Why All the Fake Profiles?

sulkisu

The_Hurricane wrote: »

My point is that some of the recent examples of new accounts have proven to be fake. Indeed I recently seen one for a user who was contemplating applying for a job - it just seems rather silly but each to their own.

What do you mean by 'proven to be fake'? They are all fake, isn't that the point of your post?

TBH I couldn't care less. At the end of the day does it really matter what name or profile you post a question under?

sillygoose

I am not surprised by people using new id's at all, I would if needed.

Many people have posted on here for years on lots of different boards, often thousands of posts. Even if they didn't use their real name you can still pick up an awful lot about someone from what they say bit by bit. You have no idea if someone you know has recognised you at some time and is quietly following your posts.

Also posts on MSE are amazingly efficient at going onto Google searches quickly and with high scores. Even if someone doesn't know you use MSE but were Googling the same issue the poster has, they could be led here and recognise the post from the situation... and they may be the last person you want to know right now!

aliasojo

The_Hurricane wrote: »

I may be alone on the but I'm less inclined to respond to a long term member's post if they have felt the need to setup a fake account, in fact some of these fake accounts seem to be people taking the Michael.

Surely our own accounts are anonymity enough unless users are foolish enough to let others know their identity on MSE? Come on you're not going to he judged - use your real account.

Rant over.

I'm a longstanding member here. One who has shared far too much of herself and her family over the years. Personal stuff that I wish I could take back tbh.

Depite never once having used my real name or posted pictures, I've been recognised simply by what I've posted.

I finally turned a corner not so long ago and realised I had been foolish. It took an outsider to point our specific responses and how irrelevant they were to me, yet I was getting frustrated by them and trying to defend myself when really I should have been disregarding them from the off.

I don't believe I would post here again looking for help on a private or personal matter but if I ever did, it would be under an AE, simply because a) I would want my issue to be a standalone issue and I wouldn't want every other problem I ever had being dragged into it and b) it would be more info about me getting posted therefore raising the risk I'd be recognised again.

Some people have such a fixed impression of me now that they would automatically answer in a certain way, (and these posters are very articulate and their posts sound very feasible despite them not actually having a clue and being far off the mark) whereas a stranger would get a more balanced response.

Nowt wrong with AE's as long as they are not used in a bad way, imo..

victory

I have posted for many years and agree that a new ID can stop all the dragging up of old threads that posters are so keen to do and then they can go 'oh, but you said x y z in this thread', seems you are not allowed to change your views along the years and are stuck with what you said so if there was a new ID it is unbiast and takes into account none of the past and just focuses on the question in hand.

As for 'not being judged' as you say the hurricane that is laughable.:o

itsanne

The_Hurricane wrote: »

I may be alone on the but I'm less inclined to respond to a long term member's post if they have felt the need to setup a fake account, in fact some of these fake accounts seem to be people taking the Michael.

Surely our own accounts are anonymity enough unless users are foolish enough to let others know their identity on MSE? Come on you're not going to he judged - use your real account.

Rant over.

I don't see it as something to be bothered by. If someone genuinely wants to air a problem, it doesn't matter who they are or whether they've been on under another name before.

I can imagine a number of scenarios where someone might want to use an alter ego. The bit I tend to wonder about is why they tell us that they post as someone else, but it's not a big deal.

If you don't want to waste time on a fake problem, don't answer anything you don't think is real. Ultimately, if we spend time on something which turns out to be made up, and we're probably unlikely to find out if we do, it doesn't really matter.

Errata

I'm always puzzled by the 'I'm a long term member but I'm using an AE for this', but suspect it's a bit of lookatme-itis.

aliasojo

Errata wrote: »

I'm always puzzled by the 'I'm a long term member but I'm using an AE for this', but suspect it's a bit of lookatme-itis.

I disagree, I think it's far more likely that they feel they will be taken more seriously if folk think they are an existing member and not just a newbie perhaps posting on a wind up.

annie_d

i don't really ever look at the name of the poster, very rarely. I just read the posts.
I don't think it matters if people have multiple id's. Well, it certainly doesn't matter to me.

System

Even though someone might be anonymous on here with his/her username it might be a username that user uses across multiple other forums. So that user may be personally known on the other forums and can be identified by friends/family if they were to ever visit MSE.