Brenda, there's also the whole story about the novel which apparently he recycled from his blog three years ago. There's definitely been lying. Enough to reasonably question the death.

Aside from that, the whole episode is extremely typical for the pseudicide dynamic. The pattern is well established by now and this one goes by the numbers.

we're throwing out an awful lot of emotional energy here too.)

Jesse said this about 250 posts ago or so:

In a world like this where all we have to create community is our words, people feeling like they can't speak is what creates division, IMO.

And that's in line with what I'm thinking about wasting emotional energy. This always happens when there's a gash in the world here-- we plaster it with hundreds or thousands of posts. We just do. It's painful to read when you want the discussion over, but I don't think it can be stopped, and it always wears itself out after awhile. I've said a lot that we need these occasional temperature-taking, boards-on-boards bureau controversies and it's probably been over a year since the last time we reaffirmed what's important here.

the whole episode is extremely typical for the pseudicide dynamic. The pattern is well established by now and this one goes by the numbers.

What other cases are out there? (Besides the one that Allyson wrote about.)

question: what's the site that you look up PhDs?

That's a fair point, but again, I think this has mostly been healthy

Yeah, I think this has been more of a diversion of emotional energy, if anything, and this way feels like accomplishing. It's Stage 1 of grief, after all, to an extreme degree.

What other cases are out there? (Besides the one that Allyson wrote about.)

There are gobs. I think Victoria Bitter is a particularly wacked-out case.

What other cases are out there?

Oh, lord. There's one about every few months in fandom somewhere. I can check the fandom_wank wiki.

Edit: There are several links at the bottom of this page. [link]

I still argue for spelling it pseudicide, though.

There's a whole list at fake_lj_deaths.

The thing I find interesting about Suicide by Internets/Fictitiously Killing Off Family Members is when you read up on them? They all start to sound the same. There's a definite mind-set/type going on.

There are several links at the bottom of this page.

Thanks - I'll have to read those....

From the LJ on fake deaths.

*************

Clues to Detection of False Claims
Based on experience with two dozen cases of Munchausen by Internet, I have arrived at a list of clues to the detection of factititous Internet claims. The most important follow:
1. the posts consistently duplicate material in other posts, in books, or on health-related websites;
2. the characteristics of the supposed illness emerge as caricatures;
3. near-fatal bouts of illness alternate with miraculous recoveries;
4. claims are fantastic, contradicted by subsequent posts, or flatly disproved;
5. there are continual dramatic events in the person's life, especially when other group members have become the focus of attention;
6. there is feigned blitheness about crises (e.g., going into septic shock) that will predictably attract immediate attention;
7. others apparently posting on behalf of the individual (e.g., family members, friends) have identical patterns of writing.