On the unreliability of Internet interactions

[annathepiper]

So, via framlingem, I learned of a recent blowup on the OKP involving a certain individual who had apparently gotten it into her head that the women on the board needed to feel "special" and "gorgeous", given assorted folks' testimony about the boost they get out of Great Big Sea music. This person apparently took it upon herself to create a male persona based on a guy she actually knows in RL, and as this persona, proceeded to be very sweet to a lot of the women on the board--and even professed actual love to one of them.

This bothers me a whole hell of a lot. For the sheer dishonesty of it, for the arrogance to assume that someone who needs a boost to her self-esteem would not be horrified and insulted to learn that someone who is claiming to like her online isn't even real, and most of all for the unmitigated gall to deceive someone by professing actual love for them via this fake persona.

And naturally, the prankster in question is swearing up and down all over the board that she didn't mean to hurt anyone, but is nevertheless using it as an excuse to stir up conflict.

I can really feel for the victims of this individual. I've been burned online before by people who have claimed to me to be something they aren't; however, I do have to admit I haven't ever had to suffer through a situation like learning that someone that professed love for me doesn't even truly exist.

What really saddens me about this whole situation, too, is that this happened on Great Big Sea's board. GBS, whose music has brought such joy and comfort and inspiration into my life as well as the lives of many others, should not have their message board tainted by this kind of crap.

To all of you on my Friends list on whom I have laid actual eyes or from whom I have otherwise received evidence of your reality, thanks for being there. Thanks for being real and honest. I, for one, deeply appreciate it.

Comments

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

*snugs* hon. given the long times our acquaintance has been purely virtual, i'm glad *you're you* whether in person or in bytes :)

[annathepiper]

*snugs a l'il orc* More than mutual, babe. :) Thank you!

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure this is an adequate response, but holy shit! Way to be manipulative!

[annathepiper]

Yeah, I'm just... stunned, myself. I mean, I've seen batshit loonballs pull stuff on message boards before, so you'd think I'd not be surprised, but I am. And absolutely disgusted, too. Bleah. A lot of the folks on the thread are expecting this is going to trigger a bunch of paranoia on the board because nobody will be able to trust whether any of the newbies are who they say they are--or for that matter many of the veteran posters.

I think I'm going to bury my head in music and writing for a while. Stupid Internet psychodrama. :P

ew, blech, icky!!!!

[gerimaple.livejournal.com]

i seem to have managed to miss the whole kerfuffle. thank gods. yuck. i wonder if this can get Jo to kick the responsible person off the board?

Re: ew, blech, icky!!!!

[annathepiper]

Apparently the whole mess is under the subject line "THE TRUTH ABOUT WOODY" under the Off-Topic board. I had skipped that subject until I saw Em's post on the topic.

I ain't touching that with a twenty-foot pole. There's some advantages to keeping my nose stuck in writing a book. ;P

[flashfire.livejournal.com]

That's some screwed up stuff right there.

I guess, following that, I should let you know I'm not really the person you think I am, 6'5" tall, goatee, and all that. I'm really a little robot in a suit, helping prepare the earth for an alien invasion.

Oops. I didn't say that.

TAQUITOS!

[annathepiper]

Wait a minute, you told me that green color of your skin was just a skin condition!

[flashfire.livejournal.com]

It's, ummmm...photosynthesis.

[annathepiper]

So you're a plant alien trying to take over the earth? I saw Little Shop of Horrors, bucko!

[mikekn]

Great, and here I was going to have you vouch for me (I mean he's got pictures and everything!) I'll have to go through xpioti instead (assume you two have actually met face to face) :)

As for the original note - yeah that is pretty messed up.

[annathepiper]

I have not yet in fact met xpioti face to face, though flashfire has come up to the Murkworks for Thanksgiving a few times now. (His 6'5" human with goatee disguise is very convincing! ;) )

And yeah, messed up only begins to describe it. Half of me wants to take a hammer to the person in question; the other half of me wants to stay far away from the whole mess.

I think I will compromise and send a note of support to the poor girl who got suckered by all of this.

[mikekn]

In my experience, it never pays to get involved folks like that, so I'd be for staying far away. However, I think your compromise is better still - keep away from the person in question, but support the others.

[annathepiper]

I've dropped the person in question an email. She'd actually volunteered to beta-read my book for me, so I've got at least a bit of a personal interest in this.

But other than that, yeah, I'm staying very, very, VERY VERY VERY far away from the whole mess.

[flashfire.livejournal.com]

xpioti and I have met, yep. :-)

And I do still have that pic up.

[apel.livejournal.com]

Goodness, that is nasty stuff. I always tell people that on the Internet there's no way of telling if the person on the other hand really is the nubile twenty-something they say they are or a fifty-five-year old lorry driver from Leeds but this takes the biscuit. It's not just a bit of drama, it's a season ticket to the opera.

[annathepiper]

Yeah. The first part of the big thread talked about how this individual had apparently treated a lot of the female posters on the board to special songs just for them for Valentine's Day--all part of the "make 'em all feel special and gorgeous" plan, apparently. And I've seen some grudging "well I can kind of see that" remarks posted on the thread in question.

But taking it off the board and making it personal to the point of actual RL love is just... guh. It didn't bother me as much when I initially heard about it, but when I had time for it to sink it, it just makes my skin crawl. Bleah.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

This person apparently took it upon herself to create a male persona based on a guy she actually knows in RL, and as this persona, proceeded to be very sweet to a lot of the women on the board--and even professed actual love to one of them

oh puhleez. what a fucked up annoying petulant assham this bitch must be.

[annathepiper]

Assham--is that like gingham, only worn by bitches?

[ysabel.livejournal.com]

I was reading this, and then I realized, "Hey, I've actually met Anna once, in Boulder! I'm REAL! Yay!"

*big grin*

[annathepiper]

It's a real Ysabel! Accept no substitutes! ^_^