October mommies

I belong to an on-line support group for moms of babies born in October 2004. Sometimes I "lurk" more than I post, but this group of women have been a huge part of my life since I got pregnant with Alyssa and their support, advice, and experiences mean the world to me. Lately we've had a lot of drama with the group based in part of one or two "fake" people or trolls. I don't understand why people would create a fabricated life, fabricated children, even go to the extremes of "stealing" other people's children and/or identities just to post on a message board. Do you really have nothing better to do with your life? I don't understand why they would care so much. And thinking about people creating these identities makes me feel sick. It makes me want to run far, far away from the board. It makes me want to take down all pictures of Alyssa. But I love showing off my baby girl to other mommies. I love seeing the pictures of the other babies. I love sharing the ups and downs of motherhood and being there to hopefully support other people in my position. And it just ticks me off that a few crazy people out there are ruining that for me and so many other people on my board and other boards. Maybe I'm naive, but I was very trusting of everyone I met on-line. I felt like several of them were good friends, I felt like they were a part of my life and I was a part of their lives. Now I find myself questioning all the new people that visit our board and searching for clues that someone might not be who they say they are and I hate that feeling. Its like all the sudden I've been pushed into the "adulthood" of message boards and I just really want to go back to the "childhood" stage where everything is safe and happy and fun.