Pages like these make me cringe....

http://www.43things.com/things/view/35265/grow-wings

This is a page specifically devoted to the goal of physically growing functional, feathered wings on your back.
At least 85% of its population is in the 15-and-under age group.
They treat every little back itch as a sign that the wings are 'coming in', and they scratch their backs viciously to encourage 'breaking the skin'.
Some even state having "pushed at" their shoulderblades, trying to get the bones to break skin.
I have scoliosis; what they are describing is self-mutilation that can leaded to spinal deformity and deep-tissue infections.

But... that's not even the worst of it. I'd probably leave them alone, if that were the worst of it, since most would probably figure out sooner or later that wings on humans cannot aerodynamically function...

...no, the worst of it is this: there is a member, calling herself Sting, who claims to be forming a "flock" in northern Maine, in a heavily unpopulated area.
She says she already has over 20 members.
She invites other members to join her flock, to come to Maine (in the middle of winter?!?!) to that abandoned wilderness location, literally to run away from their parents and homes.
She says that she'll teach them how to fight and fend for themselves, and give them places to live and food to 'hunt' and eat.

Let's add two and two, eh?
We have
1. a group of deeply delusional, extremely suggestible CHILDREN.
2. an apparently-older person, a complete STRANGER, inviting them to run away from home to one of the coldest parts of the contiguous USA, in the middle of winter, without informing their families, to be part of her "flock".

Is it just me, or doesn't that smell fishy/dangerous/like an episode of "48 Hours" waiting to happen?!
Worse, the members are actually asking for Sting with what borders on desperation, begging to join her flock.

Amount of evidence, photo or otherwise, of actual growth of wings in any member there: none.
Number of strangers who seem darn kidnapper-isch: at least one.
Number of suggestible teens, raised in the age of information and Don't Talk to Strangers, apparently willing to trust an obvious liar: at least thirty-two in the last two days, out of a group of 750 members overall

:-/ I'm not good at leaving situations like that unhindered. These are kids. I'm an adult who is aware of a nasty situation waiting to happen. I feel deeply morally/ethically obligated to at least point out to those kids the raw idiocy of what they're so avidly considering...

...so I've posted on there numerous times as the member Asterling, seeding doubt and incredulity wherever I can. I'll keep doing it until I see that I've made some solid degree of useful influence.
Since I joined last night, the membership of that group has dropped by about 35 (was originally over 780).

*groan* They can believe what they want; I'm cool with that... but when a probable-adult joins a group of children with probable criminal intent (or at the very least, massive stupidity and no proof of any skills or wings to give her credibility), I can't keep myself out of the equation. <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_sad.gif" alt=":(" title="Sad" /><!-- s -->

I dunno'... look for yourselves. Just- gahhhh. >_<


One Good Thing in all this: Sting's "due date" for the growth of her wings is supposed to be today. If they don't show up in the next several days, it will heavily discredit her and make it hard for her to regain the kids' trust...

...hopefully. :-/

I'm seriously concerned about those silly little gits.
Guh. I need to stop websearching James Patterson books. <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_razz.gif" alt=":P" title="Razz" /><!-- s -->

The thing about Sting's wings (hehe that rhymes) is that I doubt anyone will ask for evidence of them...she can basically just say "hey my wings are here!" and the suggestible children will just take that as proof <!-- s:roll: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_rolleyes.gif" alt=":roll:" title="Rolling Eyes" /><!-- s:roll: -->

*nod* <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_razz.gif" alt=":P" title="Razz" /><!-- s -->

I'm preparing to campaign for picture-proof as soon as she announces possession of wings... and an alternate campaign to discredit her as soon as she says "oops, not tonight!"

Dang, that sounds gosh-awful. :-/
Seriously, if it weren't so kidnapper-isch, I wouldn't get involved at all. Let 'em be crazy; it's hardly 'worse' than otherkin beliefs... but actual endangerment of children... *shuddering*

Anyway, Sting expects to get her wings at 1 AM tonight. We'll see, eh?

There's a sad, wistful part of my brain that desperately wants that shite to be true. <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_razz.gif" alt=":P" title="Razz" /><!-- s -->
Brain, shaddap.

If you genuinely think some of the members may be in danger, I doubt you can do much other than letting the FBI (or other appropriate law enforcement agency) aware.

On the other hand, always remember that while plenty of people on the internet can bullshit all day with "i have real wings come join meh" . . . plenty of people can also bullshit right back with "i think my wings are coming too i wanna run away with youuuu!!!!111!IiiLLL"

Forming a "flock" and stuff, that sort of thing instantly reminds me of the book Maximum Ride. It's about mutant teenagers with wings. They call their team the Flock, which is where I assume the name comes form. Sting's profile picture even reminds me of Max (who's the female leader of the Flock). Basically, she's probably just a fan who's letting herself go a bit too deep.

I'm not impressed. I've seen worse sites than this.

XD

They're all fans of Max Ride, as far as I can tell; more than a few of them are firmly convinced that those characters really exist in this world. <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_razz.gif" alt=":P" title="Razz" /><!-- s -->

May it amuse you all to know that there has been another 'goal' (what that site calls its subfora) created... one titled "Destroy Asterling".
There's only three members, and I'm one of them. [If I'm to be destroyed, I might as well participate. XD]

Also, and we'll pretend I didn't say this, it's amazingly easy to forge a digital image of a photograph of an educational document.
GIMP is amazing shite. :-/

Thats really concerning... but I can see why it would be appealing to younger people, sadly.

That was weird. Sad, to say I’ve read things like this before. Its sad, but it can be found throughout the internet and its kids and people who want to believe it who want to believe this kind of thing.

- Earth Listener

It is quite sad. I just hope that these kids don't get hurt. Actually, what I really hope is that they're all trolling each other, and none of them really think they're going to suddenly sprout wings. Doubt it, though. :/

Obvious paedophile is obvious.

I do agree with Archer that half the responses could be sarcastic, though.