I think the reason that Richie's side matters to us is that he has presented himself to us as a very real person. He shows his face, hell, I know HIS body more than I know my own son's these days:) So I guess that is why these things matter to us. He names names, places, businesses. If he is gonna be real, then at least get those details straight. Thats all. If he was Frosty from Antartica and had a penguin avatar and mentioned his friends from fairy tales, no one would care. No one would feel lied to. I know there is BS on bulletin boards, but its a different kind of BS when you involve others AND yourself that are real (named) and then fictionalize what you want to about them.
The dramatization of life I am good with to a point. I think he just stepped over a line that made us all squirm. Integrity does matter-more so when you present your face and your life to the whole world.
He has done a lot to be proud of. He did it in different ways than some of us might have, but some of us are still in ruts because we never took a stand. He has-For better or worse- and he will learn his own lessons from that, as we all do.
Someone caring about Richie enough to call and check on him is because, for all that this is cyberspace, real people live behind the SN's. He is so real because he made himself a VERY real boy. So he is set before us. A bunch of Gepettos who will love Richie anyway.
We all muck up and our friends get past it. He wasn't setting out to con anyone here, he was embellishing and editing his life. He just gave us so much of the real, that we expect it to all be-real.
My experience with MY teenager leads me to think that he will just pop back here with no explanation and continue on. Thats ok, I don't need an apology to love him. I think in the long run, he would be glad that he acknowledged his side story and then went on. I'm a mom, I have to heal quickly when burned by my kids, but someday, like me, they will wish I had not had to learn that skill so well.