I was so happy when I found AC. I was in need of knowledge and support in my caregiver role.
I did find many supportive answers and have made in my heart friends.
But lately I read questions/answers that I know are not real.. How can someone be so cruel?
I know just ignore them! But they more than often ruin a question by making it become off topic..
I just don't know if ANY questions are real or not..
It's sad to think that another caregiver is where I was last year and needs support and some mean spirited person is answering their question with bad intentions....
Why do some people have to ruin a good thing?
What is a' distributed denial of service'?
Copy and paste... never thought of that. Great idea. Tnx
Just so you know... I belong to one of those secret groups. Its called Memory People and its the most amazing place! It is by invitation only and was started by a guy who has early onset . Wonderful insights. Anyway.... when I started, with the group it truly was "secret". And posts could only be seen by other members. Recently, FB made some changes and now the MP posts can often be seen in the News Feed. Which means that family and friends can see them and often that is not what we want. ;-)).
There is NO ONE in RL that I could ever EVER explain the things I go through or stuff I deal with aside from this forum. Heck...even her DR had a shocked look on his face at her behavior.
Peace love happiness and a good nights sleep!
Life is not about everything being ok all the time... that is what's not real....so, I have had one of the best days I have had in awhile, simply from other caregivers making me laugh.... if I can laugh, I can continue.... so it started out one way and ended up something else..... sorta like life... right???
Love and hugs to all of you.....and even prayers for Dusty.... she needs the prayers and I need the practice.... so its all good.... thanks ladies..... I am so blessed to have such awesome folks with me on this journey !!!!!!
And typically those posts also blame someone else for causing all the problems.
Those posts to me may be real, but more likely they're someone wanting pity, again and again and again, even under different screen names.
I loved all the computer demonology theories! What a sense of humor you folks display!
The trolls are worse; they're clever in creating almost believeable posts which draw attention from honest people trying to help. This goes on and on and eventually we begin to realize this is all a ruse. Yet even after exposing the troll, many people still continue to believe her/he/it and continue as if the query is genuine.
There do seem to be more pity party trolls here, but that's the nature of the forum. The Admins have eliminated these posts when I've reported them, and that's key.
Last year one of the forums I post on was hit by a DDOS - distributed denial of service. Bot spammers began attacking and posting ads, sometimes with pornographic inferences, every few minutes. This was Christmas Eve, and even though many of us reported the attack it wasn't until after the holidays that the Admins could block the bots. By that time over 2000 spam posts had completely shut down the forum. A similar event occurred on another forum around a holiday - over 100 posts which were spit out in such rapid fire that they prevented legitimate posts.
SoDone, what probably happened is that your cookies weren't deleted after your browsing session, the site you visited collected cookies and used them to contact you directly.
I've had that happen too, which is why I delete cookies on exiting the web and do a quick scan after every browsing session.
Got a kick out of your computer exorcism tale!
Debralee, I haven't had the experience of being redirected to ads, but I never, never click on links. If I want to check out the link, I copy it, go to Google, then copy the link into the search box. That way I can tell what it is without going there and leaving cookies, and I can also tell by Norton's "this page is safe" button whether it's a safe or compromised site.
Now back to assandache7 original post about fake posters, there are times when I wonder if what I am reading is a real question/vent, or just someone who enjoys making up stories.
I also will see questions being asked again by someone who had asked something in the past.... I see no problem with that since I see new screen names answering which means new people are finding this wonderful website, thus they might have new ideas.
I have to admit, the first time I saw one of "Captain" postings, I didn't know what to think.... oh my.... is that person for real? Then after reading more of his postings, I then stared to enjoy reading his outlook on life... I was left smiling.
Help, ideas, suggestions and smiles are what we all need :)
As for spyware, adware, malware stuff, I haven't used it. I'm so afraid that if I run the malware program and it finds a problem, it will pop open a window asking me what I want to do. Heck, I don't know! I once almost hit the button and the IT guy on the phone panicked and said "DON'T HIT the button!!!" I asked why. He said that by hitting YES to that question, it would make the spyware(?) go even deeper into my file. At the moment, it was immitating my files. But if I had hit the button, it would go even deeper and he would have a headache trying to find it that deep. This was one spyware/malware that required taking my computer to go to him. Since then, I've been terrified of running those spware/adwares/malwares programs. So, I don't do anything. And my computer is definitely slowing down.
Dusty, I really thought you gave some great answers here on AC. And yet, you also tended to say some hurtful stuff. I guess if almost everyone believes that you a fake poster, then you must be one. Too bad. Since you did give some good answers. Maybe counseling might help reconcile the good and the mean sides of you. Hopefully, the good comes out the winner.
I've been concerned about this for a few weeks but didn't know who to talk to or how to even bring it up. Thank you assandache7 for bringing this up.
While I chose not to display a picture of myself as an avatar because I don't want my breathtaking beauty to detract from the pithiness and wisdom of my comments, I can assure you that I am me: a carbon-based lifeform with powerful jaws and poor night vision who has a MIL with mild to moderate dementia who, fortunately, lives in another state. I also make it a point to do no harm, although sometimes I'm snarky.