Attention Seekers

[Ree]

You know who they are in your life.
We all have people who go out of their way to take the focus off everything but them.

You know how they act.
They will even resort to negative behaviour and self-sabotaging acts, just so that the world knows they're here.

They really bug me.

I wonder if they were weaned from their Mom too soon. :p
No, seriously, I really do wonder if they didn't get the necessary nurturing as a young child, so they spend the rest of their lives making every single situation about them.

[Hobbs]

That's a lot like the Armchair General I spoke of in my own thread. Aside from not knowing strategy to save himself, he always makes things about himself; and being the regional leader, I become the brunt of his attacks. He actually reminds me of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOOTKA0aGI0 this.

[telecom_goddess]

Yeah but when are we going to talk about MEEEE :cool:

Just kidding :D

[Lace Neil Singer]

Some forums I go on actually have rules about not posting wild stories; some people were obviously posting "I was raped/molested/pregnant/abducted by aliens/murdered but I GOT BETTER" stories to get sympathy and attention, and it was getting out of hand. In my experience, people who are suffering actual trauma do not immediately register on a message board then blurt out everything in their first post there. O.o

[Fryk]

I was turned into a newt by a witch once.......






I got better.

[blas87]

I hate them both equally online and in real life.

Well, actually....in real life, I don't see quite as many people who are adament to follow me around and argue with me or disagree with me just for the sake of arguing and disagreeing with me.

I just wish there was an "ignore" button in real life.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I was turned into a newt by a witch once.......






I got better.

:p I love it when people get my references. XD

Tho I admit that there are people who are genuinely going thru trauma, it's always, at least to me, incredibly suspicious when someone's first post on a forum is a huge missive detailing the fact that they were molested. O_o

[lupo pazzesco]

I agree with Lace about the whole first post on forums. Trauma's a private thing. Hell, I like to consider myself fairly open minded and unashamed of what's happened to me and what I've done in my past, but it's still not going to be an opening greeting to a community of strangers, like:

"Hi, I'm new, guess what?!! I TOTALLY just got mugged and beaten up and I'm posting this from my iPhone in the ER?! zomg, isn't that, like, SO cool!!?!?!"



As for the OP: Oh yes, my ex-roomie was like that. Had a bad day? She has to talk about how her life sucks so much more. In a group of friends, and talking about a random topic? She has to relate it to herself somehow, so we can all talk about her and tell her how awesome she is...

...I live alone now. :D

[Plaidman]

Whaaaaaaaa? Even not with me Lupo? Sad!

I admit, I like attention. I never got it much. But I sure as hell won't lie about it. My life sucks enough to not embellish.

Besides, everyone who does that, will be caught. Sooner or later, a story doesn't add up. And that's when the shit hits the fan, and you get a sense of betrayal.

I've dealt with it too online. Far from here, and its not worth it.

My friend David is king of attention seekers. As of this time, he has been raped a grand total of 14 times. David is a BIG man. Seriously, like 400 lbs, 7 feet tall. Very hairy. Attractive at times. He has a good heart. Just a major liar.

He also claims that Wizards of the Coast crowned him the world's greatest Dungeon Master. He doesn't even know the rule set! If Dungeons and Dragons were Checkers, he would honestly claim and BELIVE you must move five pieces at time. No checker can ever touch each other diagnolly. In order to become King, you must jump and destroy a minimal of five pieces in a roll on on turn.

Once we went to a mutal friend's place of work. All the way there he swore to go that said friend was at his restraunt where he worked. We both told him friend doesn't eat at mcdonalds. She hates it. She said she said Hi to him when he called her by name. (She has a very rare and unusal name). He swore she was wearing her leather jacket. We both told him she got rid of that coat years ago. He even bet us 50 bucks that it was her. We took it. We went in. She told him same thing. She doesnt eat there. David then claim that it was her twin sister sepreated at birth, with the same name. He swears to that even today.

He claimed that Akira Toryama of Dragon Ball fame, flat out told him that David's story was 100 percent canon, but didn't have time to animate or write the comic. David story btw, was that all saiyans had robot bodyguards that were always ten times more powerful then the one they were guarding. So when evil robot ccame to earth, he killed everyone but Vegeta, and made Vegeta work out all the time so he could be more powerful. To understand that if you didn't know is like saying that no teenager will ever yell back at parents. Its like all major countries in our world will agree to never have weapons. It just doesn't happen. Saiyans pride themselves on being strong. They would never make a robot that was stronger then them.

[Hobbs]

Hmm...Plaid I don't think I ever yelled at my parents...

On topic, though; this reminds me of my aunt. Her life is always infinitely worse than yours, no matter what's happened to you. And she always has a negative comment about whatever good fortune you happen to have.

[Plaidman]

Hmm...Plaid I don't think I ever yelled at my parents...


uhh ok...How'd you think that up?never said anything like that.

[Lace Neil Singer]

One of the worst stories I heard was on another forum. Let's call this girl Anne Marie. Now, Anne Marie first made a thread saying that she was pregnant. She was a teenager at the time, and was asking for advice. I was suspicious at first, but just decided at that time to keep an eye on her rather than challenge her at this point. Now, here's the kicker; just one week later, she posted that she'd had a miscarriage and passed a fetus. She'd claimed to be just a couple of months pregnant the week before and things didn't add up. So the supermod had a word with her in PM... and it turned out, she'd made the whole thing up for attention. -.- Anne Marie was told in no uncertain terms to admit this to everyone she'd lied to, and her posts were deleted. I just thought it horrible to make up something like that; a miscarriage is a tragedy and it's disgusting to make it into something to gain attention.

[Boozy]

uhh ok...How'd you think that up?never said anything like that.

He was referring to this part of your last post:

To understand that if you didn't know is like saying that no teenager will ever yell back at parents

I guess he's saying that there are teenagers who didn't yell at their parents, so your metaphor might need some work.

But that's not really the topic here, so let's stop over-analyzing word choices and get back to the debate. :)

[Ree]

I just thought it horrible to make up something like that; a miscarriage is a tragedy and it's disgusting to make it into something to gain attention.It's the same with a threatened suicide attempt online.

When someone makes this down and out post going on about how they just want to end it all, and then repeatedly update how they are going to do it, "OK...I've taken X amount of assorted pills, now I just have to wait to die."

Then a few minutes later, "Things are getting so fuzzy...it shouldn't be long now..."

Then, a few minutes later a long drawn out "Farewell World" type post.

An hour or so later, another post updating on how sick they feel, and wishing it would all just end.

A while later, another post about how somebody called an ambulance and they are on the way to the hospital.

Then, an update from the hospital.

And so on...

Too many people are genuinely depressed and suicidal, and they succeed in their suicide, leaving a lot of guilt and heartache behind them.

Shit like that just burns my ass when I see it posted just to get attention.

[blas87]

If you are speaking about the incident that I'm thinking of, Ree......oy......

You probably won't hear me say this, but I was so glad I was not on CS that day.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I think I get what you're saying; and I agree with you.

On the previously mentioned forum, back when I was a member on it rather than forum staff and there were hardly any active forum staff, this girl made a thread in General Discussion entitled "I'm going to commit suicide!" -.- She got royally flamed and told off, and she soon backed down. This isn't the same girl as I talked about in my last post; this one, let's call her Kelly, was a compulsive liar. As well as the faked suicidal intention, she also pretended that she'd lost her virginity at age eleven and had a baby girl/boy; she couldn't even keep her story straight. She eventually got run off the forum; that was what it was like back then, total anarchy.

And let's not forget this person I mentioned here before; the girl who faked her own death on another forum and registered another account, pretending to be her husband, to announce it. -.- Ugh.

[Plaidman]

Oh yeah. That poster. I know. I tried to help that one, but yeah. I quickly realize that it couldn't possibly be true. Plus I had other prior experence with some of other kinds of lies said poster did to me to gain I have no idea what. I try to help out when I can but >< Jebus. Don't lie. It just proves that humanity in general just cannot care.



.... God. I can't belive I care for others as much as I hate others. So conflicting feelings.

[crashhelmet]

Attention Whores are usually one of two types. Seriously insecure or spoiled rotten.

The insecure type do what they can for the attention that they think they're not getting. In some cases, they're not getting it. They're ignored by their family members and friends, if they have them, and act out in desperate attempts for that attention they long for.

The spoiled brats are the type that are always used to being the center of attention and when it stats to fade away, they act out however they can to get it back.

There are exceptions to this. Some simply wan more attention than others out of jealousy, which I guess could be related to insecurity, but it's usually directed at a certain person rather than a group or all people.

I have a student that is practically a combination of the two. She acts like a baby if she doesn't get her way or get praise on a constant basis. If I don't let her be the one to demonstrate a technique, she thinks I'm pissed off at her at acts like a baby. If I don't praise everything she does, even if she does it incorrectly, she gets all defensive and acts like a baby. She's either going to learn humility or she's going to quit being my student. I'm just seriously surprised that she hasn't quit yet. BTW, she's 22 years old. She isn't a baby anymore.

I've got another student who if I haven't mentioned him here, I've done so on CS, is completely neglected by his family. He acts out for attention all the time. With him though, I don't need to make him the center of it all, I just need to make him feel included. Once I do that, he's perfect. It's all very sad though.

CH

[Ree]

If you are speaking about the incident that I'm thinking of, Ree......oy......It wasn't necessarily that particular incident, blas.

Believe it or not, I've come across it before.

It's a common occurrence on the internet.

The attention seeking also takes the form of trolling behaviour, or constant negative behaviour that often totally derails a thread.

[MadMike]

My ex had a friend like that. She was constantly making up outlandish stories. Her most common one was that she'd find out she was pregnant, and then subsequently miscarry. She was also a major slut, so I'm surprised she never did actually get pregnant.

One of these phony pregnancies ended up being tubal (I think that's the word for it), and she claimed she had gone and gotten operated on earlier that day, while at the same time inviting us to a party. Now, I have a friend who really did go thru that (and for that reason, that particular lie pissed me off), and believe me, she was in no condition, emotionally or physically, to go to a party.

Another time, she claimed she had cancer, but a local church had faith-healed her.

Then there was a cocaine addiction she had supposedly kicked. We're pretty sure she never even saw any in real life.

She also claimed she had an uncle who was in the mafia. I don't know where she even came up with that one, except maybe for the fact that she was of italian descent.

And of course, the one about her supposedly being a stripper. Oh wait, that one was real, as I found out after I walked into the place she was working. My poor eyes...

[Red Panda]

I hate people who make up stories for attention

One forum I use to go to had a guy fake a drug overdose. The guy was known for doing drugs and then one day his "brother" made a topic claiming the guy had overdosed and he had found the forum in an opened window on the computer. It actually evolved into a pretty big thing. Years later the guy made a topic about his mother dying which nobody belived and there was a ton of flaming back and fourth and suspensions/bans.

Another person on the same place made up an elaborate story about being married and having kids only for people to find out later he was 14.

Some people are just crazy.

[evillebee]

Yup, some people are just crazy. I really wonder if people like this have a hard time distinguishing reality from the fantasy in their heads.

Life has turned me into a cold hearted bitch. :rolleyes:

I am in the service industry (25+ years) and have heard every poor me story out there. I trust my bs meter.