[Sandwich]

The rumors of Stealth's demise have been greatly exaggerated. I have received concrete proof that Stealth is indeed alive and well. (Stealth sent me a video of himself, telling me that he was not, in fact, dead; and greeting me with the then-current date.) Stealth then sent me his version of the events prior and subsequent to the posting of the "RIP Stealth" thread.

This is simplifying the story somewhat, but the basics are that while Stealth was away for a week in an area without free access to the Net, an ex-co-worker of his managed to exploit a weakness in certain systems that were temporarily up for an upgrade, and got ahold of many of Stealth's passwords. With this information, he posted on HLP the "news" of Stealth's death, using pictures he found on Stealth's computer to enhance the validity of the story.

Yes, Stealth had pictures of a wrecked car on his computer (which he had gotten from the cadillacfaq image gallery); and the pictures of him, supposedly taken scant hours before his "death", were actually pictures Stealth took while on his trip, which he then remotely uploaded to his account.

This was merely a nasty practical joke in extremely poor taste. We can just be thankful that Stealth is alive and well. As for why he hasn't posted on the forums yet, he's been waiting for us to make this announcement, which was delayed due to the arrival of my baby girl.

There's no need to bombard him with "Thank God you're alive" messages, really - he read the threads about his "demise", and saw what you all posted. No need to go overboard.

Thanks,
The HLP Administration

P.S. I've removed the "RIP Stealth" and "Stealth Memorial Thread" threads to prevent any further confusion.

[Flipside]

Thank God for that!

Welcome back Stealth! It's good to see you around again, and be sure to administer multiple slappings to whoever was responsible for that level of 'humour', because there was nothing funny whatsoever about it.

The best news is that you are well, and that is what is important.

[Stealth]

thanks man, i appreciate it, but no need for anyone to welcome me back.  i've been here, just out of it for a couple of weeks, and then when i got back i didn't post 'cause of all this stuff that i wanted to resolve with the admins first.

[jdjtcagle]

Wow, I'm speechless... well, welcome back  

BTW, when are you going to fix your sig?

[Mongoose]

This makes for one hell of a story, if nothing else.  Good to see you're still in one piece.

[Snail]

Hooray.

Who's this co-worker, then?

[Droid803]

Yay! He's not dead!
That was a pretty nasty practical joke though >.>

[Mars]

I thought there was something odd going on.

[Jeff Vader]

I thought there was something odd going on.

Aye. At one point I did start to wonder why a co-worker would be arsed to track down the web communities Stealth was a member of.

[Mars]

Don't get me wrong, I bought it at first, but once the first suspicions were raised, it all sort of became clearer to me.

Good job not actually kicking it Stealth

[Ghostavo]

We thought you were dead!








I've always wanted to say that... 
But continue buildind those jet powered rocket cars and it may not be all laughs and giggles. 

[jdjtcagle]

I thought there was something odd going on.

Aye. At one point I did start to wonder why a co-worker would be arsed to track down the web communities Stealth was a member of.

It really stumped me when he said "as some of you may know" but I so took the bait on that one.

[FUBAR-BDHR]

OK now that we know he's alive who's going through that Knossos to retrieve him?

[tinfoil]

Dammit - that was really rude. Buuut it beats him being dead - that's for sure.
it was a pretty well done practical joke though, and i'm kind of impressed actually. it had a lot of people fooled. (including me)  i will not be expecting shadowlurker to show up here again

Oh and FUBAR - make admiral wolf do it, he's got a frakking destroyer

[Jeff Vader]

i will not be expecting shadowlurker to show up here again

I smell a ban. At least his account is nowhere to be seen.

[redsniper]

[tinfoil]

http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?action=profile;u=8000

[Falcon]

Good News: Stealth is alive.  Bad News: I got fooled.

Yep...

[Bob-san]

I had to restrain myself from posting more in the RIP Stealth thread--I too felt very weird about the entire thing--stuff was just not right. Anyways--glad that Stealth is back. If he can prove he was only using HLPBB during his breaks, he could have a valid reason to have that ass-hat of an employee taken down a few notches.

Glad to know you are in fact still here, Stealth.

[Flipside]

No shame in being fooled, it's nothing anyone in their right mind would try to make a joke about.

Everyone note it was an ex co-worker, which sounds like a case of sour grapes to my mind.