What ever happened to the poster "Bobolink" ?

[NM_Birder]

[Whisp]

1. Not sure. But she got a very threatening email from a DUer

maybe that is the reason?
seems she disappeared around that time - but not sure.

[redwitch]

2. How did I miss this?

I would like to know more about this and what was done about it. I would like to know that she is ok.

[Whisp]

3. I can't really say. Last time I posted about it I was juried.

I guess a lot of people don't know it's true.

[obliviously]

4. plucked and eaten

by a poster named after the center of a cherry.

[NM_Birder]

6. ...sometimes "rivers" can be trecherous without a life jacket.

Don't know what happened, but I can guess.

[pintobean]

9. Man, that's the pits.

Was that poster tombstoned?

[obliviously]

12. yes

but he promised in the future to exercise more will power and was reinstated.

[closeupready]

13. I ignore everything he posts.

It can have hundreds of recs; I don't care.

[Orrex]

14. I can totally tell when you're talking about me.

FWIW I agree with you.

[NBachers]

83. You know, it's funny, but I'm kinda skipping over those posts these days- I used to read 'em all

[Whisp]

15. a special lad, that one.

if you or I said those things we'd probably have been talking to the cops.

and justice for all...

[ChisolmTrailDem]

50. I will pit bobolink over any drunk in any dark alley any day.

I have no dog in this fight but, sorry, I just couldn't resist!

[Travelman]

41. The grand jury returned no true Bill.

eom

[Scuba]

5. Hopefully still fighting her crusade against poverty.

[NM_Birder]

7. was just curious,

I had read her posts for some time, but haven't seen anything in what seems like a year or two.

[Autumn]

32. Welcome Back. She left and hasn't been seen.

[JVS]

8. Oops, I was mistaken

[Pretzel_Warrior]

10. LOL

[ChisolmTrailDem]

47. ROFLMAO! Sometime you crack me the hell up! Did you

see what the OP did there?

Now, the mystery is...who was the OP in a previous life?

[Pretzel_Warrior]

48. yep. for those paying attention it is very clear what happened.

[NM_Birder]

58. I am the sunrise, ......... the sunset

and the darkness in-between.

I am the wind, .... I am the rain, ..... and the rage that's never seen.

I am the calm, .... I am ordered chaos, ....... I am the prism of all that you hold dear,

...if "Chisolm" is a reference to ole' John Wayne, then your good taste is crystal clear.


me.
formerly know as I, the one, and he who never dies

[closeupready]

11. I know she was homeless during the last couple years she posted here -

I know that from her postings, not from any private communication. I believe she posted from a library.

From what I recall at the time of her last activities here on DU, she was continuing to work on making efforts towards community improvements, which in light of her personal situation, was heroic, I thought.

Oh and I think it was not bobolink, but bobbolink

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

16. I hope she's okay

I found her posts a little preachy and angry, she sort of had a chip on her shoulder that no one at DU really cared about poverty, but knowing her story it made more sense.

[1000words]

24. I remember her from lurking this site

Angry and dismissive is how I would describe her, as well.

[liberalhistorian]

29. Why don't you try being homeless, hopeless and desperate

and see just how pleasant and sunny YOU would be?

[1000words]

31. I work with the homeless

Very few remind me of Bobolink

[AngryOldDem]

71. Very, very true. n/t

[scarletwoman]

40. Several DUers genuinely did all they could think of to help her.

No one expected or asked her to be "pleasant and sunny", they just wanted to do whatever they could to find ways to assist her. She turned down all offers and generally viciously attacked anyone who made them.

I'm quite sure she was/is mentally ill. No one wanted to see her homeless, hopeless or desperate, but short of forcible commitment (which would obviously not be possible), just what could anyone do when she refused all help?

No one thought it was her fault that she was so terribly damaged - as clearly she was - but when she violently kicked shut any door that was opened to her, there was just nothing else that could be done.

[Hekate]

57. Scarletwoman is right. DUers really tried to help her out in material ways...

...as well as being supportive here. But she truly was awful to deal with, unless you took her point of view as gospel. In the end I stopped trying to communicate with her because I couldn't decide whether her abusive behavior was that of a mentally ill person or that of a clever and divisive troll. It was a relief when she was no .longer around.

Wherever she ended up, whoever she was, I hope she is okay.

Which begs the question: Who was this newbie "Birder" in a previous life, that s/he knows Bobolink?

[sabrina 1]

79. I agree. She communicated with me privately for a while, like others have said, she refused all

offers of help and often became angry at anyone who offered. After a while I too couldn't decide whether she really had problems or who was just here to try to make Liberals look like hypocrites. Still don't know, but my last memory of her was that some DUers offered to go see her in order to help her and she became very angry.

Anyhow, assuming she really was homeless I hope she found a home and that her live has improved as much as possible.

[Le Taz Hot]

67. You are correct.

I PMed with her a few times and my offers of help, what little I could offer was met with excoriating return PM's. I drew the same conclusion you did, that she is obviously mentally ill so I didn't hold her behavior against her. And you are also correct in that, if they don't want to be helped (probably BECAUSE of their mental illness), you can't force them.

[liberalhistorian]

72. OK, I do apologize now,

I didn't realize that she had done that. That somehow makes it even sadder, that she is so mentally ill that she would viciously rebuff anyone who tried to help. While no one should have to deal with being treated that way when they're genuinely trying to help, and I commend those who reached out, I can't help but think she must really be in a major private hell and it's sad to think no one can reach her because she won't allow it.

[pipi_k]

91. Sorry, but...

that excuse doesn't wash.

I'm sure we've all seen graphically horrible images of people whose lives have been changed, even ruined, in some gawdawful ways.

Soldiers whose faces were burnt off. Children who have lost limbs.

Little Yousef, who, at the age of four years old, was playing in Iraq when some men came by, doused him with gasoline, and set him on fire.

Events every bit as deserving of someone being miserable and nasty to other people if that's the excuse one wants to use.

But these people somehow rise above their own misery.


People who can live through real tragedy like what I just mentioned above without being nasty to their fellow humans put the rest of us to shame.

[Arugula Latte]

64. She attacked me one time -- and I was agreeing with her.

I kept saying, "Yeah, I know, I 'm not arguing with you," but she was pissed at me. It was weird.

[hlthe2b]

17. I had been told she was in Fort Collins, CO and since I was up there quite a bit

several years back--I did post some flyers in areas where I thought she might see them--at the request of several Duers who were concerned. This has been several years ago and I never heard from or of her at the time.

Someone did say she was posting to the OET site a few years back...A google search (sadly) yields this:
http://oldelmtree.blogspot.com/2011/01/former-oet-member-bobbolink-has-severe.html

[jsr]

19. Very sad.

[NM_Birder]

20. I thought I remember her being in Colorado,

also thought she was living out of her car.

I don't know her, wouldn't know her if she walked up to me. was just curious, there seemed to have been several DU people die recently and just got me thinking about posters I hadn't seen in some time.

[Crunchy Frog]

76. She was in Colorado.

I met her several years ago. I'm in a different state now, and I believe she is too.

Never had any other contact with her other than that brief encounter, and seeing her posts on DU, and don't know what's become of her.

She was in Denver at the time that I met her.

[Warpy]

30. I know she'd gotten more erratic as time went on

and was vicious to me about a post she had misread. I put her on ignore as a kindness to both of us.

The comments at OET reassure me that it wasn't just me, she was starting to do it to a lot of people.

I hope she gets the help she needs but I'm not optimistic. Prison is the mental institution now and I don't wish prison on her.

[hlthe2b]

34. Indeed... I learned pretty early on not to engage too much if she questioned a post...

She could be erratic, as you say and quite aggressive. But, I do believe she had had a very hard life and I felt for her.
I dearly hope something may have turned around for her. This has been a tough winter for those without permanent housing. I surely hope that is not the case for her.

[tblue37]

53. One winter a bunch of us here donated money to help out DUers who were

having a hard time. The DUers who coordinated the effort actually drove to CO to try to give her the money and help in any other way they could. To locate her they sought the help of a priest or minister who worked with the homeless, but he cautioned them about her volatility and said that those who had tried to help her in the past had been furiously rejected.

They did catch up with her, but the meeting went very badly, and they left sad and discouraged that they had not been able to do anything to help her at all.

[RainDog]

18. I offered her a place to stay if she could get to where I am

She sort of cursed me out... so, anyway... I hope she's well.

[riderinthestorm]

27. I put her in contact with a minister friend of mine, Don Marxhausen who counseled the Klebold family

Last edited Wed Mar 5, 2014, 12:35 AM - Edit history (1)

Yes, THAT Klebold family, after Columbine.

So a truly kind, empathetic open hearted man. She cursed him out when he made suggestions to help her



I pretty much stopped reading her after that. Her final rants were getting pretty bizarre.

[madinmaryland]

21. Welcome to DU!

Interesting you bring up something that happened a couple of years ago. There are a lot of different angles to the story.

[NM_Birder]

22. seemed like it had been a few years

since I saw her. I've been reading DU for a while, I just actually joined a little while ago.

Like I said above, seems like quite a few people have died the past few weeks, thinking about people I hadn't seen in a while. I remember a really cool wood box pyramid someone made for Kephra after he passed, I liked reading DU a lot more way back then.

[Puglover]

23. I was a mod then.

Last edited Tue Mar 4, 2014, 10:22 PM - Edit history (2)

Let's just say there were a lot of angles. But up thread they are conveniently not mentioned.

Admin reinstated him despite a poor decision on this part. He also apologized to Bobolink. His actions were way way out of line. However she was hardly an angelic poster and there was provocation. I am not defending his actions, just reporting. That said I hope she is doing well.

On edit:It cracks me up that anyone thinks admin would have reinstated someone that had made a mad dog unprovoked attack on another DUer. But frankly I have never credited critical thinking to more then a few around here. Much more fun to stir shit.

[madinmaryland]

25. I agree with you. No one came out of this looking well. nt

[NM_Birder]

59. what about Swamprat ? Another one I haven't seen in years ?

[ScreamingMeemie]

60. It's always a good day when you're around, posting common sense.

[Puglover]

63. Aw thanks mucho dear.

How is you life? Going well I hope.

[REP]

69. I remember that

As you said, there was no angelic behavior involved on either side. There was some extreme provocation and a very poor reaction to the provocation.

Bobolink stopped posting shortly before DU3 was implemented; around the time some of the features were being trialled on DU2, namely autolock for copyright violations. She had a couple of posts autolocked for that, and it seemed that right after those locks she disappeared.

[hfojvt]

74. that was the way I remembered it

that she was automatically prevented from posting until she edited some post.

But I wondered if it was not a catch-22. That she couldn't edit the post because she was locked out.

[REP]

82. She wasn't locked out by a locked OP

It didn't work that way, just like now where a locked (not hidden) OP does not prevent one from posting, editing, etc.

[doc03]

26. Oh I remember her she didn't think anyone should get a pension other than

SS. If you worked hard and saved your money or had a pension from your job it should be subtracted from your SS. A very bitter and jealous person.

[NaturalHigh]

28. She gave some pretty strange replies to some of my posts.

Basically, it was an anti-poverty post, and she kind of told me that I wasn't doing enough and didn't really care enough. It was weird. I finally just stopped replying to her.

After she flamed me a few times, someone PMed me and said that it was kind of her MO. I hope she's doing well, though. Nobody should have to live in a car while other people live in multi-million dollar homes.

[doc03]

33. Does anyone know if she actually lived in a car or is that just something she

claimed?

[NaturalHigh]

35. I don't know.

I think most people here pretty much accepted that she did, but I don't know if anyone met or knew her personally.

[doc03]

38. I could claim I sleep under a bridge and post at a library, who would know

if it was true?

[NaturalHigh]

42. Very true.

[tblue37]

55. Upthread I explain about DUers who went to CO to try to help her.

They conferred with a minister who worked with the homeless and knew her, plus they did have a meeting with her--that went very badly. She was definitely homeless, but not able to accept any sort of help because of her issues. I hope she is safe. Our society is so cruel to those who are not able to secure safe shelter for themselves, no matter what the reason.

[tblue37]

54. She really was homeless. That was definitely confirmed. nt

[tammywammy]

36. I remember that she hated Habitat for Humanity. n/t

[NaturalHigh]

44. Any idea why?

[tammywammy]

49. They didn't do enough to help single homeless people.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2884433

[NM_Birder]

61. wow, that one had a "blast from the past"

Sapphire Blue............. another one lost.

[tammywammy]

62. I'm surprised it was from 2006.

I remember reading it at the time, there was quite a dust up about Habitat.

(Once again, I remember a poster not like Habitat from 2006, but have a hard time retaining statistics lectures... )

[Texasgal]

37. I offered a place for her to live

out in the hill country we have a small cabin, One bedroom and bath. It's not fancy. I offered her up the place on a temporary basis but she was unhappy that i could not provide a few things for her. One was transportation, which I understand. The other was wifi.

I tried to help but she wouldn't take it.

[NaturalHigh]

43. Wifi?

Say what now? I think that if I were homeless wifi would be the least of my concerns.

[Number23]

46. Come again???

The other was wifi.

[quakerboy]

51. I dont know about you

Its a deal I would probably take gratefully.

But then again, I dont know that I would. At least in a city, even homeless, there is communication and community and potentially food. Trading Isolation for a roof, I can see reason for hesitation.

[tblue37]

56. Many people tried to help her. nt

[aikoaiko]

39. "Have a heart" Her plea for compassion for homeless still resonates with me

Yes, she was erratic, but I think if my son were taken from and I didn't know if he was alive, dead, or worse, I would be in worse shape than her.

[Tsiyu]

68. We e-mailed for a while after she quit DU

She was working on a website about poverty and also trying to raise awareness concerning the lack of low-income housing in the US. ( Which is probably why she wanted the Wi-Fi ) I was on dial-up at the time and simply couldn't do the database building she needed, though I wanted to help.

Yes, she was a "difficult" person. It seemed no matter what you did, it wasn't enough. She could be infuriating. But in her own way, she either made you reject her, or she made you think a little more deeply about the entrenched poverty in our society.

I won't excuse her behavior, but I do understand it. There probably was some underlying mental issue there, but mostly I think it was just extreme anger over the way the poor are treated. That bitterness ate at her 24/7.

Poverty will do that to some - the injustice of it will make some people lash out in their pain. Needing help - as if one were a child - is also soul-killing for some. And some of the institutions offering "help" do treat one rather childishly and in a patronizing way that she hated. That is by no means an excuse for her to unload on the individuals trying to help, but in her defense, I understand she wanted people to look at the bigger picture, and seemed to think you weren't "getting the point" if you thought helping her alone might solve the issues angering her. I hope that made sense.

I can't judge her one bit. I am in a dire situation right now, needing help ( and receiving it from some wonderful people here and elsewhere ) and it is extremely embarrassing and humiliating to have to even accept that help. I don't want anyone to know; I don't want anyone to look down on me. It makes me angry that things are impossible for me to make right on my own.

I give Bobbolink credit for her attempts - no matter how clumsy or insulting - to raise awareness here. She kept fighting when many might have just gone cold and silent in their suffering. I forgive her - and yes, I received many rations of s**t from her.

I just loved her where she was in life.

But I am sorry for those who were hurt. In a way, I think she didn't believe she deserved any help, because when you offered, she seemed to be insulted. Deep-seated shame, maybe. I don't know.

Just wanted to add another perspective.

[Skittles]

75. Tsiyu

please try not to be embarrassed / humiliated / angry - I'm betting the people who are helping you want to help and don't think of it as a chore - the worst is when someone desperately needs help but refuses out of pride to accept help until things get worse....try to think of it this way: one day you will be in a position to help someone (as you likely have done in the past), and you will help them......because you know what? EVERYONE needs help sometimes, all of us do.

[Tsiyu]

78. Woman!

I am going to give you an ASSSSS-whoopin' for saying exactly what I needed to hear right now.

Today has been very rough on many levels, but after two months without any running water I now have a working pump! It took wailing and gnashing of teeth and several episodes of sobbing in the fetal position, and the love of friends ( like Howler ) to make it possible, but I am on my way to having water.

I love you and that is all I can say as I say goodnight to your wonderful self

[Skittles]

81. you deserve it, Tsiyu!

[Tsiyu]

89. Thank you, Skittles!

[Throd]

45. I remember her lashing out at people who agreed with her 99% on an issue.

But she would pick even the most minor point of disagreement and say some very nasty accusations.

[Arugula Latte]

65. That happened to me.

I was talking about how I have had dental problems and how unaffordable dental care is for millions of Americans. I did mention that I was lucky because a family member had helped me out with one particularly expensive procedure. That seemed to enrage her. "Not everyone has that luxury!" I kept saying, "Yeah, I know, I agree, it's not fair," but she kept bashing away at me. Tres bizarre.

[AngryOldDem]

70. That was the thing about Bobolink.

She had a talent for ultimately alienating about everybody who stood with her and believed in the same cause of ending homelessness, as well as insulting and belittling those of us who were actively working (and working hard) with homeless people. Especially galling was the constant questioning of our true motives, and the insinuation that we were a part of the problem. After awhile, she couldn't hear anything beyond her own shouting, which made any attempt at discussion with her frustrating and ultimately fruitless.

A lot of people here gave her a pass on her behavior because of her situation, but after awhile I could not. So I put her on ignore (one of the few times I have used it), where she stayed until DU3.

That said, I too have often wondered what has become of her. I truly hope she is okay and has found a safe and peaceful environment in which to live.

[tblue37]

52. I have also asked that question in an OP in the past, but no one had any

information. Her situation was always precarious, and she was homeless, so I was worried about her. But DU also often angered her, so maybe she just decided itwas not worth her time to post here any more. I hope it was nothing worse than that.

[polly7]

66. I pm'd her a few times when she was here,

she seemed like a very good person. One day though, I said something. that for some reason. bothered her a lot, and I've worried about her ever since.

[madokie]

73. Would this be bobolink of DU fame?

http://www.cowsoutside.com/

[Tsiyu]

77. her screen name was bobbolink

not bobolink


Cool cows, though

[Crunchy Frog]

80. No. n/t

[uppityperson]

86. Were you a member then?

[rudolph the red]

87. Nope, but I read DU. I was a Marine with a TS

clearance, we were told that it was a bad idea to register at political sites so I waited until I got out to join.

[uppityperson]

88. Well, you remember wrong, it was not that. Good hide, jurors.

[stevenleser]

90. Very sad situation there where I feel bad for both Bobbolink and William Pitt.

I have frequent disagreements on things with William, but that was not his fault, nor was it Bobbolink's on account of mental illness.

This is the fault of the completely inadequate mental health system in the US. Someone like Bobbolink should be getting intensive treatment to help make her as able to contribute to society and have a happy, healthy life as possible.

It is often very difficult to successfully interact with someone who has untreated mental illness, many times more so if you don't know that is with what you are dealing.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

92. possibly the only answer on this thread worth reading

[stevenleser]

93. Thank you LLP.

[progressiveinaction]

94. Did you see the message he sent her?

How was that not his fault?

[stevenleser]

95. Did you see what prompted it?

If someone had sent the post the she sent to him to me, I would react pretty angrily if I didn't know she was mentally ill and untreated.