So, as has anyone who frequents the internet, i've seen my fair share of wackos, oddballs, and many people who just don't conform to the norms of society. But, what's worse is that you can pose to be anyone you desire to be on the internet. Of course, you can tell lies regarding yourself in real life; but on the internet your appearance is obstructed and so are other details which are dead ringers given you know that individual in person which you really can't hide, much less lie about. So, go ahead, fabricate your age, location, sex, even steal copious amounts of pictures from some innocent high schooler's Facebook. Chances are that the many people you meet and begin to call your "friend" will never tell the difference anyhow. Sure, stealing a picture is considered identity theft, and this doesn't abide by the law - at least not in the US. But, besides breaking the law, what are the consequences of being someone who you aren't? Read on...
Given that we know this, why do some of us always believe these profiles? Is it because we're naive or too trusting, since we can't grip the idea that someone would breach our trust without any feelings of guilt or remorse afterwards? Yes, some people actually live lies and, at the end of the day, don't feel bothered by it one bit. But you have to ask yourself: "At what point does it begin to matter if someone lied about their appearance, age, or other things regarding their identity?". I'm sure that no one here cares either way if a nerd who posted in the picture thread is slightly paler and nerdier looking, and with a few more years under their belt. That isn't to say that there aren't situations where the lie goes a little deeper, and it does begin to matter; especially when the lie isn't just a white lie and the liar is someone who isn't just another user on a forum's memberlist.
There happens to be large group of people on the internet who are held back socially for one reason or another, and consider this to be their "safe haven". You probably are, though this is debatable, less likely to be judged. Even so, it's tough to argue that it's much easier to approach and associate with someone online. It's also easier to pick and choose who you want to be your friend. With that said, i'm willing to bet that a majority of people, even on Gamingw, have met someone who they'd easily call a friend, maybe even a good friend. Hell, possibly a great friend depending on who you are.
Why is any of this information relevant to me, and what do you have to learn from it? Well it just so happens that I was a victim of someone who was seeking a cure for their boredom, and thought it would be exciting to become someone else. Not just for a day or a week, but for a period of months. And I happened to become rather close to one of the girls she created...Yes, that's correct, I said "one of" since their happens to be many. Maybe I am one of those dumb people that's inclined to believe that certain people are real, even if they aren't. I'm going to reserve what moral can be extracted from this, and save it for later. For now, go ahead and strap yourselves in listen in to my story. You might even walk away from this, thinking a bit differently than you did before you read it.
Where do I begin with this long and complex story?(Just note that there is more to my story than you'll read about, but it's too long to be detailed so i'll highlight the main points.) I don't believe that it's easy to say, but we'll start in the Summer of '09. During this Summer, I found myself a frequent visitor of a website named "Userplane" which hosts a variety of chatrooms for people to intermingle in. The chatroom that I visited most often was the Ebaum's World chatroom(which, by the way, no longer linked to UP after 2008 or so) where I was a moderator. I won't disclose my username there, and even if you ask I still won't, because it's not relevant to this story.
So, being the socially awkward guy that I am, I happened to meet up with a bunch of people from various locales that, after a while of acquaintance, I considered to be friends. If not friends, then people who I at least wouldn't mind conversing with at the end of the day.
Either way, i'll start with one girl in particular who isn't the main focus of the story, but her case not only adds relevant details, but it spices it up a bit. Like some of the rest of us, she frequented the chatroom and everyone considered her a regular. She happened to be 17 at the time and a senior in high school.(to give you an idea this is around mid 2007 or so.) Flashing forward to early 2008, she met up with a fellow who lived across the country on the East Coast of the USA, while she lived on the West Coast. One thing led to another and they formed a relationship. Yes, an e-lationship which can be good or a horrible idea depending on how you look at it. So, after a year or so, they planned to meet up in early '09 where she finally let out and told him that she had been stealing pictures. Of course, he did fly to meet her regardless, and their love relation to their breakup begins to become more complex. In short, he was mingling in the area of promiscuity, she found out and an argument erupted. The guy told everyone that she was actually a male, not a female, as a way to get back at her. About a month later, she revealed that she indeed was a female, but not the female who she claimed to be. She stole many pictures from a girl who was local to her, made myspaces/facebooks with these pics, used them as profile pics, etc. I won't go very deep with this but I'll say that, to this day, she still has feelings for the guy she met and dated. She's too clingy and emotional for him, so remember this, it's important to keep in mind. P.S. The main reason they broke up was because of one girl who happened to be one of the several that was just a mere creation, but more into that later.
I'll go ahead and say that I too was a regular, and I happened to befriend this girl not too long ago. I always spoke to her, but more-so once the skeletons in her closet finally came out, and even to this day we converse via aim. But in late June '09 we finally get to the heart of this story, where I introduce the main girl of many who happened to be fake. So, this girl, a very pretty girl(circa 17-18 at the time) who quickly entered a circle of friends and soon became labeled a regular to the community. She had her facebook, myspace, aim, msn, etc that we would all communicate to her with. In short, it was a fun, lively summer and it all was going smooth - life was great. However, at this point, it does become slightly embarassing for me, primarily because of the stigma attached to internet courthips and the like, but bare with me.
I always gave this particular girl the impression that I despised her, and I suppose that was my odd way of saying "I like you". Which was a shallow sort of "I woo over you because I find you pretty" as opposed to us having many common elements in our personality, because there weren't many. Sure, we had some common likes such as our taste in music to an extent, but we were generally quite polarized on a majority of things. Despite that, we continued to chat via Userplane/aim sparingly until I finally revealed that I happened to like her. Then we slowly began to converse more and more. And each time we spoke, it was special for me, because she gave me attention which I cherished, since I wooed over her and consequently liked her presence.
In retrospect, I was probably pretty dumb for liking her as much as I did. And trust me, I thought about her a lot, and how I felt towards her, possibly even being together someday.
In the midst of this courtship that I happened to have, I was oblivious to the dark secret that she held. All the while, the other girl would tell me how much she despised the girl who her ex used to cheat on her with. Never did I suspect that this girl was the same as the one I liked. They were, in fact, the exact same person. How did I ever find out? Well, it wasn't easy to get a compulsive liar to admit what they have been hiding, but I was finally able to corner her to the point where she broke and gave in. I began to get rather suspcious of this girl, sometimes asking myself "Why would a girl this pretty spend so much time online?" Especially since she obviously had little in the way of real life friends, and would primarily talk to the ones she had online." It wasn't information that particularly did me in to believing that she was fake. Trust me, I didn't want to believe that she wasn't who she posed to be but more of my rational side began to kick in over time.
So, one day, I had recalled the first girl telling me the pass to the other's myspace..."Zachefron" Yes, I know you are probably laughing right now. If not at my cheesy love story then at the ridiculous "teen heartthrob" password. So after a little bit of editing, I came up with her password and...Voila! I had access to her Myspace, and it was like a Christmas gift come true. I could finally sneak around her inbox and other various things to satisfy my curiousity. I know it's wrong, and dirty, but it later gave us answers that we all needed. Nothing in particular had struck me as odd, until I finally began to look at her friends. Here is what I had found:
-She had three alleged "real life" friends on her Myspace. Being that I was actually on her Myspace, I was able to access their private profiles. What do I notice? Well, they were all created on the same day, with just one pic and zero actual profile content. Their pics were also devoid of any comments. Surely they were all made by her for some reason.
-She had few comments by her real life friends on her pictures, or her actual profile. Maybe one or two in total, and they were by the same friend. Sort of suspcious, i'd say.
So although the second point raises questions, the first is pretty much a dead giveaway that she is hiding something. But what? Why would she create three false profiles, and what was her net gain from this act? My heart was kind of pounding at this time, and I began to dilligently seek more answers. I just HAD to know the reason behing her motivations. She hid something that no one else knew about, but I had to be the first to know. Would the same password work for her aim? Yes, it happened to be "ZacEfron" for both of those. So, with a sudden brainrush of ideas, I decided to "try" and sign into the other girls aim with the "ZacEfron" password. To much of my surprise, it happened to work! I knew that it was possible for them to be one in the same now, but the next part pretty much convinced me that they weren't two different girls. I checked her options and noticed that the mobile devices they registered on aim had the exact same number. This was very, very odd. I did a reverse cell phone lookup and noticed that this was a St. Louis area code, not an Alabama one...which is where the girl claimed to be from.
I've run on with this long enough, so i'll wrap it up very soon, and begin to get to the part where she reveals herself. After I and several others confronted her, she began to lie even more and deny some of those things that we had found out. She was angered that we'd believe she wasn't who she claimed to be. Why would her friends, of all people, believe that she would do something like this? But after pushing her more and more, she finally came out and admitted that, not only was she the girl that led to her friend's breakup with her ex, but four others as well. You heard me correctly...she posed to be six different girls the whole time, which we all knew of and had spoken to on several occasions. She led people on, albeit naive people most likely, into liking someone that she wasn't. She didn't mind toying with our emotions and playing with us for months at a time. But why what was her underlying reason? She claimed to be ugly, lonely, and bored...this was her way of having fun when nothing else seemed to go her way. I, to this day, remain disappointed that the girl I liked didn't even exist. She was little more than a figment of someone's imagination. This is a period that won't be erased from my mind in the near, or even distant future. It's just too odd, shocking, and that much a letdown for me to forget.
So, if you have a good enough attention span to read my story, or for any reason haven't pressed "back" by now then you should already know the moral of the story. For those who can't or haven't figured it out, it's rather simple and I am repeating myself..but, in short, Do not trust everyone you meet on the internet.
It's very simple, really it is. Hell, it's even rather obvious but sometimes we need to learn a lesson the hard way before we realize how scary the reality we live in actually is. Look around, the internet isn't a genuine place, or even somewhere that has decent standards most of the time. There's even a good chance that certain chatrooms have many, many fake members who will even lie about very minor things just for a thrill. Do I not want to these people to know what I really look like? That's not a problem, I can easily be someone else for as long as I choose. If for any reason I want to be someone else, and have people believe it, I can do so. Don't easily become sucked in to liking a girl online, chances are good that she isn't the beauty queen you think she is, or even a female at all. It may be a fucking rapist that has no remorse for soliciting young men and women online.
Even if you know someone online now that you consider a potential relationship partner, revaluate your relation with them ASAP. If you jump to the internet to interact with members of the opposite sex, don't be dumb or naive like I did and think that there are few cons to the idea, because you're wrong.
At this point, you might be shocked, laughing, or not even feeling anything. Hopefully someone can derive something from this story even if others can't. Maybe at the least you can find a cheap laugh. Regardless, I finally was able to get this off of my chest...Thanks for reading.
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The internet, who do you trust?