[AshleyTodd]

When you can show me that such chit-chat brings a missing child home, this newbie will consider changing their opinion.

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

Use your common sense. Spread of information is essential in finding any missing person. Who elected you the new thread police anyway?

[stlnative]

This post was made to get a more current picture of Elizabeth out there... FR is a huge news resource and most people only come here to get their news.

[stlnative]

Ashley... if you don't like this thread... move on to one that does interest you. There are plenty here to choose from that you may consider not to be chit-chat.

[kayak]

Whenever someone posts a reply on a thread, it bumps that thread back up to the top of the Latest Posts page, enabling more people to see it. Often on a thread you will see something like BTTT or bump, which are ways of accomplishing that. Other times people will converse with each other ..... and each reply sends the thread back to the top where someone else might see it who hadn't previously.

What you perceive as chit-chat is really quite useful, even though there might not be deep substance to it.

And thank you for your bumps to the thread.

[homeschool mama]

**When you can show me that such chit-chat brings a missing child home, this newbie will consider changing their opinion. **

Your compassion for this girl astounds me. Not.

[contessa machiaveli]

discussing issues can be cathartic and help to relieve the anxieties many feel. all of us on this thread are hoping elizabeth is returned healthy and safe to her parents. if you think you're too good for this thread i encourage you to leave. you won't be missed.

[GovernmentShrinker]

This type of thread is not likely to play a part in bringing the girl home, though the combined effect of such discussions all across the nation -- on the internet, on TV, in person, on truckers' radios -- could very well play a part. But all these discussions are very likely to help prevent other children from being abducted. There is a lot of discussion going on here about what might be done to help prevent this -- what to teach children, getting a dog, remembering not to imagine your that family is safe just because you live in a big expensive house in a cul de sac in a nice neighborhood, etc. All the public speculation of who might have done this, and how that person might have known of the girl, contribute to all of us being better informed and prepared, and less likely to be victimized in this way.

Case in point, where I've added something to my mental security files: a couple of days ago on Fox, I heard a commentator mention an interview they had done earlier with a profiler. The profiler had mentioned that the abductor might have been an orderly, due to the combination of the light/white jacket (unusual attire for middle of the might kidnappers) and the odd detail that he had made a point of having the girl get her shoes -- something that a hospital orderly does so instinctively that he might well do it in a situation where it really didn't make sense to risk a few seconds delay inside the house. This comment reminded me of the reports that the girl's grandfather had died the previous week.

Was the family at the hospital, having conversations with and/or in front of hospital staff, that could have provided personal and household information, and given a lowlife staffer a sense of connection with this beautiful little girl's personality and emotions? This was the first time I'd thought about this particular risk, which most of us will encounter. When a family is at a hospital either in an emergency or very emotional terminal situation, their guard is down, they are discussing a lot of very personal things, and they are likely to interpret staffers' interest in "listening" as thoughtful rather than suspicious. Much of the low level staff at hospitals, especially in big cities, come from shaky backgrounds where they and/or their friends and relatives have criminal records, and the staff has access to a lot of patient information including home addresses. In short, a hospital is a dangerous place to let down your guard re personal security, and at the same time a place where your emotional state is likely to interfere with your thinking about personal security. My personal security is now better for having been prompted to think about this. Hope yours is too.