Reader Poll Do you want to know who Gharlane of Eddore is?

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Following on from our story about Usenet legend Gharlane of Eddore's death and the search for his identity in real life, we have been inundated with emails.

A number have, of course, told us his real identity, something that we have resisted from posting as yet. That is because of another group of emails that have either thanked us for not posting his name or urged us not to.

The man known as Gharlane was remembered in a memorial service on Tuesday which around 120 of his real-life and Usenet friends attended. Those close to Gharlane have suggested a suitable memorial would be to donate money to "Eddie Eagle" gun safety program or plant a tree or adopt a cat from a shelter.

While we can understand the friends' perspective, Gharlane is also dead and others have expressed the wish to read these published books from a witty man that they have corresponded with through Usenet.

Then there is the question over whether his offline identity is of any relevance considering that people's relationship with "Gharlane" was strictly online.

We have therefore decided to leave the decision as to whether we reveal Gharlane's real-life identity to you the readers. Below are three buttons, for "no interest", "yes, reveal", and "no, don't".

Whichever of these three is the most popular by Monday morning, we will follow. Note that the "No interest" button corresponds to not revealing his identity. ®