Shirley1968 was a user on a chat room called #areyoulonely. Born in 1968, she once had a husband and a baby boy, but he left with their kid, and she now lived alone. Shirley found the empty house when she would come home maddening, and desired to hear some voices. She frequently felt quite lonely.
She found the chat room by searching on Google. She first tried other chat rooms she found there, but they were busy and everyone there knew each other. She kept on looking because she was seeking some company, just to have some voices around to hear and talk to.
Shirley thought Faceless43's situation, working at a call centre and having no one to talk to at home, horrible. She was at first happy that Nicky had someone had home, but quite worried when she found out they beat him at home.
When DrLuvin arrived, thinking #areyoulonely was a channel of a sexual nature, they asked Shirley what she was wearing, hoping it was something cute and slinky. Once everything was cleared up, Shirley joked that she wished she had dressed for the occasion.
Suddenly, she was unable to see the screen anymore, or indeed her hands, and found everyone else was experiencing the same. "I don't know where I am!" She felt as though she'd be cut out of her body, but that she was crying somewhere.
She began to suspect that the user IamI, who did not contribute to the conversation, was responsible. Finally, the Eighth Doctor came on, under the name Jsmith8, and explained the situation. They were hanging in cyberspace. IamI had uploaded them all as it needed people to care for after the Doctor destroyed its ship. The Doctor tricked the intelligence into giving him admin powers, and he was able to remove IamI's powers in the group, trapping it, just like the rest of them.
Before returning Faceless43 and Shirley to their bodies, the Doctor suggested that they find each other, and get in contact with Nicky as well, who would be pleased to meet them. (PROSE: Lonely)