Tuesday, April 02, 2002

The Danger of Chatting
Tommy from Mosjøen (this is in the northern part of Norway) came home and found that the woman he had been chatting with had moved into his house. She had broken the door open, moved all her belongings in and was waiting for him in the living-room with her two children.

It's interesting that Nettavisen, a Norwegian net-paper, makes this a story at all. It is a classic case of bad communication and false expectations. They had agreed that she should move in, and then the guy had changed his mind. She had however gone on with the plans, left her job and everything. A classic story of a relationships with two parties who misunderstood each other. What makes it a story is that they met on a chat. They had been chatting through text-tv, and decided to go through with this after three sessions. The story confirms all the horror stories about what kind of lunatics you can meet out there through chats, it fits well into the image of the desperate people who look for partners online, and it ridicules a woman who's not afraid of trusting strangers.

Her not wanting to have her name in the paper or speak to the journalist is the soundest decision she has made in this case - if only Tommy had been equally sensible. The story says nothing about what promises he made her before they decided that she should move in, only that "she's very determined."

No comments: