This is from the thread referenced above; the report of the meeting with dogster, after it had taken place.

"Carol, I'm so sorry I missed our rendezvous today.

I did pass by and saw the orange Fodor's bag but you were deep in conversation with somebody else. He didn't look very pleasant, downright horrible in fact, so I kept walking. I noticed a number of cameras focussed on your table and three men talking into their sleeve. One of them was sporting a golden crown and a fishtail.

Whoever the imposter was, I think it's best if you don't see him again. He looked very suspect indeed - and kinda sleazy. That fat belly, the grubby T-shirt, those short shorts and thongs are always a give-away. I saw him afterwards with three tiny Thai girls draped over his nether regions. He was heading into some kind of sporting event in Patpong.

Alas, my pink rinse and new bouffant hair-do went to waste. I'd spent hours in preparation. No matter - I met a very friendly, generous and charming lady quite by accident, instead. There seems to be more than one Haagen Daaz in Central World.

Funnily enough, her name was Carol, too."

His wit, his writing style, priceless!

I was another who knew of his "outside world" identity early on. But I think of the "real" dogster as being the person who interacted with us publically here on Fodors and in private emails to many of us. His fame weighted heavily on him. He felt the world's expectations made it less possible for him to be spontaneous, silly or irritable or however he felt in the moment because he had to be consistent with his public personna. Here he could be all of those things. And yes, sometimes his comments got "moderated" or he made people angry or offended, and sometimes he was remarkably gracious and kind and empathic - witness his words to Gpanda after Gpanda's diagnosis.

I know he valued this network of "distant friends" here on Fodors, friends with whom he could be himself rather than the "Terribly Talented Nigel Triffett."

Dogster's comments always brought to mind the famous quote from Alice Roosevelt Longworth "If you haven't got anything good to say about anybody, come sit next to me." I would have loved a Bali get together.

I will miss you also Dogster.

I so much enjoyed your comments and postings.

Regret I never got to meet you personally.

I remember how you tried to tell me you were an old lady from Prescott Arizona.

I hope you can see from up there how much your friends miss you

Rest in Peace

I didn't realize that dogster also posted on th "Cruises" forum. I thought we had him to ourselves in the Asia forum, lol. But come to find out, he loved to cruise and had many great blog postings about his cruise experiences also.

He was booked on a 3 wk. cruise last Oct. I wonder if he made that cruise.

Marija, such moving, spot-on tributes. I'm fairly certain the dog is in heaven behaving hellishly, unless that Ganges episode resulted in some sort of higher state of being.

Carol & jacketwatch, I was late to the party and wasn't one of his BFFs, but I'm still quite envious of your encounters. A martini on a cruise: iconic. A Hagan Daas in BKK with his evil twin: priceless.

---
Just so you all know, I was unsure about what to do when I discovered the obits. My first reaction was utter shock, and then I wanted to believe - or pretend - that it was all a sick joke perpetuated by him.

Not wanting to be the messenger, I thought of contacting one of the honchos of this board. Or not posting at all and waiting for someone else to find out.

But then I got a sign. I am not normally a spiritual person (haven't been to India yet), but I can say in no uncertain terms that I received an other-worldly message letting me know that I needed to disperse the news.

At some point I will share the freaky particulars over some pad thai. But meanwhile, I have no doubt that, like Gpanda, the dogster is still traveling with us, his distant friends.

oooooo, crosscheck! You just gave me the chills!

I'm so glad you got the "sign." It would have been terrible to keep on wondering what had happened to the Dogster. These stories and tributes are wonderful and cathartic--kind of an on-line memorial to the Dogster.

Oh, crosscheck, don't be like dogster and promise to tell us "someday. " We want to know <i> now </i> while the details are vivid. If you're in contact with dogster do ask him about the mafia in Udaipur, the post Pandaw poisoning, the ... And wish him a Happy Birthday on Sunday.

Crosscheck, yes! Tell us about the other-worldly message. Inquiring minds want to know.

emd3: He met us on the Connie for a 12 night holyland cruise which he actually cut short after about 10 nights. He jumped ship in Athens B4 our cruise ended and boarded the Azamara ship which was in port at the same time and off he went again. Prior to our cruise on the Connie he was on a Nile river cruise. After Azamara he went to Mumbai and then to other places in Asia. By the time he got back to Oz I think he had been away for several months.

C'mon cross check, lets hear it!

BTW the Connie and Azamara cruises were late Oct. to early Nov.

Saddened to hear of the passing of our Dog. Loved his style and his terrior temper. I think it was Craig who pointed out to someone who was on the receiving end of Dog's wrath..... that "a bite from the Dog is not fatal".

I must be one of the only ones who did not figure out Dogster's true identity even though I spent enough time trying to unravel the mystery. When he finally announced his name on his site and I found out that I was WAY off, I emailed him letting him know that I was so glad that he was not who I thought he was.

Broderick Smith.

We both had a good giggle about that.

Just so you know, Crosscheck, we are waiting eagerly to hear more tantalizing details when you are ready.

I'm trying to figure out how to tell you without revealing who I am!

rivet, When did you first notice his name on his site? I first saw it in mid-July, right around the time he stopped posting here.

cc--I noticed his name on his website in April and took that as an indicator that he didn't plan to return to Fodors. He was annoyed by the constant editorial deletions and devoted his efforts to his geneaology site:

www.triffitt.wordpress.com

I don't think he ever posted after returning to Australia after the events described here:
http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...i-175072-2.cfm

His prediction was ironically 'I will survive...'

(I also never communicated with him offline.)

Now we're left with the cc mystery. Was dogster contacting Barbara Walters, Billy Graham, or a wine importer with hopes of one last bottle of his beloved Pouilly Fume?

Marija, that was the last post he started, but he did respond to others' posts after that.

Crosscheck, I thought he added his real name to his website about a year ago, though I may be wrong.

<i>dogster on May 25, 12 at 10:21pm
I've been finding Fodor's more irritating than informative lately, so I decided to take a Fodo-break.

It's still irritating - but I find the cruising board calms me down. It moves so slowly I can pretend I'm dead.</i>

I think his last post was on July 2nd in the Lounge of all places, about ankle cramps:

http://www.fodors.com/community/fodo...any-relief.cfm

oh bloody hell.