Comments | fake_lj_deaths: Help for school article

jessehanus in fake_lj_deaths

Help for school article

Nov 09, 2009 21:13

Hello everyone,

I'm a third-year journalism student at RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology) and am in the process of writing my final story for my newswriting class.

I am writing about Munchausen by internet and it was suggested by the moderator of this site that I post here.

I am looking for anybody with personal experience relating to this ( Read more... )

(non-fake_lj_death), (random)

Comments 20

(The comment has been removed)

jessica_leah November 10 2009, 03:50:13 UTC

Yeah, that would have been my first step, actually reading the community. Research before interview.

clairespawprint November 10 2009, 04:01:28 UTC

That would require a bit of WORK on the part of the journalist. Heavens!

jessehanus November 10 2009, 04:07:47 UTC

I have been doing a lot of research on the topic of Munchausen by internet including reading through this community and countless publications and research articles. I even have an interview set up with Dr. Marc Feldman, who I'm sure some of you know of for his research in this field.
The moderator suggested that I do a general post in the community and see who is interested, so I followed their advice. I'm not familiar with Live Journal so I figured I should listen to her.
If nobody responds to my general posting I would certainly begin to contact users directly. However, this way is less intrusive.

Thread 6

sonarvampress November 10 2009, 03:50:23 UTC

I've had it happen to me, years back from a girl who I knew through a yahoo group. "her sister" told us she was dead and we mourned for close to a year before someone called her house and found out she wasn't dead at all. She told the girl that she'd recently moved to another state and didn't want to break up with her boyfriend who lived near her old home so she faked her death. Of course, he boyfriend was in the group so she faked her death with us too, and oddly enough he found out it was a lie about a month after it happened, but never told us because he didn't want to hurt us. Anyway, that's the gist of it, if you want to interview me via AIM or yahoo messenger or E-mail or something.

clairespawprint November 10 2009, 04:03:51 UTC

If you're interested in doing more in-depth research, this is a REALLY good book on the subject of munchausen's in general, and also tackles the online issues: Playing Sick?: Untangling the Web of Munchausen Syndrome, Munchausen by Proxy, Malingering, and Factitious Disorder, by Marc Feldman

http://www.amazon.com/Playing-Sick-Untangling-Munchausen-Malingering/dp/0415949343

jessehanus November 10 2009, 04:09:39 UTC

Thanks for the tip, I came upon this book early on in my research and am trying to find it at a local library with no luck. I'm a poor college student and can't really afford to spend money on a book just for one article.

Hope I can find it, it would certainly be helpful. I did, however, come across several research articles published by the same author and have an interview set up with him as well.

stopword November 10 2009, 04:45:08 UTC

It's currently on sale at amazon for $23. Don't know if that's out of your price range, though. Good luck with your paper.

kibbles November 10 2009, 08:33:45 UTC

Libraries can get books if you give them enough time. Interlibrary loans. ESPECIALLY school libraries.

Something about your 'research' doesn't ring true. You come here the last minute, and you seem to have little in actual research skills -- including how to use a library.

Thread 12

sillylyric November 10 2009, 05:28:49 UTC

I had an online friend who I thought had passed and it turned out she had faked it. Then I had a real life friend who faked her death online and was outed when her online friends contacted me and some of her other real life friends via myspace.
Email me at snapplemodel at tmail dot com. (yes it's tmail NOT gmail, everyone thinks it's a typo lol)

"Munchausen by internet" schristi November 10 2009, 14:05:10 UTC

CATCH the fever !