Webhoaxes. I've earlier written about the Kaycee Nicole Swenson hoax. Turns out this kind of feigning (terminal) illness on the net, has a name:"Munchausen by Internet", as reads in article in Wired, They think they feel your pain. Well, perhaps it is much about a psychologically induced & non-natural need for attention and feeling of power and as such something worthwhile considering as a mental disorder...however, I think there is indeed an element of creativity and performance involved too ("how long can I feign this, how many people can I convince by my writing?"), which is different from those suffering from Munchhausen offline. It's about being someone else and being it in a convincing way, not just being someone elses disease. It's about performing a character which can be a perfect person that suffers in a graceful way, in contradiction to your RL less than perfect and messy self and those RL most often disgracing fatal illnesses. I have seen several people die of cancer and it is Never cute...
# posted by Lisbeth at: 15:55