The Truth About Holly

Despite the fact that I get into it with some people here, there are
also many people I like and respect very much and I believe that nobody
deserves to be lied to and taken advantage of. I'm not thrilled with the
prospect of writing what I am about to write, but I get very angry when
people are intentionally lied to and fraud is perpetrated, and that is
exactly what has happened in this group. It makes me even angrier when
someone takes advantage of good hearts and fakes medical conditions in
order to garner attention, especially when there are people here that
are dealing with very real medical issues that cause them a lot of pain
and hardship.

Holly is not in the hospital and has not had brain surgery. At about
10:30 this morning Holly was answering the phones at her job. The
address her "husband" provided and claimed was their home address is NOT
their home address. It is in fact the address of the firm where Holly
works. It is listed at their website he http://www.mwcarchitects.com/

Since she apparently works the front desk she probably is the first to
get the mail, which would eliminate any questions by other employees
about why she's getting so many cards all of a sudden.

I was very suspicious of Holly when she first started posting in
alt.cats as much of what she posted was full of discrepancies and
outright fabrication and she seemed desperate for attention. I became
even more suspicious of her when I started seeing all the "updates"
about her supposed surgery and so many things described in the emails
just didn't wash.

There is a lot of this type of behavior on usenet so at first I didn't
make much of it and chalked it up to the nature of the beast. However,
when someone starts using lies as she did and takes emotional advantage
of people, especially those who are dealing with very real hardship in
their own lives, that's where I draw the line. I feel bad for those of
you that got sucked into her lies (and I sincerely hope that nobody that
sent her a card included money in it), but hopefully you can learn from
this that you can't believe everything you read and should be very
careful about taking people at face value. A healthy amount of
skepticism (and some fact checking) goes a long way.

Megan



"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do
nothing."

-Edmund Burke

Learn The TRUTH About Declawing
http://www.stopdeclaw.com

Zuzu's Cats Photo Album:
http://www.PictureTrail.com/zuzu22

"Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one
elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and
splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then
providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision,
raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and
material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his
way."

- W.H. Murray

wrote in message
...
Despite the fact that I get into it with some people here, there are
also many people I like and respect very much and I believe that nobody
deserves to be lied to and taken advantage of. I'm not thrilled with the
prospect of writing what I am about to write, but I get very angry when
people are intentionally lied to and fraud is perpetrated, and that is
exactly what has happened in this group. It makes me even angrier when
someone takes advantage of good hearts and fakes medical conditions in
order to garner attention, especially when there are people here that
are dealing with very real medical issues that cause them a lot of pain
and hardship.

I am flabergasted! I have to admit, I was taken in hook, line, and sinker!
If she is doing this, then she deserves all the get well cards that were
sent because someone who does that just to garner attention is indeed sick!

Holly is not in the hospital and has not had brain surgery. At about
10:30 this morning Holly was answering the phones at her job. The
address her "husband" provided and claimed was their home address is NOT
their home address. It is in fact the address of the firm where Holly
works. It is listed at their website he http://www.mwcarchitects.com/

That is indeed the firm "James" had on his emails to me.

Since she apparently works the front desk she probably is the first to
get the mail, which would eliminate any questions by other employees
about why she's getting so many cards all of a sudden.

I was very suspicious of Holly when she first started posting in
alt.cats as much of what she posted was full of discrepancies and
outright fabrication and she seemed desperate for attention. I became
even more suspicious of her when I started seeing all the "updates"
about her supposed surgery and so many things described in the emails
just didn't wash.

What things didn't wash? Of course I was just getting information from one
source and I don't read alt.cats, but I didn't get that impression
(obviously!).

There is a lot of this type of behavior on usenet so at first I didn't
make much of it and chalked it up to the nature of the beast. However,
when someone starts using lies as she did and takes emotional advantage
of people, especially those who are dealing with very real hardship in
their own lives, that's where I draw the line. I feel bad for those of
you that got sucked into her lies (and I sincerely hope that nobody that
sent her a card included money in it), but hopefully you can learn from
this that you can't believe everything you read and should be very
careful about taking people at face value. A healthy amount of
skepticism (and some fact checking) goes a long way.

I won't feel lessened because of this - I won't become jaded or cynical
because I was taken in. That may mean I'll be taken in again in the future,
but the shame in that lies in the person who would take advantage of people
like me (and everyone else here) whose heart is always open to someone in
need.

Hugs,

CatNipped

Megan



"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do
nothing."

-Edmund Burke

Learn The TRUTH About Declawing
http://www.stopdeclaw.com

Zuzu's Cats Photo Album:
http://www.PictureTrail.com/zuzu22

"Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one
elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and
splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then
providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision,
raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and
material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his
way."

- W.H. Murray

CatNipped wrote:
wrote in message
...
Despite the fact that I get into it with some people here, there are
also many people I like and respect very much and I believe that
nobody deserves to be lied to and taken advantage of. I'm not
thrilled with the prospect of writing what I am about to write, but
I get very angry when people are intentionally lied to and fraud is
perpetrated, and that is exactly what has happened in this group. It
makes me even angrier when someone takes advantage of good hearts
and fakes medical conditions in order to garner attention,
especially when there are people here that are dealing with very
real medical issues that cause them a lot of pain and hardship.

I am flabergasted! I have to admit, I was taken in hook, line, and
sinker! If she is doing this, then she deserves all the get well
cards that were sent because someone who does that just to garner
attention is indeed sick!
Holly is not in the hospital and has not had brain surgery. At about
10:30 this morning Holly was answering the phones at her job. The
address her "husband" provided and claimed was their home address is
NOT their home address. It is in fact the address of the firm where
Holly works. It is listed at their website he
http://www.mwcarchitects.com/

That is indeed the firm "James" had on his emails to me.

Since she apparently works the front desk she probably is the first
to get the mail, which would eliminate any questions by other
employees about why she's getting so many cards all of a sudden.

I was very suspicious of Holly when she first started posting in
alt.cats as much of what she posted was full of discrepancies and
outright fabrication and she seemed desperate for attention. I became
even more suspicious of her when I started seeing all the "updates"
about her supposed surgery and so many things described in the emails
just didn't wash.

What things didn't wash? Of course I was just getting information
from one source and I don't read alt.cats, but I didn't get that
impression (obviously!).

There is a lot of this type of behavior on usenet so at first I
didn't make much of it and chalked it up to the nature of the beast.
However, when someone starts using lies as she did and takes
emotional advantage of people, especially those who are dealing with
very real hardship in their own lives, that's where I draw the line.
I feel bad for those of you that got sucked into her lies (and I
sincerely hope that nobody that sent her a card included money in
it), but hopefully you can learn from this that you can't believe
everything you read and should be very careful about taking people
at face value. A healthy amount of skepticism (and some fact
checking) goes a long way.

I won't feel lessened because of this - I won't become jaded or
cynical because I was taken in. That may mean I'll be taken in again
in the future, but the shame in that lies in the person who would
take advantage of people like me (and everyone else here) whose heart
is always open to someone in need.

Hugs,

CatNipped

Megan


I don't want to believe this. I have a card right now ready to post from
England.
Please check, Lori, to see if it's really true what Megan has said.
If it is, I shall be very sad indeed.

Tweed

wrote:
Despite the fact that I get into it with some people here, there are
also many people I like and respect very much and I believe that
nobody
deserves to be lied to and taken advantage of. I'm not thrilled with
the
prospect of writing what I am about to write, but I get very angry
when
people are intentionally lied to and fraud is perpetrated, and that
is
exactly what has happened in this group. It makes me even angrier
when
someone takes advantage of good hearts and fakes medical conditions
in
order to garner attention, especially when there are people here that
are dealing with very real medical issues that cause them a lot of
pain
and hardship.

Holly is not in the hospital and has not had brain surgery. At about
10:30 this morning Holly was answering the phones at her job.

You called her yourself?

The
address her "husband" provided and claimed was their home address is
NOT
their home address. It is in fact the address of the firm where Holly
works. It is listed at their website he
http://www.mwcarchitects.com/

If this is true, it really, really sucks. It takes away my faith in
humanity. Holly's "story" affected me greatly. I have been going
through a vey difficult time recently. I have lost most of the
eyesight in my left eye - I have a condition that is rare for someone
my age (41), and no one has any answers for why this happened. When I
read Holly's "story" I felt shameful. I felt bad that I was feeling
sorry for myself, when so many other people were going through things
which were a lot more serious and a lot harder to deal with. I felt
guilty, and I felt deep sympathy for Holly and her condition. I
emailed her personally and wished her well (I did not mention my
situation at all). In some small way, I felt a connection to her,
because she had changed my perspective; she had helped me to understand
life a little better and given me perspective. I'm not writing this
for sympathy. I simply want Holly to know that her actions can affect
other people - maybe people she doesn't even know - greatly. It
sickens me that someone would "invent" something so tragic, when
tragedy exists everyday, for others.

If what Megan posted is true, and I suspect it is, All I can say is:
Holly, please get some help. You need it desperately.

hugs,
-L.

"Christina Websell" wrote in message
...
CatNipped wrote:
wrote in message
...
Despite the fact that I get into it with some people here, there are
also many people I like and respect very much and I believe that
nobody deserves to be lied to and taken advantage of. I'm not
thrilled with the prospect of writing what I am about to write, but
I get very angry when people are intentionally lied to and fraud is
perpetrated, and that is exactly what has happened in this group. It
makes me even angrier when someone takes advantage of good hearts
and fakes medical conditions in order to garner attention,
especially when there are people here that are dealing with very
real medical issues that cause them a lot of pain and hardship.

I am flabergasted! I have to admit, I was taken in hook, line, and
sinker! If she is doing this, then she deserves all the get well
cards that were sent because someone who does that just to garner
attention is indeed sick!
Holly is not in the hospital and has not had brain surgery. At about
10:30 this morning Holly was answering the phones at her job. The
address her "husband" provided and claimed was their home address is
NOT their home address. It is in fact the address of the firm where
Holly works. It is listed at their website he
http://www.mwcarchitects.com/

That is indeed the firm "James" had on his emails to me.

Since she apparently works the front desk she probably is the first
to get the mail, which would eliminate any questions by other
employees about why she's getting so many cards all of a sudden.

I was very suspicious of Holly when she first started posting in
alt.cats as much of what she posted was full of discrepancies and
outright fabrication and she seemed desperate for attention. I became
even more suspicious of her when I started seeing all the "updates"
about her supposed surgery and so many things described in the emails
just didn't wash.

What things didn't wash? Of course I was just getting information
from one source and I don't read alt.cats, but I didn't get that
impression (obviously!).

There is a lot of this type of behavior on usenet so at first I
didn't make much of it and chalked it up to the nature of the beast.
However, when someone starts using lies as she did and takes
emotional advantage of people, especially those who are dealing with
very real hardship in their own lives, that's where I draw the line.
I feel bad for those of you that got sucked into her lies (and I
sincerely hope that nobody that sent her a card included money in
it), but hopefully you can learn from this that you can't believe
everything you read and should be very careful about taking people
at face value. A healthy amount of skepticism (and some fact
checking) goes a long way.

I won't feel lessened because of this - I won't become jaded or
cynical because I was taken in. That may mean I'll be taken in again
in the future, but the shame in that lies in the person who would
take advantage of people like me (and everyone else here) whose heart
is always open to someone in need.

Hugs,

CatNipped

Megan


I don't want to believe this. I have a card right now ready to post from
England.
Please check, Lori, to see if it's really true what Megan has said.
If it is, I shall be very sad indeed.

Tweed

I won't be able to check until Monday because Virginia is an hour ahead of
us and that place of business has closed for the day and it's a Friday. But
I *WILL* call on Monday.

I have a feeling what Megan said is true. The address "James" gave *IS* the
address of the place of business even though "he" said it was their home
address and he was picking up cards from home every day for us.

What blows me away is how elaborate it all was, the stories about the CAT
scan, the infection, all of it (and a *LOT* of emails I didn't post to the
group from "James"). If what Megan says is true, and so far it looks like
it is to me, this person is *TRULY* delusional and she does indeed need
help!

Hugs,

CatNipped

"L. (usenetlyn)" wrote in message
oups.com...

wrote:
Despite the fact that I get into it with some people here, there are
also many people I like and respect very much and I believe that
nobody
deserves to be lied to and taken advantage of. I'm not thrilled with
the
prospect of writing what I am about to write, but I get very angry
when
people are intentionally lied to and fraud is perpetrated, and that
is
exactly what has happened in this group. It makes me even angrier
when
someone takes advantage of good hearts and fakes medical conditions
in
order to garner attention, especially when there are people here that
are dealing with very real medical issues that cause them a lot of
pain
and hardship.

Holly is not in the hospital and has not had brain surgery. At about
10:30 this morning Holly was answering the phones at her job.

You called her yourself?

The
address her "husband" provided and claimed was their home address is
NOT
their home address. It is in fact the address of the firm where Holly
works. It is listed at their website he
http://www.mwcarchitects.com/

If this is true, it really, really sucks. It takes away my faith in
humanity. Holly's "story" affected me greatly. I have been going
through a vey difficult time recently. I have lost most of the
eyesight in my left eye - I have a condition that is rare for someone
my age (41), and no one has any answers for why this happened. When I
read Holly's "story" I felt shameful. I felt bad that I was feeling
sorry for myself, when so many other people were going through things
which were a lot more serious and a lot harder to deal with. I felt
guilty, and I felt deep sympathy for Holly and her condition. I
emailed her personally and wished her well (I did not mention my
situation at all). In some small way, I felt a connection to her,
because she had changed my perspective; she had helped me to understand
life a little better and given me perspective. I'm not writing this
for sympathy. I simply want Holly to know that her actions can affect
other people - maybe people she doesn't even know - greatly. It
sickens me that someone would "invent" something so tragic, when
tragedy exists everyday, for others.

If what Megan posted is true, and I suspect it is, All I can say is:
Holly, please get some help. You need it desperately.

hugs,
-L.

I really, *REALLY* hope this doesn't make you cynical or change how you felt
(that's the thing I feel most bad about - not the fact that *I* was taken
in, but that I *HELPED* take in others who *SO* don't deserve that kind of
treatment)!

As I said in my post to Megan, to paraphrase, yes I was a fool, but rather
than beome cynical because I was taken in, I will instead continue to be a
fool because I won't close my heart to someone who needs my help just
because someone who didn't took advantage of my willingness to help!

As you said, there *are* people who are suffering as she pretended to be,
so what you felt isn't invalidated because of what she did.

I'm making a mess of this - I am so, *SO* sorry! I can't believe this has
brought me to tears because of what I was made to do to you guys!

I gotta go!

Hugs,

CatNipped

L. (usenetlyn) wrote:
wrote:
Despite the fact that I get into it with some people here, there are
also many people I like and respect very much and I believe that
nobody deserves to be lied to and taken advantage of. I'm not
thrilled with the prospect of writing what I am about to write, but
I get very angry when people are intentionally lied to and fraud is
perpetrated, and that is exactly what has happened in this group. It
makes me even angrier when someone takes advantage of good hearts
and fakes medical conditions in order to garner attention,
especially when there are people here that are dealing with very
real medical issues that cause them a lot of pain and hardship.

Holly is not in the hospital and has not had brain surgery. At about
10:30 this morning Holly was answering the phones at her job.

You called her yourself?

The
address her "husband" provided and claimed was their home address is
NOT their home address. It is in fact the address of the firm where
Holly works. It is listed at their website he
http://www.mwcarchitects.com/

If this is true, it really, really sucks. It takes away my faith in
humanity. Holly's "story" affected me greatly. I have been going
through a vey difficult time recently. I have lost most of the
eyesight in my left eye - I have a condition that is rare for someone
my age (41), and no one has any answers for why this happened. When I
read Holly's "story" I felt shameful. I felt bad that I was feeling
sorry for myself, when so many other people were going through things
which were a lot more serious and a lot harder to deal with. I felt
guilty, and I felt deep sympathy for Holly and her condition. I
emailed her personally and wished her well (I did not mention my
situation at all). In some small way, I felt a connection to her,
because she had changed my perspective; she had helped me to
understand life a little better and given me perspective. I'm not
writing this for sympathy. I simply want Holly to know that her
actions can affect other people - maybe people she doesn't even know
- greatly. It sickens me that someone would "invent" something so
tragic, when tragedy exists everyday, for others.

If what Megan posted is true, and I suspect it is, All I can say is:
Holly, please get some help. You need it desperately.

hugs,
-L.

I read the web page, and the address is indeed that of the architects where
Holly works. In view of that, I will not be sending my get well card, which
had a cat on and I had decorated to personalise it.
Changing the subject. I have had a serious eye problem myself, and I was
also supposed to be too young to get it, like yourself, Lynn. If you'd like
to compare notes with me feel free to email me privately or on group if we
all want to know ;-). We are here in this world to help each other. We
genuine people that is.

Tweed
(still not wanting to believe Holly was a fake)

On 2005-02-18, L. (usenetlyn) penned:

If this is true, it really, really sucks. It takes away my faith in
humanity. Holly's "story" affected me greatly. I have been going
through a vey difficult time recently. I have lost most of the
eyesight in my left eye - I have a condition that is rare for someone
my age (41), and no one has any answers for why this happened. When I
read Holly's "story" I felt shameful. I felt bad that I was feeling
sorry for myself, when so many other people were going through things
which were a lot more serious and a lot harder to deal with. I felt
guilty, and I felt deep sympathy for Holly and her condition. I
emailed her personally and wished her well (I did not mention my
situation at all). In some small way, I felt a connection to her,
because she had changed my perspective; she had helped me to understand
life a little better and given me perspective. I'm not writing this
for sympathy. I simply want Holly to know that her actions can affect
other people - maybe people she doesn't even know - greatly. It
sickens me that someone would "invent" something so tragic, when
tragedy exists everyday, for others.

When I was a freshman in college, I emailed a particular friend fairly
often. (He was the GM of my Rifts campaign, for your RPers out there.)
He was fairly caustic and sarcastic.

Anyway, at some point he mentioned something about a horrible cancer
condition. I don't remember the details. I sent a lot of emails to him. He
didn't mention the cancer thing very often, and I thought it was just because
he was, you know, being stoic and whatnot.

Long story short, after much trauma on my part because I thought a friend of
mine was going to die, it turned out that he'd just been joking. You know how
email is; tone is sometimes hard to convey. It's hard to explain how someone
would joke about having cancer, but there it is. I was so upset. I made him
call me long distance and then cursed a blue streak at him for several
minutes. I missed a final exam (I don't recall if it was before or after
finding out it was a "joke" or misunderstanding). Fortunately the professor
understood how traumatic the situation was and let me retake the exam.

This was different, in that I am very sure my friend didn't mean to hoax me,
but I do remember how upset and foolish I felt. I didn't talk to him for a
long time thereafter; I don't think I ever saw him the same way.

It did have a good side, though, in that I learned to be very careful about
tone in my text messages (I still screw that up occasionally, but at least I
try), and I have learned to try to give people the benefit of the doubt when
it sounds like they're saying something snotty. Without tone and facial
expression, it's so easy to misunderstand.

Anyway, despite the fact that you were the victim of a hoax, maybe some good
still came of it. While Holly herself may not have had brain cancer, it's
certainly true that there are people out there who do. It's almost always the
case that someone in the world has it worse than you, and sometimes I find
that realization to help me come to terms with my own problems. There's a
German saying, "Wer Gluecklich sein will muss unter Sich gucken," which
roughly translates to, "He who wants to be happy must look at those who are
less fortunate." I'm not trying to tell you how to feel about your own
problems, which are certainly worse than anything I've had to face, but I
wonder if thinking of a silver lining might not help.

--
monique, who spoils Oscar unmercifully

pictures: http://www.bounceswoosh.org/rpca

CatNipped wrote:
"Christina Websell" wrote in
message ...
CatNipped wrote:
wrote in message
...
Despite the fact that I get into it with some people here, there
are also many people I like and respect very much and I believe
that nobody deserves to be lied to and taken advantage of. I'm not
thrilled with the prospect of writing what I am about to write, but
I get very angry when people are intentionally lied to and fraud is
perpetrated, and that is exactly what has happened in this group.
It makes me even angrier when someone takes advantage of good
hearts and fakes medical conditions in order to garner attention,
especially when there are people here that are dealing with very
real medical issues that cause them a lot of pain and hardship.

I am flabergasted! I have to admit, I was taken in hook, line, and
sinker! If she is doing this, then she deserves all the get well
cards that were sent because someone who does that just to garner
attention is indeed sick!
Holly is not in the hospital and has not had brain surgery. At
about 10:30 this morning Holly was answering the phones at her
job. The address her "husband" provided and claimed was their home
address is NOT their home address. It is in fact the address of
the firm where Holly works. It is listed at their website he
http://www.mwcarchitects.com/

That is indeed the firm "James" had on his emails to me.

Since she apparently works the front desk she probably is the first
to get the mail, which would eliminate any questions by other
employees about why she's getting so many cards all of a sudden.

I was very suspicious of Holly when she first started posting in
alt.cats as much of what she posted was full of discrepancies and
outright fabrication and she seemed desperate for attention. I
became even more suspicious of her when I started seeing all the
"updates" about her supposed surgery and so many things described
in the emails just didn't wash.

What things didn't wash? Of course I was just getting information
from one source and I don't read alt.cats, but I didn't get that
impression (obviously!).

There is a lot of this type of behavior on usenet so at first I
didn't make much of it and chalked it up to the nature of the
beast. However, when someone starts using lies as she did and takes
emotional advantage of people, especially those who are dealing
with very real hardship in their own lives, that's where I draw
the line. I feel bad for those of you that got sucked into her
lies (and I sincerely hope that nobody that sent her a card
included money in it), but hopefully you can learn from this that
you can't believe everything you read and should be very careful
about taking people at face value. A healthy amount of skepticism
(and some fact checking) goes a long way.

I won't feel lessened because of this - I won't become jaded or
cynical because I was taken in. That may mean I'll be taken in
again in the future, but the shame in that lies in the person who
would take advantage of people like me (and everyone else here)
whose heart is always open to someone in need.

Hugs,

CatNipped

Megan


I don't want to believe this. I have a card right now ready to post
from England.
Please check, Lori, to see if it's really true what Megan has said.
If it is, I shall be very sad indeed.

Tweed

I won't be able to check until Monday because Virginia is an hour
ahead of us and that place of business has closed for the day and
it's a Friday. But I *WILL* call on Monday.

I have a feeling what Megan said is true. The address "James" gave
*IS* the address of the place of business even though "he" said it
was their home address and he was picking up cards from home every
day for us.
What blows me away is how elaborate it all was, the stories about the
CAT scan, the infection, all of it (and a *LOT* of emails I didn't
post to the group from "James"). If what Megan says is true, and so
far it looks like it is to me, this person is *TRULY* delusional and
she does indeed need help!

Hugs,

CatNipped

So. The emails you got from "James" came from the firm where Holly works.
This means only one thing to me, that the whole thing is made up, Holly was
sending the "James" posts too??
It brings tears to my eyes because I really believed it and wanted to help.
I cannot envisage why anyone would want to do something like this.
Oh, btw, I have emailed Holly at her workplace asking all about this, I
expect a reply soon. not!

We are such a nice lot of people on rpca, we believe anybody. I did, we all
did. I am too easily taken in by a sob story.

Tweed

CatNipped wrote:

I really, *REALLY* hope this doesn't make you cynical or change how
you felt

snip


As you said, there *are* people who are suffering as she pretended
to be,
so what you felt isn't invalidated because of what she did.

Yes, I understand. It just makes me sad that someone would do this.


I'm making a mess of this - I am so, *SO* sorry! I can't believe
this has
brought me to tears because of what I was made to do to you guys!

Hey - it was *totally* NOT your fault!! Holly is a sick woman. She
needs help. I would have done the *exact* same thing as you.

hugs,
-L.