Online Crap, those who crave attention. Published, Aug 16,2005

I got my first computer in 1999. I was so excited, now I could do my taxes online, send emails, and surf the net at my leisure. I had no idea how addicting and fun it could be. Summer of 2000, I was bored one night and looking for games to play online. I came across Pogo (www.pogo.com) it's a game site, you can play and chat with other people. I loved it! Over the years I've met online and in real life some very good people, but, I've come across some really sad and sick ones too. Here are a few stories, and like dragnet, the names have been changed to protect the innocent, and the stupid!

Lesson #1, Those that crave attention...
"Sandy"from the UK, was a woman that frequented a certain room that I spent a lot of time in too. She was online friends with many of the regulars. Her story starts. We were all pet lovers, she said she had all kinds of pets, ferrets, chinchillas, cats, dogs, birds etc. Then she told us she was pregnant... then she was pregnant with twins! For awhile it was all she would talk about. Well she came online one day and told us that she had been in an accident and lost the twins. She was online everyday accepting the sympathy and well wishes of those in the room. (That should have said something to us there) Not too long after that, she started telling us her husband was abusing her. Again, these caring people worried and counseled her. She finally said she was going to make her husband leave and get a divorce. She said he left, but kept coming back and beating on her, and once brought his Mother who pushed Sandy down the stairs and broke her arm. Not long after that, she told us she had a new man in her life. We got to 'talk' to him through her account and the one he made for himself. She was in love! But, again, tragedy strikes.... something was wrong, she was bleeding internally or something like that, and was going to have surgery. I missed the next part, but was filled in, she had come online after 'surgery' and said that she had died on the table, been gone for like 5 minutes and come back to life. She was then released from the hospital like a day later. lol One night soon after that I was talking to her online. She was telling me that something was wrong, she was bleeding to death. On the off chance she was telling me the truth, I kept telling her to call for help, she wouldn't, but stayed online and would tell me every few minutes how she was bleeding and getting colder, that she was going to die. At the very last minute, her 'boyfriend' came to her house, he 'spoke' to me and asked what was going on. I told him to take her to the hospital. He supposedly did and saved her life. I think that was one of the final straws. We had people in our room that were medical professionals, and started to question her. When the shit finally settled, here is what we knew... she had never been pregnant, big doubts on even having a husband, let alone an abusive one, no new man in her life, it was her (accounts are easy to make) and the surgery had been a big story too. Why? Because the people in the room were kind and caring, taking her at her word. I did too. Some people crave attention so much, they are willing to trade on the goodness/kindness of others. Because we no longer believed her, and she couldn't get the strokes and attention she needed, she left that room, changed her player name and moved on to another.....