BS: How strange?

Subject: RE: BS: How strange?
From: Ella who is Sooze
Date: 06 Apr 04 - 07:45 AM

Well Morticia...

I wouldn't know what to say, it is a bit odd, but very hard to even think about thinking up an explanation for why she'd do it... in other words... it's beyond me and damned strange... yes I agree!

Did you let her know, you know she's still clogging and hasn't popped them yet?

mind boggling!

Ella

Subject: RE: BS: How strange?
From: Ellenpoly
Date: 06 Apr 04 - 04:35 AM

When I was a child I once went around telling people I was an orphan. I'm still not quite sure why I did it, but I must have wanted to have people sympathize with my situation in some way...or perhaps it was the burgeoning actress in me that wanted to try on different roles to see reactions to them. I don't know for sure, but I do think there are many of us who have fantasized what people might say about us when we die, or more simply when we're not around to hear them. I just found that in the chatroom it's possible to use an option that says we're away but still lets us see what others are writing. I bet I'm not the only one who thought it might be interesting to see if I could catch them talking about me...and I'm old enough to know better!

Perhaps this was at the core of the more elaborate ruse this woman played on unsuspecting friends and aquaintances. I agree with those here who have said that the internet is a place unlike all others. It's both real and unreal at the same time. People are able to create entirely new lives for themselves (my gay friend has posted the most incredible photos of himself on one website, which are most certainly NOT himself..but insists that it's all part of the fantasy we're allowed to pursue online with no one the wiser).

I'm glad that mudcat has a profiles and pics page, but the truth is that even then we have no assurance that we're being told the truth. I don't want to become so wary that I automatically distrust all that I read and see on the net, but we have only to try to follow a news story through different sites to see how many possible slants and how much misinformation is already out there to know that caution is only appropriate.

Nevertheless, I do tend to trust the folks around here, even the ones I know who log off and log back on with another name to post things they'd rather not be associated with. The level of deceit is relatively low and lacking in danger to anyone, but it shows that there are few of us who don't try out some form of other-than-completely honest behaviour, even as adults. Poor woman-I hope people said nice things about her. She obviously needed to hear it..xx..e

Subject: RE: BS: How strange?
From: katlaughing
Date: 06 Apr 04 - 03:55 AM

The thread "A Very Special MMario Shawl" makes me very glad I haven't followed your advice, Jim.:-) That and a few other threads, phone call, gift-exchanges, letters, in-person meetings, etc. including the virtual release party for Rick Fielding's last CD.

It is odd, Mortee, what she did, but we are all curious, as you said. In Tuesdays with Morrie the author tells of how they did get together a "pre-death" memorial for Morrie, so that he could hear, there and then, what folks thought of him. He was an extraordinary man and requested such. That was the last book my mom read before she died. I remember her remarking on what a great idea that was.

kat

Subject: RE: BS: How strange?
From: dianavan
Date: 06 Apr 04 - 03:52 AM

Good advice, Jim. The illusion of community is very alluring. It is cyberspace and should not be infused with emotional content. There are too many insincere people out there, not to mention real sociopaths.

Mudcat, however, is a very good way of discussing issues that may not be appropriate conversation at work. I have found the comments and opinions informative and intellectually stimulating. Most mudcatters I would like as neighbors - I think.

Subject: RE: BS: How strange?
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 06 Apr 04 - 02:27 AM

Mark Twain wrote about this. Tom Sawyer and his friends disappeared for a few days and were presumed dead; then they showed up at their own funeral. It was written as a comical scene.

Twain counted on his readers to empathize with the boys. He knew human nature pretty well, and he knew we'd all secretly like to witness our own funerals, and hear the nice things people would say about us.

In Tom Sawyer's case, the misunderstanding was accidental. We'd have a lot less sympathy if they had deliberately faked their own deaths.

You can get away with a lot on the Internet. You can erase any past shame by coming back with a new handle and pretending to be a different person. You can even invent multiple personalities and have arguments with yourself. People who crave drama can create a hell of a lot of it on a talk forum like Mudcat.

That's why I recommend not getting emotionally involved in this medium. Save your affection for the people you meet face to face.

Subject: RE: BS: How strange?
From: Morticia
Date: 05 Apr 04 - 01:59 PM

She runs other sites under her real name. Someone went,in all innocence I think, to see what had been said about her death on her other sites , as unsurprisingly the details were sketchy.....only to find she was posting away and putting up a very lively show for someone who had died.Strange that, she "died" on the internet and the internet also gave her away......poetic justice or something, I suppose.

I agree with Chief Chaos, it is only human to wonder what might be said about you when you turn up your toes.....but it is still an odd thing to do, IMO.

Subject: RE: BS: How strange?
From: Chief Chaos
Date: 05 Apr 04 - 01:19 PM

I'd say she needs help.
I too have felt like "dropping out" a few times.
She actually managed to do it.
Call it "George Bailey" syndrome. See how it affects those around you for you to be gone. Find out how much they love you, miss you, hated you, etc. It would be interesting to have a computer simulation to see the affects. Maybe that's what she was doing.

Subject: RE: BS: How strange?
From: Amos
Date: 05 Apr 04 - 01:10 PM

She clearly felt virtual corpsehood was her destination, so she just went with it. Unusual, I must say, but, on reflection, who's to say what is usual? We've never really had an internet before.

A

Subject: RE: BS: How strange?
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Apr 04 - 09:50 AM

Well - its one way of making a dramatic exit from an internet forum. You yourself call it an "internet life" - so I suppose the logical end of that is an "internet death". Pretty apalling taste though!!
How did you find out that she was un-deceased?

Subject: RE: BS: How strange?
From: Mooh
Date: 05 Apr 04 - 09:29 AM

Sims is make-believe. Maybe life imitates art?

Hope she gets the help she needs.

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: BS: How strange?
From: JennyO
Date: 05 Apr 04 - 09:23 AM

Allison, it sounds as if your friend in college might have been manifesting signs of Munchausen Syndrome

As for the one you mentioned, Morticia, I don't know if it would come under the same heading, but it certainly sounds like some sort of attention-getting ploy. Hard to know what was going on in her head, but I'd say she obviously needs help.

Subject: RE: BS: How strange?
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 05 Apr 04 - 08:29 AM

When I was in college I had a friend, very sweet and funny with a raw edge of humor. She was pale and slender and told us all about her leukemia treatments that took place from time to time. She would go home for a long weekend or come back from vacations and tell us the progress of her treatments. We all worried about her and asked after her and prayed for her.

Senior year came and she wrote us all a letter- seems the whole thing had been a fake. She felt she needed it to get sympathy, didn't know how else to make and maintain friends. We all told her we forgave her, but she dropped out of sight soon after graduation and I never heard from her again.

Some people don't know how to just live their lives and deal with what really happens. And what really happens, sooner or later, will be just as dramatic as whatever your imagination can conjure up.

Allison

Subject: RE: BS: How strange?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 05 Apr 04 - 08:27 AM

Ultimate trolling? Insurance fraud? Trying to generate marketing buzz in the "death" as well as in the "True Story"?

I'd be done with her, that's all I know.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: How strange?
From: Strollin' Johnny
Date: 05 Apr 04 - 08:08 AM

Nowt so queer as folks.
Johnny :0)

Subject: BS: How strange?
From: Morticia
Date: 05 Apr 04 - 07:41 AM

In my other internet life ( sorry, I am not always totally faithful to the Mudcat),I am part of a community of people who make things for a game called The Sims. I have my own site and forum and am a member of many others.It isn't as close as this one, I doubt anywhere else could be but you get to know your fellow Simmers pretty well.

Anyway, about a month ago, a leading figure in the community died and there was a great outpouring of shock and grief. This was a married woman with a child and much sympathy was expressed for their loss.

Anyway, turns out she isn't dead at all. She faked it for reasons best known to herself.How strange is that? It was such an odd thing to do, I wondered what you would make of it?