<p>Thanks. Music City is simply amazing. Anyplace I can see every country star AND see deer on my daily commute downtown is awesome.</p>
<p>Anyplace I can see every country star AND see deer on my daily commute downtown is awesome.</p>
<p>Pshaw, MOWC. That ain’t nothing you got to go to a dang city to see. I got a deer named AnnaBelle that sleeps on the porch and after a couple of Longnecks I AM a country star. And I can dance, too - after about seven or eight Longnecks and up to about twenty. That’s my slot. 7-20. After that - not so good. That’s where the bail money comes in.</p>
<p>Keep drinkin’, curm. Your singing is sounding better and better.</p>
<p>Hey, lookie what I found in today’s newspaper (in the Parade section)!!! A whole big article on internet friendships [The</a> Best Friend You Never Met | PARADE Magazine](<a href=“http://www.parade.com/articles/editions/2007/edition_11-18-2007/The_Best_Friend_You_Never_Met]The”>http://www.parade.com/articles/editions/2007/edition_11-18-2007/The_Best_Friend_You_Never_Met). It is actually an excellent article on cyber friendships!. The end has a caveat/warning (its on the top of pg 11 for those of you who have the hard copy ready to be recycled)
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<p>So, with appropriate caution and care, sound judgement and common sense, you can make some real friendships.
OK, back to deer and logneck beers and dance lessons…</p>
<p>Okay…now I don’t feel so bad…sounds like I’m not the only one who got fooled…lol!</p>
<p>jym…just remember this and you’ll be fine: One. Two. OneTwo. One. Two. OneTwo … Or wait a minute. Is that the two-step or the chachacha?? curm…help! I don’t know how to lead! </p>
<p>Oh well… I know when to say BullSh**! during the Cotton-Eyed Joe.</p>
<p>Thanks, ldmom. I got the “one two” but it sure looks a lot more complicated than that! And now I’ve got “cotton-eyed joe” running in my head! Thanks for that! Grrrrr.</p>
<p>I think as long as you’re careful, like jym said, you can make some really close friendships.</p>
<p>There is a set of girls that I met 4 years ago on (believe it or not) a Harry Potter-themed web site. I still talk to them all the time, and I’m closer to them than some of my “real life” friends.</p>
<p>But even after knowing them for 4 years, if I ever decided to meet any of them, I would be EXTREMELY cautious and would probably even be reluctant, because you really never know who you’re talking to.</p>
<p>I don’t think we’re really being careful here at all, but I’ve met half a dozen CCers IRL and they’ve all been great. I would never hesitate to meet someone from here after reading their posts for months or years. I hope as a psychologist, I could at least pick up weird inconsistencies.</p>
<p>Same experience here as behievt – I’ve met some CC’ers – twice I’ve been brave enough to meet a couple of folks, and both times it has been very rewarding. There are some awesome people that post here.</p>
<p>Agree about the awesome people. And fortunately here on CC we have very safe environment that is conscientiously monitored. I like to think, here, anything screwy is gonna get handled pdq. (Hope that wasn’t a bad word.)</p>
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<p>WHAT? WHAT A BUNCH OF NONSENSE! THESE GUYS DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT…oops.</p>
<p>^^^^ LOL Coureur! (oops… does the LOL being in CAPS mean I am YELLING it too??)</p>
<p>And why are you overreacting to an innocent comment, coureur??? Warning #4…</p>
<p>If I can successfully keep my addiction at bay for a few days, I find myself wondering about the people on here!!! What’s new with yyy, is xxx feeling better? My family think I’m crazy, but my CC buddies know the truth! (or are as crazy as I am!!).</p>
<p>^^ Agreed! CC is a dangerous place[ addiction-wise that is! ]</p>
<p>In response to post #2 in this thread:</p>
<p>All I know is what I’ve read and seen on the internet, Uri, but according to that, the mother who invented “Josh” KNEW that the young girl who committed suicide was on antidepressants. </p>
<p>Indeed, according to the stories, it was PRECISELY because she knew the yong girl had mental health issues that she was worried about what the girl might say about the woman’s own daughter after they quarrelled. It was allegedly that concern that lead her to create the fictional Josh and use him to “befriend” Megan. Then Josh allegedly told Megan after she invited him to her birthday party that he didn’t want to have anything to do with her because had found out that she was mean to her friends.</p>
<p>Again, all I know is what I’ve read and heard. But…your claim that the mother did not know that Megan had mental health problems --“surely not” --is contrary to every account I’ve read and heard.</p>
<p>And keep in mind that the police only got involved when the mother who created Josh filed a criminal complaint against the girls’ parents.</p>
<p>While you may think too much blame is being put on the woman who created Josh, I think you are being INCREDIBLY unfair to her parents. I can’t imagine their pain.</p>
<p>My time to edit post #54 has expired, but I do want to emphasize that I am not trying to be judge and jury and apportion fault in this sad, sad case. I am only saying that post #2 is drawing conclusions based on facts that may not be true, based on published reports.</p>
<p>I was curious and looked up some more on the Megan Meier case, and saw the video of her mom describing her guilt – heartbreaking. The mom had a gut feeling that the My Space boy might be a fake at one point, and even had talked to the police, but was told at the time there was no way to verify whether or not the account was real. </p>
<p>While googling around I read a bizarre story called The Life and Death of Jesse James in the LA Times about a middle aged woman who impersonated a man and started up a romance with a woman, then had her creation <em>die</em>, and then came to visit this woman she had duped IRL. It’s not just kids that can be duped. Stuff like this makes my head spin!</p>
<p>I’ve met mstee 
and others, and it is so fun to put a face to a screenname…I cannot keep track of people sometimes, especially people like me with a genericness to their name, though I usually know the story of their postings, once they give me a prompt, I know the story.</p>
<p>I guess CC is better than a soap opera on TV, it like a soap plus reality TV, at your own convenience and pace- will Andison find a school? Will Curm sell the goats for an education? news at 11 
Added to that the ability to ask travel questions and the best of advice radio- some one begins a post and you see 17 different ways people would solve a problem.</p>
<p>CC is great, too, because so many great intellects are so witty, keeping us entertained with cheap laughs and visions of two steppers dancing through our heads</p>
<p>mstee and others, I point you at the story of [Kaycee</a> Nicole<a href=“Swenson”>/url</a>, an Internet hoax whose chronicle of her battle against terminal cancer duped many very well-meaning and kind-hearted innocent people (including several I know personally) before being exposed as [url=<a href=“http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/Hoaxipedia/Kaycee_Nicole_Swenson/]a”>http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/Hoaxipedia/Kaycee_Nicole_Swenson/]a</a> fake](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaycee_Nicole]Kaycee”>Kaycee Nicole - Wikipedia). I think it ought to be required reading in some circles, but <em>especially</em> the parts about the online community that eventually tracked down and exposed the hoax and the impersonator. It was a fascinating experience to watch it unfold at the time.</p>
<p>Yet another interesting hoax, mootmom. I guess a healthy dose of skepticism is in order when it comes to stuff on the internet! </p>
<p>Well, I know you’re who you say you are, at least. At least I think I do! </p>
<p>I know a person IRL who makes up stories. It is the strangest thing. It took awhile to figure it out. Now that I know, of course, I take everything she says with a sizeable grain of salt, and double check anything that might be important. But it was the most confusing thing trying to figure out what was going on before I realized that the person in question had a habit of making things up.</p>
<p>What you see is what you get, mstee! </p>
<p>Most of the people I’ve met first online have turned out to be really decent and worthy people to know in person. Unless they’re like your IRL acquaintance who makes up stories, most people are just… folks. Y’know? And they might be a little “more” online, but it’s usually possible to figure out when an online person is someone you’d want to meet. I believe in the human connections made possible through this medium, and have experienced many of them in person as well. I’d hate to have to put some sort of internal brake on that instinct to connect.</p>