Ya know how many of us with chronic conditions belong to one site or another....
Sometimes I wonder how many people belong to multiple sites....with multiple accounts
At each site!!!
One woman I know of, remain nameless, God help me if she ever read this, but holy Christ, she had accounts at three support sites (in her case, for bipolar, and yes--that is where we crossed paths, and she tells me, and with a bit of borderline bravado, how she had been kicked off of two sites, and "invited to leave" a third, and well, she says to me in an IM.
God, she wanted my phone number--even tried to look me up; paying about $20 to find me, but at no luck, as I only have a cell, because she said in her IM, about how I must not have a landline, since she'd not found a listing for me in the "listed" or the "unlisted" that she had access to and I don't know, she may have been just seriously delusional. And I don't mean that in a rude, mean, or offensive way, I just think she may have been ill the same as a diabetic is ill.
I had connected with her on the level of suffering from bipolar--was she badly misdiagnosed, or having an episode??? Who the heck knows??? But you best err on the side of caution, and I gracefully "x"d out of the conversation.
Months later, I got an offline message (while I was logged in) from her--seems I'd forgotten to delete her from Yahoo. She was saying stuff like "I know what you've been saying about me and if you don't stop....report you to [insert support site of choice] and Yahoo.
I deleted my membership at that site after messaging a few friends, and then uninstalled Yahoo from my computer. It had become more than an annoyance and less a way to chat with my brother. To hell with that!
But these support sites--they're popping up left and right. The intennt is good and I applaud that. But sooooo many people walk away hurt because they said the wrong thing at the wrong time. Or the ones that have policies of "banning" for periods of time.
We are not in seventh grade folks..........we're not supposed to be anyhow. High school, maybe, but God. I am on one, and if it doesn't work out, I am not going to drag my tired, sick body around the internet looking for another.
But I understand the need for a connection. We're locked in our houses all day, most of us too sick to go anywhere.. I'd give anything to have a place to go--even if I just sat in a chair and put my feet up; and hung out.
It's not the internet connection, stupid.
It's the human connection!!!!
I wouldn't even care if they called it "Adult Day Care" as long as I could go somewhere.......
But people are alone. So they are forced to turn to the only connection in the house, you fool.
It's not that "internet connection..." it's that they hope someone normal is on the other end of the keyboard. It's the HUMAN connection...
You don't get it.
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