Obsessive Behavior

[Primus]

I'm not sure where exactly to put this thread but I think it would come under the medicine part.

Anyway, I used to work at Orange and when I was there we didn't have the internet but could access the Orange website. When I was procrastinating (often) I noticed that on the forums there were about 4 people who for the last year have spent every single day writing hundreds of posts on Madelaine McCann.

Ever since it was in the news they have spent from what I can gather nearly every hour arguing very bitterly about it. They have split themselves into 2 groups (pro and anti McCann) They seem to display genuine hatred for each other and in some cases the parents involved.
This appears to me (very much lay in medical issues) to be bordering on the kind of obsession that people with severe mental problems may develop.

Has anyone else ever seen this type of behavior and if so was the person displaying it actually ill or did they just have too much time on your hands.

I would be interested to know what your opinions are as I have no idea what to make of it.

[Dancing David]

It would take actualy talking to them to find out. Do they have constant thoughts of the topic, do they have panic if they don't post (compulsion).

Obsession is a strange beast, it can cause you to think about the same thing for days.

[Primus]

Well given that I did procrastinate at work a lot I noticed that the 2 who really pushed the boat out have probably spent at least 6 hours a day posting on the topic. They seem to occasionally have a day off but also sometimes they will spend all day until the wee hours posting.

This has been consistant for at least a year now. Sometimes they break off to attack each other personally but they get back onto Maddie again before long.

One of them thinks that Mr McCann reads their posts and that he important in some sort of crusade to find them guilty.

[dustbunny]

I think the McCann case fuelled a lot of anger in many people. There was a lot of unfairness and even class and standing in life came into it. This has been a topic of debate with a lot of people, I got where I would look at the news everyday.

In my opinion maybe tempers flaired because the McCanns seem to be walking away scot free when it was their own selfish act of leaving the children on their own that ended with poor little Madeleine missing. The people I've spoke to about it have all agreed on this with one exception, they had sometimes left their children in the hotel room while they ate downstairs. I must admit I've got really angry over this especially when others have done less than the McCanns and have been prosecuted for it.

The more emotion there is in an issue like this, the more people lose themselves in the debate and it becomes a battleground of who's right and wrong. Maybe if proper justice was served and Madeleine's parents were held accountable for at least neglect by leaving three innocent children alone peoples opinions would be more rational. Hope this helps. :)

[Primus]

Theres a big difference between feeling angry and then going and spending the best part of a year constantly thinking about it.
There are lots of things that can make you angry. The OP wasn't about who out of them was right but why would they devote so much time to it. And would this be symtomatic of a mental illness.

[Rocko]

I must admit I've got really angry over this especially when others have done less than the McCanns and have been prosecuted for it.

Have they? Like who?

Re the OP, I'd suggest there's a few factors at play. Posting like that perhaps makes them feel connected to a Big Event, and thus important in some way. Arguing online is also quite addictive; people who wouldn't dare be confrontational in real life are able to do it; because it happens online it can be carried on at work and then home. It also seems to bring out the obsessive in some people - put a few people with that tendency in a forum and you've a recipe for arguments that just run and run.

The McCann case seemed to bring out a lot of resentment in some people. I read some incredible conspiracy theories about it at the time; genuinely bewildering stuff involving the IRA etc. Just incredible.

Any chance of a link to the debate in question, OP?

ETA: Sorry, that first line sounds arsey; it wasn't supposed to be. I'm just struggling to think of any parents prosecuted for lesser offences is all.

[Primus]

Here's one of their more recent ones. There's been thread after thread and it looks like lots of different people but they just keep getting banned and changing their names

http://forums.orange.co.uk/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=1&nav=messages&webtag=fs_curraffairs&tid=56718

I've not actually looked at this is ages as I stopped working for Orange a while back. I was genuinely amazed when I saw it's going stonger than ever

[dustbunny]

Have they? Like who?

Re the OP, I'd suggest there's a few factors at play. Posting like that perhaps makes them feel connected to a Big Event, and thus important in some way. Arguing online is also quite addictive; people who wouldn't dare be confrontational in real life are able to do it; because it happens online it can be carried on at work and then home. It also seems to bring out the obsessive in some people - put a few people with that tendency in a forum and you've a recipe for arguments that just run and run.

The McCann case seemed to bring out a lot of resentment in some people. I read some incredible conspiracy theories about it at the time; genuinely bewildering stuff involving the IRA etc. Just incredible.


ETA: Sorry, that first line sounds arsey; it wasn't supposed to be. I'm just struggling to think of any parents prosecuted for lesser offences is all.

Arsey or not it's reasonable (I think :D )

I do tend to waffle on, what I should have said was. In most countries children are abandoned, neglected and abused. A case here in England was about a mother who left her two year old boy on his own while she went with the boyfriend. Rightly so she was prosecuted but thankfully the little one was alive and taken before anymore harm could come to him. I'm still learning how to find appropriate links and I can't remember the name.

The McCanns, on the otherhand, decided to go out with friends and leave their three children on their own. Sadly Madeleine is still missing. They came home and managed to lawyer up with the top solicitors making it harder to prosecute them. It's the unfairness, especially to that little girl. They've met celebrities, The Pope and travelled to several different countries. A lot of people are angry because they've had preferential treatment and unprecedented amounts of money in a missing child case.

They now want to be some kind of advocates for child safety. You see I'm waffling :oldroll: Anyway, it's not that others have done less it's more that the McCann's actions brought about the disappearance of Madeleine. I can't understand why something hasn't been done about it. Thankfully the little boy I mentioned is now safe away from harm. Sadly Madeleine is nowhere to be found.

[blutoski]

There's not enough information to know for sure. Some thoughts:

1. Obsessive thoughts and behaviors are not usually considered pathological.

2. Nevertheless, there is a psychiatric condition called [OCPD (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsessive-compulsive_personality_disorder)] - a personality disorder - which may be the underlying situation with one or more of these individuals posting on the forum you describe.

3. The distinction between "just plain obsessed" and "pathologically obsessed" is highly situational - what are the consequences to these individuals? If they're tragically unemployed due to, say, disability, then this may just be their hobby. OTOH, if it's impacting their social lives or employment, pathology would be a better description.

ie: Without further information, though, it's impossible to be certain.

A final thought: online environments are usually depicted by the 90/9/1 rule: 90% lurkers, 9% occasional participants, 1% regulars - and the regulars post 99% of the content. My point is that it's difficult to distinguish between an enthusiastic and productive contributor versus a pathologically obsessed contributor, if you're in that 99% lurker/occasional participant for whom the subject matter is not very important.