OK, I've been keeping my mouth shut for a while, and I have to say that there is no way on God's green earth that Michael could be anyone but Shakes.
It is pretty obvious in the way that no one could ever post the way Shakes does. He has a combination of wit coupled with arrogance that no poster could even dare to match.
I have both laughed and scoffed at Shakes' summaries and posts since the beginning of Survivor 2, and let me say that if Shakes is anyone else on this board, his other personas lack the necessary elements that cause Shakes to be the poster that he is.
We may not be able to see eachother, but some people have a style of posting that stands out, and absolutely no one can parallel the attitude I have seen from the clown that has made reading episode summaries so devilishly fun. I mean even his regular posts stand apart from many of the other posters.
As obnoxious as he may seem to be, I just can't see him lowering himself to sneaking around the boards using other screen names to post very un-Shakes like posts about himself. Shakes has always spoken his mind, and when it comes to defending himself, I must say I don't think I could do it in the way that he does, and certainly no one else does either.
Point blank:Anyone who has surfed these boards regardless of whether they have posted or not, should know well enough by now, that NO ONE could possibly be Shakes except for Shakes.
There are times when I think he's being self-righteous, but hey, I've been an asshole once or twice too.
As for Michael, he is playing a GAME. Games like these bring out the worst in people, and I commend him for having the insight to PLAY these people who actually thought they were going to find love on the Love Cruise. Michael is the only guy I really like (and that's not saying much) It's not just because it's Shakes, but I really don't want any of the other guys to win.
Shakes/Michael has taken the public whoring with pride, and I can't imagine any reason at this time for him to play tricks on his fellow posters who have been with him through the good and bad times. It's just plain silly.
Either way, Shakes has helped make this board a fun place to hang, and I thank him for that, so I don't mind if he gets a little swelled-head every now and then (just keep it to a minimum dude, we love you but we don't want to pair off with you in a dance competition).