The Truth About Ruth - Part 2 - Merge

[GryffindorFTW]

:eleventy:

[Lainey]

Quickly and from memory:

Possummomma/Pennmommy was tracked to CA

RR was supposed to be in CA

Possum has written blog posts against the Duggars and QF. Writes as a former Catholic, now atheist.

Munchausen by Internet:

Possummomma had tales of woe -- claimed to have SLE -- socks (my opinion) Berlzebub and Calludus vouched for her sickness and raised money for window film. When excess $$ were raised Possum claimed to have given it to another family in need. This was 2006.

Pennmommy started by posing as a Gosselin insider (expert) on anti-Gosselin blog.

Then her son "Jason" got appendicitis and died. Much drama. Sock "William" another son started posting tearful flowery updates. No money was raised for this one IIRC. Donations to be sent to reputable charities.

Pennmommy was identified as Possum. Possum closed her blog -- this was probably Oct 2007 or 8 but my memory is horrible. Reopened blog early 2013

in March ? this year Possum had a blog post asking for people in N Chicago area to email her. No reason given.

For me, the writing styles are not that similar, even though the methods are. They may be two different people, but what makes me really suspicious is the last one.

Also, TWOP commenter jhawksgirl1 was apparently found to be both PossumMomma and PennMommy. She is the one who claimed the stuff about the "sin in the camp" and the Duggars and Oprah.

ETA: Also some strange similarities in the way that all of these "people" write. For example, hyphenating things that don't need to be hyphenated. Like "well-and-truly" or "e-mail." Using apostrophes as accents or in unnecessary places--which stood out to me with ofDuggar's use of "prego'. "

[formergothardite]

I started to doubt Ruth, or whoever is behind the blog, in 2010.

In late 2009 or early 2010, Ruth wrote that she had $30 per month to cover everything (food, phone cards, hygiene articles, clothes). I felt really sorry for her, even more so since I just had gotten out of a really rotten financial situation, the kind where I almost cried of happiness when I accidently found coins in a jar at home, because that meant that I could have food on the table for one more week.

I thought that I could at least double her monthly allowance, so I sent her $30 and wrote an encouraging note to go with it. I never heard a word from her, but the money was claimed from my PayPal account. She wrote on her blog that she was stressed and busy with school and I just thought that she eventually would send a reply.

The next month, I sent her another $30. The money was claimed, didn't hear from her. Figured she was busy.

Third month (yes, I am persistent or extremely stupid), I sent her $10 and then thought: I will not send more money until I hear something from her. A simple "thank you" will do. Maybe she is busy and will reply to three months of e-mails at once efter the school semester. I know that I have postponed answering to a lot of e-mails when my life has been crazy.

Summer came, I never heard a word from her. And that really made me suspicious. The "Ruth" person I had gotten to know on her blog and on FJ seemed to be an old-fashioned, well-mannered and polite young woman, afraid to put one foot wrong or offend anybody. Not even saying "thank you" to a stranger on the Internet who sends her money just didn't seem like her. Or anybody who has been brought up as a fundie - their main thing seems to be THANKFUL for all the blessings in life, blah, blah, blah.

Something was off.

A few months later Ruth wrote on her blog, in response to somebody asking about the tip jar, "besides, I don't make that much money from it". And I thought... right, that's it. I may have given her very small donations, but at least I doubled her spending money two months in a row and that should make some kind of difference to her. I know it would to me, if somebody just doubled my monthly food money. Even more so when I was broke.

That's my RR story. It's the first and the last time I will ever send money to a person on the Internet and I'll just bank it as learning money. I hope that whoever got them needed them better than I did or used them for something useful like a cocktail or two or a trip to the Mac cosmetics counter. :D

You have a kind heart. :character-daphne: Here is a gift of Daphne from my oldest daughter who wanted me to use it.

I suspect that RR made way more money from that tip jar than she ever let on.

[TrueRebel1]

So I've been going thru old posts on the RR blog, and noticing some strange details. For example:

Her engagement story (with "Adam") is supposed to be when she's 17. Various mentions are made that it was assumed (by her family) that she would marry at 18 years old.

Now, from what I know about Gothard and ATI, young marriages are very taboo. Gothard has his whole spiel (maybe not publicly known, but known to hard-core Gothardites) about the godly pattern being to wait until at least *30 years old* to pursue marriage! (And coincidentally, this is a major cause behind the unmarried SAHD dilemma.)

I find it strange, that for such a strict ATI family, Ruth's parents were allowing (rather forcing) her to marry at the young age of 18.

Am I missing any explanations that RR has made about this fact?

[TheJewAmongUs]

I agree that RR is not a member of this family at all but with the similiarities, may have used them as a model for her own family. As to the "family members" responding to her, I agree that they had to be socks. Given her constant statements on needing to guard her privacy, and being web-saavy enough to install a bot to prevent archiving, I can't see that she would allow them to actually respond. Plus if her true family were really speaking out, wouldn't we have found evidence elsewhere of them doing the same in other venues?

I don't give her any credit for this, Google makes it super easy on Blogger. She only had to cut and paste text into her blog settings.

support.google.com/blogger/answer/2472627

[Clementine]

You have a kind heart. :character-daphne: Here is a gift of Daphne from my oldest daughter who wanted me to use it.

I suspect that RR made way more money from that tip jar than she ever let on.

Thank you! :) It would be interesting if everybody who has donated money would write the amount in this thread so we could get some kind of idea how much FJ members has given her. I am curious.

But I think that the emotional scam is worse, actually. People on FJ have been encouraging RR for 4+ years now, given advice, offered money, help and advice.

I also remember that one longtime member of FJ claimed to have been in contact with her and verified her identity. I think it was when her sister was about to go to California and Ruth asked for cash and advice.

Who was that member and was that a scam too?

[library_youth]

Btw, am I remembering that she claimed to have some sort of throat surgery before her leg accident? Sorry, I'm on a "bathroom break" so I can't read her stuff again, nor do I want to. I just want us to finish icing her crazy cake.

Ruth blogged on February 9, 2010 about having tonsil complications and needing to go to the hospital:

razingruth.blogspot.com/2010/02/tonsil-complications.html

[Daisy]

You have a kind heart. :character-daphne: Here is a gift of Daphne from my oldest daughter who wanted me to use it.

I suspect that RR made way more money from that tip jar than she ever let on.

I hunk she did too. Look how many people have some forward just on his thread to say they have sent her money.

[Lainey]

Thank you! :) It would be interesting if everybody who has donated money would write the amount in this thread so we could get some kind of idea how much FJ members has given her. I am curious.

But I think that the emotional scam is worse, actually. People on FJ have been encouraging RR for 4+ years now, given advice, offered money, help and advice.

I also remember that one longtime member of FJ claimed to have been in contact with her and verified her identity. I think it was when her sister was about to go to California and Ruth asked for cash and advice.

Who was that member and was that a scam too?

As I've mentioned, I once donated either $10 or $20. I can't remember the exact amount, but I think it was probably $10. I'm cheap. :mrgreen:

And the member was Creaky Steel. I wouldn't think it was a scam on her part--maybe some naivete? But who knows at this point?

[nokidsmom]

I don't give her any credit for this, Google makes it super easy on Blogger. She only had to cut and paste text into her blog settings.

support.google.com/blogger/answer/2472627

I figured she could cut and paste the code, it's more that she even thought to do this and why. Especially considering she was playing the (supposedly) former ATI girl with the sheltered upbringing and seemed to be so helpless in the face of constant crises.

[Clementine]

Ruth blogged on February 9, 2010 about having tonsil complications and needing to go to the hospital:

razingruth.blogspot.com/2010/02/tonsil-complications.html

Somebody should make a timeline with all the accidents and bad things that happened to Ruth. It was one emergency after the other for four years. Almost biblical.

[Mecca]

Harris is to Ruth as George Glass is to Jan Brady.

[Palimpsest]

Also, TWOP commenter jhawksgirl1 was apparently found to be both PossumMomma and PennMommy. She is the one who claimed the stuff about the "sin in the camp" and the Duggars and Oprah.

ETA: Also some strange similarities in the way that all of these "people" write. For example, hyphenating things that don't need to be hyphenated. Like "well-and-truly" or "e-mail." Using apostrophes as accents or in unnecessary places--which stood out to me with ofDuggar's use of "prego'. "

I keep forgetting jhawksgirl1. Did she ever "endorse" OfDuggar on TWOP or vice versa? Who figured out jhawksgirl1 was Possum? Was it GDNNOP?

I agree about the punctuation similarities. I hadn't picked up on those, but you are right.

[Clementine]

As I've mentioned, I once donated either $10 or $20. I can't remember the exact amount, but I think it was probably $10. I'm cheap. :mrgreen:

And the member was Creaky Steel. I wouldn't think it was a scam on her part--maybe some naivete? But who knows at this point?

Is Creaky Steel still posting here? It would be interesting to hear her story.

[nokidsmom]

Somebody should make a timeline with all the accidents and bad things that happened to Ruth. It was one emergency after the other for four years. Almost biblical.

Reading this thread on RR plus the earlier one has updated me quite a bit on the trials of Ruth.

Tonsil complications? Do tonsil complications really occur in adults? Maybe a someone with a medical background could weigh in, but I thought tonsils were pretty much non functional by adulthood.

[Lainey]

I keep forgetting jhawksgirl1. Did she ever "endorse" OfDuggar on TWOP or vice versa? Who figured out jhawksgirl1 was Possum? Was it GDNNOP?

I agree about the punctuation similarities. I hadn't picked up on those, but you are right.

I can't remember. :( I've read so many links in the past few days! I think I posted them all here, though.

ETA: I don't know if jhawksgirl1 ever endorsed ofDuggar or anyone else. Good question! Someone with a TWOP account would have to look into that, though (I don't have one).

[thoughtful]

Oh my! Why did I never see the resemblance between Landru and Steve M before?

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

:D Isn't it uncanny?

I'm beginning to think Steve is a walking Star Trek encyclopedia -- Borg, Landru, what else? He creates lots of seemingly profound crap and Important Rules to disguise his trying to get people's money for ideas and objects of very little worth, so maybe there's a little Ferengi in there, too.

He sure isn't a Tribble, though -- very un-cuddly.

OK, back to Ruth.

[Closed Womb]

Harris is to Ruth as George Glass is to Jan Brady.

I love you for this.

[NurseNell]

Tonsil complications? Do tonsil complications really occur in adults? Maybe a someone with a medical background could weigh in, but I thought tonsils were pretty much non functional by adulthood.

It's adenoids that are non-functional by adulthood. Adults do sometimes need tonsils out and they tend to have more post op complications. You can even get cancer of the tonsil, as my brother did.

[Talitha Cumi]

No, because people who do this seldom stop. Once one identity is spoiled, they move on to another. People with large chunks of time to spend reading, Google the cases of "Amy Player/Andrew Blake" and "Janna St. James." In both cases, the scammers have been outed publicly many times, have been faced with lawsuits and criminal procedings, and their families are well aware of their behaviors and they are still scamming. In the Amy Player/Andrew Blake cases, a woman was killed by a jealous boyfriend because of the manipulations of the scammer. The scammer himself/herself got shot in the fray. And he/she is still scamming (not using these pronouns to misgender or be unkind - I simply don't know the gender the person assumes any more).

Holy crap, I remember Amy Player from the Bit of Earth scam. Someone was killed in another scam? That is so tragic.

[nokidsmom]

It's adenoids that are non-functional by adulthood. Adults do sometimes need tonsils out and they tend to have more post op complications. You can even get cancer of the tonsil, as my brother did.

Nurse Nell, thanks for clarifying. I must have been confusing adenoids with the tonsils as being non functional. Take it from someone whose tonsils and adenoids were surgically made non functional at the age of 7. All went out.

Back to RR.

[Talitha Cumi]

This is from the old yuku board:

NeonJungle writes:

Would that be Vyckie or someone else? Anyone have any idea about a verified ex-ATI besides Vyckie on the blog?

I thought Vyckie's brand of QF was independent of Gothard, wasn't it? I don't recall her ever mentioning Gothard.

[Rescinded and Mended]

This is really sad. It seems like so many kindhearted people have reached out to Ruth, or tried to, and have received evasion or a lack or gratitude in return. This just breaks my heart. :(

As for Ruth's blog, one thing that I always thought was strange (because, as others have said, hindsight is 20-20) is the fact that supposedly, a lot of people in the Quiverfull movement know who Ruth is, and yet not one of them has actively tried to expose her. If some of them are really so supset about her blog making them look bad, then why hasn't anyone given Ruth's real name out of revenge? Surely out of so many irritiated people, at least one of them would try to expose the "shunned and wayward daughter," especially if she had achieved some success at making a life for herself away from them.

I always try to think the best of people, but it is a tragedy if Ruth has taken advantage of so many kind and well-intentioned people.

I also want to add that since these events have been brought to light, I think it is important that we know about them so that everyone can be more guarded in the future, but I also don't feel I need to know Ruth's true identity. It's enough that her story inconsistencies have been revealed.

[Savoring Samsara]

Also, TWOP commenter jhawksgirl1 was apparently found to be both PossumMomma and PennMommy. She is the one who claimed the stuff about the "sin in the camp" and the Duggars and Oprah.

ETA: Also some strange similarities in the way that all of these "people" write. For example, hyphenating things that don't need to be hyphenated. Like "well-and-truly" or "e-mail." Using apostrophes as accents or in unnecessary places--which stood out to me with ofDuggar's use of "prego'. "

Thanks for this. When I googled PossumMomma, all I found was page after page of big-name atheist and skeptic bloggers (PZ Myers, for crying out loud!) saying how sad it was that a bunch of evil bullying fundies had driven her from blogging over a bunch of lies, so I am still pretty confused by that story because they don't seem like the type to get easily scammed. I guess anyone really can fall for this stuff, huh?

If anyone has links to the research connecting all of these different personas, I would love to see that too.

[Savoring Samsara]

Holy crap, I remember Amy Player from the Bit of Earth scam. Someone was killed in another scam? That is so tragic.

Not directly as a result of any scam, I don't think. It was a situation in which Amy Player/Andrew Blake was present when a friend of his was shot and killed by her estranged partner. The partner sounds like he was no prize, to put it mildly, but Andrew Blake's presence and actions may or may not have exacerbated tensions between the couple.

News article with details: http://www.dailyrepublic.com/news/fairf ... r-suicide/

(sorry for the derail, carry on)