It's no secret that I love internet message boards. Love them. When I was working, I'd keep at least one minimized on my computer screen at all times and check it obsessively during the day for new posts. Since being diagnosed with infertility I've joined several pregnancy and infertility-related boards for support, information, and entertainment. Some are better than others. Some suck. There are days when I think that I really should just stop going to a few because the members annoy me too much. Then there are the ones that make me mad...
Tonight I got into a raging flame war on one of the boards. Some women were bashing a couple of infertile ladies for asking completely understandable questions. Questions that I've asked myself, though not on that forum. I had to speak up for them. Had to point out that the women who were accusing them of being bad wives or bad friends had never been through infertility. They had no idea what these women were going through emotionally and physically, but were judging them pretty harshly. I called people bitches, told a few of them to go to hell, and then I decided that I needed to take a deep breath and figure out why I cared so much.
The thing is, it's so easy to feel like you know people you meet on these boards. Heck, I count some of my internet friends among my best friends. In my opinion, it's not necessary to live in the same state or time zone to connect with another person. But when do you draw the line and say to yourself that these people and their opinions don't matter? That they're going to go on with their ignorant, judgemental lives whether you flame them or not? That in the long run these forums don't really mean much?
I think it's high time that I take my own advice and just step away from the computer. It's not doing me any favors at the moment.
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