a huge privilege) to be reading his posts there, afterwards, knowing that he was no longer with us.

I too was a long term user before my official join date, so Randy's posts were quite familiar to me over a long period of time. There was something calmly reassuring about his presence.

I found it difficult to continue reading those old posts but there is such an enormous wealth of content that he left with us, which will continue to resonate with people (new and old) for a long time to come, I hope. It feels horribly wrong to see the 'account retired' announcement by his userpic - it made me feel a bit angry for a while, a naturally irrational side effect of the suddenness of it, the shock. I suppose this in itself is a form of internet grief, something entirely new for me, and still settling.

That hat with the feather in it - feels oddly symbolic, but I can't say what of..
 
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