The Hack

I was on a different forum (not writing related) and it was revealed that a usual poster was not what he claimed. This person had been a regular on that forum for quite some time, and claimed to have various credentials. I won't go into how the curtain was pulled back, but I was a bit surprised. I posed the question, "why would someone do that?". The answer that most agreed upon was that the person had probably accomplished nothing in life and enjoyed pretending to be something he's not to anonymous people who were unlikely to ever figure it out.

I still don't understand why someone would want to do that, but it got me wondering about people on other forums I visit. I certainly don't have any reason to believe any specific poster on this site is living a virtual lie on this forum (claiming to be a successful published author, when in fact they've never had a letter to the editor printed, etc.), but I was wondering if you think these people are here?

Sorry if this topic has been done before, I was just curious.

smilinghelps

I've often wondered the same thing, of course you can never really know someone on the internet.

I mean, I claim to be an overworked, single mother to a 10 year old who doesn't have enough confidence in my writing to submit anything for publication.

I know you're all skeptical about that.

And why wouldn't you be?

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JosephB

Highly suspect, Smiling!

I haven't seen much that isn't quite plausible, really. No big claims. I said my daughter was potty trained a few days ago, when in fact, she's had a few accidents since. No doubt to weaken my credibility. Kids.

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Wildcard

And you can rest assured that they are quite a few of those characters on this forum as well.

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The Hack

I'll never trust another word out of your mouth, Joseph. Credibility is like virginity, once it's gone there's no getting it back.

Seriously, though, I haven't seen any outlandish claims on here either, but I thought some of the more established frequenters of the board have.

Malone

I'm Jimmy Carter.

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Malone

Oh man. I feel bad for her. I hope she didn't get too upset. I'm sure you're giving her lots of positive reinforcement. You can tell her that I'm a grown up and I can't make it to the potty on time sometimes either.

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tucanbundy

For some reason, Paddington Bear popped into my mind when I saw the name of the thread.

I have never lied on this forum except for the fact that my name isn't actually Tucan Bundy, it's Strother Rothstein.TucanBundy is a portmanteau of the name of a childhood toy I had and a serial killer.Oh, and that baseless lies thread.

I can understand if people think I'm a liar.What little I've posted here about my life probably sounds made up to most of you.It isn't, but I can understand the skepticism.I'm a skeptic, too.I don't believe in God and I think 9/11 was a conspiracy.

I generally believe what most of the people post on here.I don't know why they'd lie about some of those things.I don't have any reasons to lie.I don't know any of you, so I trust you.Who are you gonna tell?

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A-L

I don't think anyone on here has lied, or at least not that much. I don't think people on here have reason to lie. I don't.

Non Serviam

She was before your time, but there's been a poster on wf.com who, ahem, seriously exaggerated her credentials and knowledge.

In my opinion she was so full of shit her eyes were brown.

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Got something to say about brown-eyed people, you can just spill it out right now, Non

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JosephB

Positive reenforcement?

We use Huggies Lil' Shockers. When a child soils her diapers, the moisture triggers a mild electric shock. They really do the job!

__________________
"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
-- Albert Einstein

"I am really only interested in a fiction of miracles."
-- Flannery O'Connor

The Hack

Tucan, from what I've read of your posts, I wish for your sake that a lot of your statements about yourself were made up - but I don't doubt them. This is not the type of thing I'm talking about, though. I'm wondering if there is some guy who is Vice President of pencil sharpening at Acme Co. who logs onto WF and claims that he's sold multiple novels to a big publishing house, is now living in leisure, writing future novels under the palm trees in Miami...

JosephB

As an associate pencil sharpener in the southeastern region of Acme Co., I'm a little offended. You're talking about the end my career path, pal. It's not likely, but a man can dream can't he?

__________________
"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
-- Albert Einstein

"I am really only interested in a fiction of miracles."
-- Flannery O'Connor

Malone

I've noticed that most the published authors will have a link to their work somewhere on the board or in their signature, so unless they're REALLY misrepresenting themselves, I feel safe assuming they're legit.

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