If you're in your 40s or 50s and are so unpopular, maybe you ought to go out with the "creepy dude," because he's your only prospect.

fishing for attention only nets trash

I’ve noticed that those who ‘vent’ on facebook do so frequently. After enough times, you wear out people’s sympathies.

Maybe go to therapy or find someone to talk to (there are free helplines you can call into or text) instead of relying on people on the internet.

reach out to your friends personally, not over social media

Instead of making an attention seeking posts you call or meet up with your friends to talk in person? Also block the creep.

That last one might be a good friend choice then, more research needed.

Awwww I'll be your friend! Sometimes life really sucks and venting, even on social media, keeps you from internalizing it. Vent away!

It might be Facebook's doing, not your friends. Facebook's filtering algorithms make some things show up in people's "top posts" feed, and they bury some things. Key words such as "excited," that make a post sound positive, are more likely to show up. Key words that make a post sound negative are likely to be buried. Facebook will also show or bury posts based on whether a small test audience interacts with it in positive ways, such as commenting or pressing "like" or "love". It is also more likely to show posts to people who have viewed your other posts, thereby creating a small, artificial and unwanted "bubble" of your friends (including the creep) who can consistently see what you write. You can force Facebook to stay in Chronological mode for yourself by using the FBPurity extension in a browser (and not using the Facebook app, which is spyware). That will stop Facebook from filtering out some of your friends' posts. But it won't do anything to help your friends see your posts, unless they start using it too.