Jimbo had a rant about fake bloggers the other day on his blog so I thought I’d weigh in. I must admit, its been a long time since anyone called me a fake here. I guess partly because I don’t blog as much as I used to. I also post so much of myself online, you have to be a bloody idiot to think I’m a fake. lol I’ve blogged before about fakes but I figure its worth repeating.
Anyway, I got a kick out of all the outrage that people were blathering on about. Really? You’re shocked that someone is posing as someone else online? You obviously don’t get out enough. Yeah, I get why people are upset but you have to temper that with a bit of reason. People effin’ lie! They’ve been doin it for centuries and this new fangled interweb thingy just makes it that much easier. I liked that Jimbo ranted about the old AO-Hell [1]my moniker for the ever shitty AOL. The only company that I ever said has customer service worse than AT&Tdays. The fakes back then were fast and free and it was almost an art form to be able to separate the real from the fake. With a little bit of patience and objectivity, it really is easy to spot the fakes. Let little ole me edumacate you in the process. (I’m referring to personal blogs of everyday people.)
Rule #1 and the most important axiom to follow. As my maw-maw always said, ‘believe none of what you hear, and half of what you see.’ That just means if it sounds to good to be true, it usually is. Or at the very least, you should proceed with caution until you know for sure.
Pictures are a tried and true give away. People who chronicle their lives thru blogs naturally enhance their blogging thru pictures/videos. Pics/videos also evolve over time as people do. This is a big one for me personally. If I stumble over a personal blog with no pictures of the blogger, I’m already wary.
If the blogger has to go to great lengths to convince you they are real, they probably aren’t. I had one faker try to use me as ammo once because we had interacted online for awhile. I guess he thought I’d vouch for him. Considering I’d never met said person and only seen one self-pic, I took him with a grain of salt. When he tried to drag me into the blog war, I quickly let him know I wouldn’t be vouching for anyone I’d never seen in person. He then tried to act all hurt. Bless his heart.
Disclosure: I myself got suckered once, big time. I’m happy to admit it. I got hoodwinked partly because I wanted to believe the person was real. I ignored some of the small cues that gave it away. In the end someone else, out of bitterness which I also didn’t approve of, exposed the fake. It would have come out eventually but the way it did was messy and had a very nasty ripple effect.
So there you have it. If you can use my methodology above, you’ll have a hard time getting suckered.
To be fair, I still read a couple blogs that I know are fake. I find the blog( s ) entertaining and as long as they don’t hurt anyone, who am I to judge? [2]One of them I’ve been reading almost as long as I’ve been blogging. And no, don’t ask me cause I’m not trying to stir up drama for anyone else. And at the end of the day, that is the final distinction for me. If someone perpetrates harm then I’m having none of it and all for exposing them for the liars they are. But I also realize not everyone is comfortable being themselves, even in an online scenario. We have artists/authors who perform under alias all the time. Omission is still lying. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not condoning lying. Its pointless and often leads to grief. But I also don’t act all self-righteous every time I discover someone is a fake. Nor do I go on a witch hunt. I wish everyone was as bluntly honest as I am but sadly, it just ain’t so. I live/act how’d I’d like the world to be but I also realize I can’t control others. For you few long time readers, you know I’m all about distinctions. Some distinctions, however subtle, are the most important.