This hobby creates many opportunities to make a total fool of oneself, and I'm sure many of us have done so. Here's my most foolish action:
I became very enamored of a pair of providers who posted frequently on a discussion board very similar to ECCIE. They had websites and one of them had a review on another site, but oddly enough neither of them had reviews on the site they frequented most. Nonetheless, I decided I absolutely had to see them, despite the fact that they were a couple of thousand miles away. So I found a professional conference in their city, signed up for it, made plane and hotel reservations, and emailed them well in advance to arrange appointments on multiple days. About a month before my trip, both of them stopped posting, their websites vanished, and I got robo-replies to emails. As it turned out, I had been utterly smitten with two online personas with no actual physical existence. I took several days off of work and traveled across the country to meet a pair of ladies who were never real. It turned out okay--the conference was very informative, and I made "Plan B" arrangements that led me to make the acquaintance of three lovely new friends. But I felt like a total fool for being so gullible.
Anyone else with "D'oh!" episodes?