I have to disagree with you. I don't think everyone who cuts themselves just wants attention, obviously. I have a close friend who used to cut herself, and she really was in a lot of emotional pain. Then I had another friend who also cut himself, and it was obviously just for attention. The difference? The girl hid it for ages…I found out only when we became very close friends. And she got help. The guy showed me less than two weeks after I met him, and began telling me and even showing me every time he cut himself after that. We would be sitting in a big group of people(who he hardly knew) talking about soul mates or something, and I would say, "I don't really believe in them," and then he'd say, "I used to…" At this point we were annoyed with him but also worried, so we talked to some people who offered him help. He refused. And continued to tell us every time he cut himself. It seemed very obvious to me he was just trying to get attention.
That makes sense… and I do think that the people who cut to "get attention" are obnoxious, because it just adds to how misunderstood self-injury is. Still, cutting yourself seems like such an extreme measure to get attention, I can't help but think that these people really are in pain, just like the rest of cutters who keep themselves in the closet. Basically I have mixed feelings about the emo/attention type cutters.