It didn’t have to happen like this. Certain bloggers, attempting to remove themselves from the blogging world, didn’t have to concoct a story. Certain bloggers attempting to distance themselves from the blogosphere didn’t have to devise a plan to rid themselves of the pesky folks that dared to befriend them. Certain bloggers did not have to invent their own death just to be rid of us.
You know who you are. Two years ago, you led us to believe you were ill. Two years ago, you led us to believe you took a turn for the worst. Two years ago, you led us to believe you died. And two years ago, you led us to grieve.
Why? Why do that to a bunch of well-meaning but obviously naive-as-hell strangers? Bloggers drop out of the loop all the time. None of us is so important that the blogworld will fall apart if we simply disappear.
The folks at the Metafilter boards pegged you. No obituary. No evidence. They questioned our motives – wondered if we weren’t trying to raise money. They poked fun at our naivety. We defended ourselves.
What’s worse, we defended you.
At some point, I did start to doubt. But then I got the e-mail from your son. He thanked me for my concern and wanted me to pass those same thanks along to everyone else.
Your Classmates profile has recently been sent to several of us. Additionally, those of us who tried to contact the sender via e-mail have found themselves blocked and the site now password-protected.
In the end, you got what you set out to get.
We are out of your life.
DISCLAIMER:
There is a possibility, which is waning with each e-mail and comment I receive, that this is all some sort of a concoction created by those who tried to prove us wrong to begin with, and that what we reported to have happened two years ago really did. The disgusting fact that that possibility exists at all is enough to make me physically ill. At any rate, we were duped, one way or the other, and I’m not sure which one is worse. What I am sure of is that my faith in humanity has died a bit as a result of this experience.
Jambalaya! 
November 17, 2009 at 2:09 pm
Mine too.
Makes me grumpy.
November 17, 2009 at 2:09 pm
Wow. Whichever side of this story ends up being the truth, it has surely illuminated the fact of messed up people in this world with new lumens.
Manchausen by Internet … surely one of the more dubious and malicious outcroppings of the greater goodness of the WWW.
November 17, 2009 at 2:41 pm
I remember this ‘event’ are you serious? All a big lie. Some people should be careful what they wish for! Never heard of such a thing and it begs the question ‘why’?
November 17, 2009 at 2:43 pm
As time went on, I kind of wondered…And I was upset at myself for wondering, because he had been a good bloggy friend, and why would someone do something like that? I hope it’s wrong…But the lack of “paper trail” was always the tiniest bit disconcerting.
If it’s true, why not just say “Circumstances have caused me to want to stop blogging. Everything’s fine, but please don’t contact me.” Sigh.
I thought I remembered that you actually spoke to someone in the family…?
November 17, 2009 at 3:00 pm
I’m darned if I can remember who it was, although I do remember when it happened. I guess he got his jollies by doing it that way. I hop he doesn’t try to come back.
November 17, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Unbelievable! I am so disappointed.
November 17, 2009 at 4:29 pm
I’m someone who normally hangs out on Metafilter — your blog’s linked from a MeTa post. Just wanted to let you know that while you have no reason to believe me, as I’m a perfect stranger to you, the folks I know on Mefi are not the kind of people to pull an elaborate prank like this on you.
November 17, 2009 at 5:58 pm
Ditto. I’d been brewing a post about it but decided that you and the lovely Tiff said it better.
Sad no matter which grain is the truth.
November 17, 2009 at 11:45 pm
Wow…
November 18, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Wow. I feel duped and disappointed that any of us would even CONSIDER doing something like this, let alone carry it out. That sucks.
November 18, 2009 at 8:02 pm
I remember this well, and have no words for how sick this makes me.
Wow.
November 19, 2009 at 9:15 am
does this mean you’re back blogging? please?
November 19, 2009 at 11:40 am
Heh. Yeah, Fattie. Told ya nothing good could come of this.
November 19, 2009 at 3:01 pm
That’s disgusting. Not sure which I would rather be true at this point.
Does this mean I could have faked my death two years ago? That would have been easier than physical therapy.
December 31, 2009 at 12:43 am
Every time I come across this kind of thing, a little part of me dies, too. I was raised to always believe in people, to see the good in them, to not be cynical. But then someone pulls something like this, and I feel the need to put up the protective wall and revert to disbelief-until-proven-otherwise. Either way, it’s so, so sad.
Thankfully these doofs are in the minority. But even one is enough to cast a chill on the broader community. Sigh.