Rachel Roo Story Is A Hoax: Retraction.

[Sally]

I'm a loving caring sister who when i found out spent a day deeply upset and in tears over the loss of another loving caring sister..

this is my point why rush to judgment why tell everyone when you don't have all the facts there is such a thing as a telephone

please go ahead and discredit me if you wish.

i do care i care enough to join this site. maybe to make new friends maybe to help make a difference...

i never even knew "roo" sorry because i was an emotional mess over nothing but there again i would be the same way no matter who it will be next... thats just who i am

now let me go fine a new members intro thing have a good day

M_J,

I was not trying to discredit you, I was trying to explain how all of these things came about - you were concerned that she was Trusted Moderator and I was explaining how it happened and it was because of that position that we allowed our emotions to over ride our rationality, but I pointed out the problem is not only here but throught the world - we are being held to a higher accountability than the New York Times that now runs a longer daily retraction colum than it it has advertisers.

We are human and make mistakes and if I said anything that seemed that I was trying to discredit you I am truly sorry, nothing was meant that way. I do not question your motives or your position or your credibility, that is not my place and I prefer to believe that everyone is my friend until it is proven other wise.

I appologize for any comment that may have hurt that relationship.

I would like to be your friend, I enjoy talking to intelligent people.

Love ya,

Sally

[Carolyn Marie]

There still seems to be a lot of unanswered questions. One thing admin can do, if you haven't done it

already, is call the law enforcement agency in the town or city where the crime supposedly happened

and ask them to verify it. Details can be withheld, with or without the family's urging, but they

shouldn't be able to deny that such a crime happened at all.

Because of the nature of this site, and how carefully privacy is maintained, all of us have to accept

with a certain amount of faith the truth about what we are being told. There will rarely be a way to

verify any statement someone makes about themselves. Liars will usually give themselves away,

but a good liar could go a long time before slipping up.

Perhaps a new thread can be started for members to opine about ways to increase site security or

prevent something like this from happening again. We've got a lot of great minds among us, lets

put them to productive use.

And Laura, you just keep doing the job you're doing. We need you, and we need this site.

Carolyn Marie

[Guest Gloria13]

There still seems to be a lot of unanswered questions. One thing admin can do, if you haven't done it

already, is call the law enforcement agency in the town or city where the crime supposedly happened

and ask them to verify it. Details can be withheld, with or without the family's urging, but they

shouldn't be able to deny that such a crime happened at all.

Because of the nature of this site, and how carefully privacy is maintained, all of us have to accept

with a certain amount of faith the truth about what we are being told. There will rarely be a way to

verify any statement someone makes about themselves. Liars will usually give themselves away,

but a good liar could go a long time before slipping up.

Perhaps a new thread can be started for members to opine about ways to increase site security or

prevent something like this from happening again. We've got a lot of great minds among us, lets

put them to productive use.

And Laura, you just keep doing the job you're doing. We need you, and we need this site.

Carolyn Marie

Has anyone been in contact with Rachel Roo??

[Guest Razar]

Laura, I wouldn't be too hard on myself. Regrettably, these stories happen all too frequently for real.

Razar

[Guest RainBird]

I am very relieved to hear this!

Dispite the fact that telling such a story is not only annoying and even humiliating to some, it unfortunately brings out the 'boy who cried wolf' scenario. Something that makes our jobs very hard in times where help is needed.

I'm not embarressed by this, the person who caused this should be. They really need to get a life!

xx

[Guest Leigh]

and hey, on the plus side.

no one is dead

[Guest Madison_Always]

Well, I'm sure I'm not the only one but I used to have her email... should I try it? I mean I doubt it will get a response but...idk

[Paula ult]

I can't imagine how someone that we trusted and did such a good job in chat could do some something like this to the very people she had been friends with for over a year.

I feel violated, since i found out i been very depressed and crying, now I'm just plain angry.

This kind of story is to juicy for the press not to bee all over it.

Paula

[Guest Silver]

http://www.bilerico.com/2009/06/another_brutal_murder.php

There appear to be some misconceptions/ questions about this on this site. Please help to explain. I know we do not know much, but some well-meaning people have made inquiries. Anyone?

I think its okay to post this, not sure why it wouldn't be, but still...

[Guest Isobelle Fox]

Well, I'm sure I'm not the only one but I used to have her email... should I try it? I mean I doubt it will get a response but...idk

I never met her, and I certainly don't have her email, but if I did, I would definitely attempt to establish contact. Someone here may already have done so, but if not it seems like a good idea. I know so little about whats going on, but I think its premature to assume that Rachel herself started this, and since she hasnt been around to dismiss the claims herself, I personally worry about her regardless of the veracity of the original story. Something still feels kind of wrong about the whole situation.

Even if she wanted, as some people have suggested, to remove herself from the "community," there are definitely easier ways. If I decided to leave, I'd just go, and I doubt seriously that anyone would persue the matter. So, I'm just saying - its wierd that someone would start this kind of trouble in the first place, and its wierd that the person that the claims were made about has not come around since it all started. It would be nice to know that she's ok, for sure. And if she did start the story, thats a shame, but Id rather KNOW that for sure, personally.

In fact, now that it appears that the initial tragedy has proven false, the most disturbing thing to me is how little anyone seems to know about what is actually going on.

[Guest Amanda]

You know , there are some of us here that said from dot that it was BS. There are some of us here that remember well the scam that August pulled. you all seem to say that she was here for a year and how could she do something like that. Well August was another 1 who was here for along time did all these wonderful things and "died" only to be found to be a hoax.

There are some of us ppl at this site whom have been around here since nearly the biggining and we tend to have an idea, we are not just grumpy know it alls and some were shot down over our opinions during your outpouring of grief. We have seen alot of ppl come and go over the years, staff and users. we sit back and watch what is said instead of hanging onto everything that is said. A helpful asset to use while chatting online as you never know what ppl are capable of.

Start thinking that there is more than what you live online as the world isnt full of rainbows and fluffy bunnies.

As for Raychel Roo, a few of us had our own opinions from our own observations over time. I have no time nor forgivness for the likes of those like roo and august.

[Guest Tess-Leigh]

I'm a loving caring sister who when i found out spent a day deeply upset and in tears over the loss of another loving caring sister..

I know I'm new here myself, and so you have no reason (yet) to trust me, but I confirm M_J's self-summary. M_J is a long-standing member of a large CD/TG/TS forum that I am a member of, and is quite respected there for her gracious humanity and willingness to help others; the term "well-loved" would not be at all inappropriate.

I happened to be the person that posted the original "Death of a Moderator" message to that other forum. I had received it from someone I trusted, a person who has demonstrated her concern and her sincerity to me many times in (a different forum yet). She, in turn, had received it from someone she knew personally, face-to-face, and trusted, whom had in turn gotten it from someone she trusted -- and so on up the chain.

And I confirm M_J's deep upset; she and I talked privately about the situation in the time before the story was retracted.

I regret that my good-faith posting ended up leading to so much grief and emotional pain on that forum -- but at the same time I am (for lack of better word) proud that so many cared so strongly about their community and the people in it.

I joined here to extend my condolences and support about Raychel... it just happened that by the time I had time to locate the topic, it had been retracted.

If I understand the forum rules correctly, I cannot identify the other forum that M_J and I are members of so that others could confirm for themselves that although M_J is new to here, that she is well established and trusted elsewhere -- identifying the other forum would, it seems to me, be tantamount to posting contact information for us, which would be against forum rules. But if for some reason that ever became a serious concern, I believe some of the longer standing members of this forum know me and would be willing to vouch for me.

[Guest Naomi Stardust]

i am so happy this was a hoax!

i don't mind feeling foolish

i'm just glad it didn't really happen

although it was a mean sick thing to do

i agree with the others who said it

the response from members was genuine and a credit to who we are

we do need to get to the truth of what happened and why, was it raychel who perpetrated this or was she a victim

but its also important to focus on the positive things that come from this unfortunate hoax

for me, the tragedy of it all gave me for a moment a resolve i never knew i was capable of

i am trying to hold on to that resolve

Naomi

[Guest Madison_Always]

I was thinking about the August incident and didnt he have a motive? I mean wasn't it their, those behind August, idea to try and induce more suicides or something? Raychel doesn't appear to have one. Her parents joined here too. It could have been an elaborate hoax or attempt at stirring up sympathy but if that was the case why bother trying to help so many people? Maybe it's just me, I know it's not, but something doesn't sit right with me about this whole situation...

hugs

Chelsea

[Guest Tamara Croft]

If I understand the forum rules correctly, I cannot identify the other forum that M_J and I are members of so that others could confirm for themselves that although M_J is new to here, that she is well established and trusted elsewhere -- identifying the other forum would, it seems to me, be tantamount to posting contact information for us, which would be against forum rules. But if for some reason that ever became a serious concern, I believe some of the longer standing members of this forum know me and would be willing to vouch for me.

I joined this forum to pay our respects from the board Tess is talking about, I am one of the administrators there and MJ is one of my staff, they are both long standing, well respected and loved members. I posted in the thread that has now been deleted, but I wanted to just say, even when something like this happens, hoax or not, the rate the news spread and how many communities joined together to pay their respects is phenomenal to say the least. It makes communities stronger, joins more people together from all over the world, imho, that's got to be a good thing right? There is one more thing, though this may be a hoax (because you still don't know for sure), what happened to Raychel? is she actually safe? If she has suddenly gone missing, where did she go?

Even though this was a really awful thing to do, whoever did it, something good came out of it, care, love and community spirit.

[Sakura]

i ditto what amanda said i am also one of the ones that Smelled BS really since that girl wondered onto the site but at the same time saying i told you so seems kinda bitter as some one that has suffered real phisical abuse this story is twisted and disgusting and really shows you the mind set of some one that would invent such a horrible way for any human being too die trans or just a regular person

from what i understand the charachter rachel/ roo didnt even exsist it was some chick that writes transfiction........ and i dont think shes even transgendered

i mean it really dosnt surprize me since the august thing and some of the other stories i have heard in my time of being on this site

i mean really how well can you really know some one you have never met ? and lives 1000s of miles away

Sakura

[Guest Aaron]

ah the internet, don't you just love it? I give the story an A+ for effort and a C- for execution. In the immortal words of Nelson Muntz "HAHA"

Aaron.

[Guest michelle.butterfly]

the respect of this site as made fools of many what happened here is disgraceful

The site made fools of no one; the one who perpetuated a year-long hoax on everyone is the one responsible.

how do you think other sites will trust your integrity now..

The *integrity* of the site is fine; immediately upon recognizing the status of the story, a retraction was made. That shows the integrity of the site.

admin better deal with this mess...

The mess has been dealt with as best possible; steps taken to prevent such mistakes in the future, retraction published.

you made a fool out of me thats for sure

emphasis added

More anger toward the site for something that was perpetuated on all of us.

I would much rather have been made a fool of than for this story to be true.

emphasis added

As I would imagine it would be for anyone.

I actually had hunches very early on when there was no reporting, and the alarms got louder and louder as the excuses for same came. But I sobbed nonetheless and trusted and cared until the evidence was overwhelming. It's who I am. It's who Sally and Mia and Laura and all of us that cared about Raychel are.

emphasis added

We all suffered from this M_J... We all know what you went through, some of us more than others because we *did* have contact with her.

So, M_J, who exactly are you?

I'm a loving caring sister who when i found out spent a day deeply upset and in tears over the loss of another loving caring sister..

So M_J, yes, so were we, the question "who exactly are you" was directed toward the above point: we went through the same thing as you did but we didn't direct our anger and distress at the site. We recognize the great service this site and Laura have done for the community as a whole. We recognize and experience the struggle it is to run and administrate a site such as this.

Do you know how many lives have been saved due to this site? Do you really think the proper response to something like this is to come in as a new member and act as if your suffering somehow justifies the kind of mesage you publicly posted? I do not believe it does.

So, who exactly are you, M_J? Someone who can recognize when she's made a mistake and apologize for it? Or someone who feels her attack (against people who reacted out of the same grief that she felt!) to be justified?

You make the call.

Michelle

[Guest Darlie]

Hello my dears,

My name is Darlie and I am totally trackable. On YouTube, on Facebook and MySpace . First Laura, don't you feel bad at all , you were moved by grief and not for any other reason. We believed this hoax (if it is a hoax) because our community has suffered things of equal cartoonish violence in the past . You, I and all of us know that that the violence is real.

"Gwen was choked , then had her face beaten in with a full can and then a frying pan, they kneed and kicked her in the head dragged her body to the garage where they smashed her in the face with a shovel then strangled her and then drove her to the desert and buried her."

None of these things are unfamiliar at all to us and that is why it rang true . Many of you had contact with Rachel personally and from what I've read she did good work so before we look on this as just "damaging " to the community consider this, no one died and we were all slapped in the face with the reality of this possibly happening yet again . It made me look to my trans friends and consider their loss and what it would mean to me. That I think was a gift of foresight without consequence . So perhaps it's time to do something about it because chances are unfortunately very good the next time the story will be real.

Also, if some of you have Rachel's email , domain IP or whatever , if you could IM or email it to me ? It is sort of a gift that I have been able to track people in the past . I might get lucky and find her.

Hugs

Darlie

[Guest Eth]

I for one am really glad to see a few of the comments here. I think it's great that there are others here who can do their best to overlook the bad and make something out of the little good there is here. And I am proud to be part of this community when I see some of the amazingly intelligent comments posted here.

This story was horrible. The fact it was a hoax was horrible. This whole thing is horrible. It is extremely unfortunate that this had to happen and that someone like Raychel turned out to be a fraud. It is absolutely terrible that this whole issue existed. For those who knew her well: I am so sorry and I hope you can find a way not to her as a fraud, but what she did for you that furthered your life. And for those who didn't know her, but felt great grief when they read the story: I hope that you can find a way to come out of this experience stronger and more educated. There are all sorts of things both big and small that we can learn from even the worst of times; we just have to look for them.

愛 Eth

[Guest rachael1]

It's disgraceful that someone out there can manipulate peoples feelings and prey on their fears!

Unfortunately there are a lot of nasty or sick individuals out there that do a lot worse then just fool people over the internet.

Having said that, if the perpetrator of the hoax's purpose was to divide the transgender community they have done a good job.

I for one will still take people at their word until proven otherwise and think that accusations and recriminations serve no purpose here.

Another caution I would like to point out is that a lot of people have assumed roo initiated these lies, maybe it is still too early to start accusations until more evidence is gathered. Aren't we innocent until proven guilty in a court of law?

Please don't let emotions undo any of the good work and trust on this site and others like it.

Rachael

[Guest S. Chrissie]

For those who knew her well

I don't know if we ever "knew her well"...we might as well have been attached to a fictional character, like how one "knew" the exploits of Sherlock Holmes well or how one "knew" all the details of Harry Potter's family history.

But as some has said, not much has been proven yet, we aren't sure if Roo! exists or not if she existed, perhaps she stopped coming on here and someone who knew her well, like a relative or whoever, started taking up Roo!'s "persona" and weaved some made-up story to continue "Roo's exploits"

Somehow....I guess I would wish Roo! existed and that she's alive and well somewhere, even though the one that I knew all this time was never the "real" Roo! , and she (real Roo!) might have never met me before.

But who knows...really?

Sherlyn

[Guest Darlie]

Somehow....I guess I would wish Roo! existed and that she's alive and well somewhere, even though the one that I knew all this time was never the "real" Roo! , and she (real Roo!) might have never met me before.

I say, lets find out. Finding Roo is possible, we are on the internet. The tracks are everywhere !

Meanwhile my dears consider this , for the first time in history 14 major corporations pulled advertising because a group of shock jocks attacked transgender children. We are in a hate crime bill. We are making it to TV on our own shows like Transamerican Love Story rather than Springer. Our opposition is out there and they are freaking out because they know things are changing and they can't do a Gosh darned thing to stop it. We are doctors , lawyers , programmers , professors , teachers Phds and we are all over YouTube in huge numbers .......... the battle is just starting for real. Don't let Roo throw you, she , until found , is just a foot note now. The fun is just beginning and you are all invited to the party. Sad never. We have our first black president and I bet most of you believed that could never happen .

hugs

Darlie

[Guest]

I say, lets find out. Finding Roo is possible, we are on the internet. The tracks are everywhere !

Oh She's been found thanks with help from the Transgender Community. Many organizations and activists are helping out behind the scenes. Actually the Community has come together over this with plenty of support. I no longer feel like we're an island here. Legal and MANY other options are being weighed. The whole idea is to form a united overwhelming response that serves as a deterrent to others in the future. Dare I ask what people would like to see happen to her? Keep it legal and practical. Also bear in mind this person may or may not be a teen. If not the gloves are off.

Laura

[Guest Charlene_Leona]

This hoax has really played havoc with my emotions first tore up because a young member of our community was violently killed , only to find that a lie and possibly that Rachel Roo may be some twisted imaginary liar. I don't know for I'm a new member hear and never had any contact with Roo. I came on that night to answer questions for those on hear that needed them answered. I couldn't do that because I was an emotional wreak. Then within a day I find it was a lie, all that energy wasted on someone's idea of a joke. I still haven't been able to fully come back from this yet, as I have spent the majority of the last month in the hospital. I just don't have the energy or spirit built up from all the stress I've been in. I'll still be around but not knowing who or what I'm supposably helping is going to make it difficult for me to give of myself for the time being.