I can't help but think about how this episode unfolded, and compare his thread with the average OT suicide thread. Mostly in how both were able to attract attention.
One would be created by the guy in question, drop a few vague hints about death and how meaningless life is, then intentionally disappear while everyone else scrambles and jump through hoops to confirm his well-being. Not to downplay suicide, but the cases that popped up on GAF always end up looking selfish and attention seeking.
On the other hand, when things took a turn for the worse for Scorcho, he went to the Poli-thead(?) (where most of his activity took place) and left an honest and heartfelt notice to the people he interacted with the most. Someone else had to dig it out and make a thread out of it. After that, he did his best to communicate and chronicle --as vividly as possible-- what he was going through. There were no ulterior motives, no cries for help, approval, sympathies, or what have you. Obviously because he didn't need any of that during his final moments. In fact, his very last few posts felt oddly... emotionless.
And if you look elsewhere, here are the only threads he created discussing his health situation:
Open chest surgery is scary. (2009)
I May Live! Optimism +10! Cancer Sucks! (2011)
Both read like no-nonsense, practical threads. None of that brooding, emo crap.
The last thread he posted was the ominous
coming close to your death.... Where he inconspicuously tries to discuss how people would handle the internet and social media upon realizing their death is immanent. It was a general discussion, and I don't even think he revealed he was dying.
Basically the guy was not an attention whore, and every attention-starved poster who exploited the topic of death to whore for attention should feel ashamed of himself.
Anyhow, I'm thinking about this way too much. I'm trying too hard to distract myself from work.
