So would you say your love for the word is....gianormous?

I'm not really going that deep into what it is, I'm just talking about what happened. But thank you!

The nice thing about Munchausen by Internet is that nobody actually gets hurt, physically. (Plenty of feelings hurt, but no injury.)

On the internet, nobody knows you're not a cancer patient. (Until such time as you tell a really huge whopper, and get caught.)

I'm not really going that deep into what it is

Yeah, I'm just being a psychology geek. The relationship to the traditional diagnosis is interesting because, as Nutty says, faking illness or misfortune to gain attention and sympathy on the internet is much less likely to result in harm to the individual than faking illness to gain attention and sympathy from the medical community. Your invisible internet friends almost never do an exploratory surgery on you or prescribe drugs that interact badly with the drugs you are already taking or put you in the hospital so often that you lose your job. So if "Munchausen by internet" gives people the attention and support that they used to get from medical professionals, without the bad "side effects" of medical care, then people are better off with the new disorder.

Except to the extent that people spend monies on gifts/cards/flowers etc. for a cause that turns out to be a scam. And that it lessens the trust one has in his/her fellow fan.

I don't recall anything of exactly that sort happening in this community (at least not since I joined in 2001), but I've had it happen with an online "friend" whose [alleged] brother supposedly died. After a long lapse in contact he seemed to forget that he'd told me that and started referring to the brother in present tense again.

Did anybody else read Matt's posting, shiver, and say "We're due?"

I mean, none of you actually know, first-hand knowledge, that I was hospitalized in Feb. The only people who can prove it are me, the hubster, and the medical bills. (I was. See above re: medical bills.)

Did anybody else read Matt's posting, shiver, and say "We're due?"

See, I find this community far more personal, intimate, and yet vibrant than others I've seen. I think it fosters an inherent trust, and a respect of that trust, within its members that disallows the possibility. In addition, it seems like a large percentage know or have met at least one other member, which dilutes the online-only nature of a community in which a Munchausen by Internet situation would arise.

When I was telling my mother about Nilly and erika's trips, she wanted to know how we knew we weren't being taken, when we engage in group gifts. I said that in these particular cases, there was no way to be taken, as they were just love-based gifts, we were giving, and partly selfish at that, so that we could see our friends.

Did anybody else read Matt's posting, shiver, and say "We're due?"

I don't know if it will be as effective here. I can't see some random poster coming in off of the information superhighway, and managing to elicit a significant response. Many of us are cynical and don't take everything at face value. We've met each other, socialized with each other, and Random Poster has no track record whatsoever.

On the other hand, if we are talking about a known quantity that happens to be a fan-freakin'-tastic liar with a gut-wrenching sob story, then we're in deep doodoo. There is a significant investment in this case.

ETA: Or what Sunil said, and more eloquently than I am capable of at this moment.