Fabricated story: blueskies

I'm glad you left it, it was a work of art. I hope she continues writing, because she really has a gift, but I hope she doesn't try to manipulate others with it.

I admit that I had my suspicions sometimes, but to be honest I prefer to err on the side of compassion, and if there really was an extremely depressed young person so caught up in what was honestly a fairly unhealthy relationship (or even a depressed person who wanted to be caught up in an obsessive relationship), they and their significant other really needed help badly.

I do know what motivates people to write, and often the reason is to banish one's own inner demons. Many of our characters have large pieces of ourselves in them, at least I know that mine do. Some of those passages about depression were very real, and I hope that if Ida does have the kinds of feelings she was writing about, or is writing about someone she knows, that she or her acquaintance is receiving proper care for it.

 

I guess in his/her mind the story was real. I support EC's decision to not remove the thread from the site.

 

Actually I find it to be very horrible how one can trick people like that. Pretending to be in hospital.. Pretending that someone comitted suicide.. =( I agree with Chip.

I do agree that the reactions were indeed honest, so it may have a good purpose, but just.. Blah. I actually feel very bad about the topic (about how the person could lie like that). It's very unfortunate that the story wasn't honest, but I'm glad the Team found out.

 

I guess I just haven't wrapped my head around why someone would do that over such a long period of time if they didn't have some sort of serious problem and/or mental illness.

The action itself was reprehensible, especially with so many people following along and finding hope in the story. I suppose it's a reminder that we don't really know who's sitting behind the keyboard.

I'm glad this site has moderators and admins who follow up on things like that, you guys do good work.

 

That's a truly despicable, unforgivable thing to do, but I can't help but be relieved that there was not in fact a suicide. I saw that fake "update" yesterday right before I left for work yesterday and that really brought me down...glad it wasn't true.

 

Thank you moderators for being on top of things and going through such a thorough investigation and reporting back to us. Your work is quite amazing.

I also had suspicions that this could be a fake story as the narrative became more and more dramatic. I am at least relieved that no one died after all.

DragonHerz, I remember you offering such warm and wise advice to blueskies, and I'm glad the thread will remain visible. I think you're probably right again about the author of this story probably suffering something similar, and I do hope she gets treatment for them.

 

I never followed the thread but I am shocked and I'm sorry to say, disgusted someone could do such a thing. Fair enough if they were genuinely going through something similar and were masquerading as someone else but to fake your own death is kind of sick, especially as it involved emotionally exploiting others who may have been themselves vulnerable. I'm glad you investigated and hope nothing like this happens again.

 

I'm just glad no one has really died, it nearly had me in tears, when I found out he died, but it hurt me to find out it was fake because it really did inspire me, but I'm just glad that no one died, so basically it was like reading a story and the character died in the end. But what a way she ended the story, she could have said they lived happily ever after and are too emotionally invested in their relationship so they have stopped posting, but no. Anyways it really hurt me to find that Eddie died and that the story was fake, I can't believe it managed to stay alive for over a year, the thread of course. But there are real people out there who are going through things like the story. This women is obviously talented with her writing, but why do it here? When she knows it could hurt a lot of people, which it did, I'm so disappointed and saddened.

 

I don't understand... why? How? It went on for more than a year... the effort? The concert and the kiss? I'm confused but quite impressed at the same time

 

You know, I can see the compassionate viewpoint from Dragonherz and those who show anger towards Blueskies. Of the former, they may see someone who actually needs help and encouragement to find a cause as to why they fabricated such an event, whilst the latter seems to be more focussed on the deceitfulness that Blueskies showed.
I'm somewhere inbetween, though I do err on the side of pity towards them in that I wonder if there was something happening in their life that contributed to them coming up with such a story, knowing it would inevitably cause distress to those who read and followed it.
Now, not to undermine staff or admin decisions, but by permanently banning Blueskies may leave him with no-one to pour his feelings out to, therefore adding more tension to what he may actually be feeling.
As I say, I'm not staff so it's not my call, but would seeing him be made accountable for his actions by having him explaining to us all why they did this, together with a rollicking and a warning to his future conduct?

 

Actually, I've just re-read Martins' opening post. I'm glad they've been banned.
Most of us know someone who has taken their own lives and it affects all who knew them for a very long time.

 

I have read the moderators commentary, but I have not read the thread, so I do not know the "story".

I do know, from experience, that there are people like this all over. I call them emotional leeches. This is how they get their "kicks", from making up lies to make people feel sorry for them, for any reason.

They have sad, pathetic lives, and they believe that if they have to live a sad and pathetic life, that other people should have to also. This is how they think.

It is not uncommon for these types of psychological manipulators to make up extremely intricate stories about a false persona, in order to get as much sympathy as they possibly can.

Most of these lowly forms of humans do this for the sake of just being an emotional leech or emotional vampire, if you will. Some do it for not only for the sympathy, but to make you feel SO badly for them, that you are willing to send them money for whatever reasons they can make up (need to pay Dr. bills, don't have food, no where to live, etc...).

As I have told one past online acquaintance who was severely traumatized by someone just like this, using him to drain his emotional sympathies.........you CANNOT believe everything you read or see online!!!

This is the age of photoshopping, liars, and cheats! They will say, do, and manipulate anything in order to get what they want from you.......and that includes sucking you dry of all of your emotions.

It took me a couple of months of some heavy duty "friend therapy" and explanations of these types of people to get him to feel better about himself, and like he wasn't the worthless person he felt he was because of this emotional draining leech/vampire sucking the lifeforce out of him.

BE CAREFUL!

NEVER consider ANY story you read online to be true!! DEMAND facts first!

Most people who tell the truth just do it simply. And thats the end of it.

Its the ones who type out these elaborate stories who you have to be VERY suspicious of. They are usually some type of emotional leech.

I just removed myself from another site this week, because the admin was one of these emotional leeches, sucking the lifeforce out of the members with his constant whining, crying, and moaning about how horrible his life is, how worthless he is, how everybody hates him, etc...... And its been going on for years.

Just DONT believe everything you read!!!!!





When in doubt, ask Mister Sparkles........I can "smell" these people a mile away!

 

Never read the story but wow, its quite strange what people do. I can't imagine any motivation to do something like this? Especially over such a long period... What does she gain from it? Very weird.

 

As MisterSparkles mentioned, individuals who do such things are vampires of sorts, usually for attention or compensation. They accept sympathy or the positive vibes of their "victims", which in this case would be forum-goers.

Why they do this?

There tends to be two reasons.

One is they're bored/dissatisfied with their life, offline, and instead of making any significant changes to improve it, they find it much easier to fabricate a life online. It's one thing to go out and situate yourself and another to, quite easily, type something out. In this way -- so long as others believe them -- these individuals can, in a way, live the life they so desperately want but, for whatever reason, do not seek/have. This allows them to create a sort of fantasy world in which they are a God, as their life is only limited by how clever they write, and how gullible their "audience" is.

The other reason is, there could be something wrong, a kind of imbalance, like a mental illness. This doesn't give the individual a Get Out Of Jail Free card, mind you, but it does make it appear slightly less malicious in comparison to somebody, like in the first reason, of being deliberately manipulative. While it may be more difficult to control in this scenario, it can still, to a degree, be controlled. Those who hide behind their problems, instead of overcoming them, are pretty damaged, and they don't mind using others, because if they get caught -- at least in their mind -- they can always brush it away, with something akin to, "Well, I can't help myself! I have ___, so, leave me alone!"; it's a last-ditch attempt at gaining sympathy, in the event they are caught, so they can go right back to pulling strings.

In both cases, it allows the individual, even if just for a few minutes to a few hours, a day, to "be the person they want to be". Much like an addict, that fabricated lifestyle fuels them, gives them meaning, and why not? They receive their pity, their attention, and everything, especially love and concern, that they either, do not receive elsewhere, or cannot receive, for whatever reason. The "thrill" of telling a fib and, more or less, getting away with it, excites the individual, and like a drug, they have to tell more lies, bigger and more bold than before, to get that same high. This high, more or less, instills in them a sense of purpose, a reason to be, that most of us find in hobbies, our families and friends, or our ambitions. This quick fix may begin harmlessly, because one feels lonely or unappreciated, but if left unchecked, well, many exploit the good nature of folks, especially on support forums like this -- because that is what you're supposed to do, on a support forum, support.

I've dealt with individuals like this. So, maybe, this addition here, can help shed some light, and perhaps ease any curiosities.

 

Like I said, I never followed the thread but now having read some of it, I can see how it was fictional. It was too well articulated and at times, dramatic for it to be genuine. Most people post sporadically but this was almost too well timed and orchestrated. In fact, if you read other members comments you can see they were almost hooked on the story, as though it was just that, a story, only they believed it to be a true one.

 

EC is a very safe and a very nice place to stay: The human quality of the folks, which shows on the advice, and the work of the Admins, which is something I've never seen before.

At times I'm tempted to say EC is the best forum I've ever been in.I never reached +50 posts in any internet forum ever, nor ever gave much attention to forums anyways. I despise the drama, and know too well the reasons why liers post such stuff on the internet (Kaiser resumed it all very well).

And to a degree I'm still very cautious when it comes to everything I read. I'm very reserved and cautious IRL, and my first reaction when somebody tells me something is let's find out how truthful this statement is.

In some cases, it's plain clear that somebody is lying. In other cases, it can be a true game of Where is Carmen San Diego?. This blueskies will find other forums, and will keep the game going on, or create something new.
The only way to stop it is to get in touch with blueskies' ISP, and in order to do that this blueskies needs to break the law.

I don't invest much emotionally here. That doesn't mean I don't care. You can read my posts, and I think my (few) friends know me already. But if I see someone who keeps repeating the same mistakes over and over again, and refuses to learn, I give them the same treatement I give people IRL : I stop paying any attention to them and move on.

Good job, Martin. Thanks to you and the rest of the team for keeping this place safe, specially since it's full of kids who need it badly.