This has happened to me twice. Why are SOME people on here such selfish insecure assholes! After friending many good people on here, I have come come across a few selfish assholes. After they find out I have my own private mud pit at my home, they ask if they could come and play in it. After many back and forth IM's, I do invite them over. It takes a lot of energy and money on my part, plus a lot of time. Then to find out the assholes come up with excuses like streptococcus to say they can't come that day. I accept their excuse, and then spend more energy (I'm 61 and somewhat handicapped) to put everything away. I invite them a second time, they accept, make all kinds of plans, then the day before they are to arrive, they BLOCK ME.
LOOK ASSHOLE, JUST HAVE THE BALLS TO SAY IVE GOT COLD FEET. I WENT TO A LOT OF TROUBLE FOR YOU, AND THIS IS THE THANKS I GET. FUCK YOU,

The simple answer is...because they can. This is not exclusively an Internet phenomena, there was a little of it on the old snail mail mud fetish world but in general, if someone arranged to meet you back then, they almost always would be there...

The Internet allows people to be anonymous and for many, that means being whatever they want to be, like their true mentally ill selves. Surfing Craigslist, forums, and personal ad websites representing that they want to meet you and then not showing up somehow empowers then when they don't show up. For a lot of them, it is probably about you being more gullible than them. So ultimately, they are enjoying breaching the social contract of trust upon which human societies are built...

Since the Internet allows the anonymity that allows this, the way to deal with this is to learn that since you cannot change them or how the Internet works, you must change how you deal with people on the Internet versus say, how you deal with someone you meet in a bar. You need to never bestow any trust that is not based upon demonstrated trustworthiness...

So, in your case, this would mean that you never expend a penny nor moment of your time getting your mudpit ready unless you are planning to use it yourself anyway. Same with meeting up in a bar or for lunch with someone, you never makes a plan to be at those places unless you want to go there on your own...

You can often tell who is not real immediately, however, you can never know who is real until they show up or don't show up. The initial contact with you often gives their intentions away. Think about it, they should want all sorts of information about you before traveling a long distance to meet you, like detailed directions to where you're going to meet, are you a cigarette smoker, HIV positive, needle addict, what do you look like, the list goes on and on...

The point is, real people behave differently and it is just a matter of learning not to trust Internet contacts implicitly and your experiences with change. Unfortunately, you will then learn that far less than 10% of anyone contacting you via the Internet is real but the actual proportion will vary by forum...

First rule, never accept an excuse as real. The person and the excuse will sometimes be real but learn to never believe until they show up which will mean you also accept maybe missing meeting a few people due to flat tires and the like. If you get an excuse while a meeting is in process, require additional unexpected information from them like, oh, exactly where are you and then say, oh, I have a friend with a tow truck nearby who will help you and then wait for the next excuse he offers to show up shortly...

Second rule, always get their phone number and talk to them. No phone, too bad, no further contact. And no, you always must call them, no pay phones thank you...

Third rule, never get mad when someone is not real, it empowers them, they like disappointing you and getting a reaction. Instead, empower yourself, laugh about them being so stupid as to have mistakenly thought you so gullible, ha ha ha ha ha...

How about yet another rule, for an expensive thing like putting clay in a home mudpit for a visitor, how about a $100 deposit in advance but refundable if they show up, no excuses for not doing so allowed...

Remember, you can't change them but you can change how you interact with them...