I 'kinda' get it. Some folks seems to live their personal lives 'online', whether Mudcat, Facebook or Twitter...whatever.. and it's not always easy to tell how much attention from others is really needed, or whether becoming an 'icon' gets them extra coddling...even when there's "good reason" (as noted in the OP) for the original concern.

Now there you have it Bill. I just don't understand this propensity to bare one's soul on a public forum.
I would no more dream of telling people I don't know, my medical problems, for instance. Yet it happens on here. Likewise any aspect of my personal life, is just that 'PERSONAL'
When it comes to things like, my dog is ill, please pray for him, I start to feel hypoglycemic, and I'm not diabetic.
It appears to me, and I am happy to be contradicted on this, that you folks in the US indulge in this phenomenon, more than we do, in the UK.
Could this be a manifestation of the noted British reserve, or phlegm?