Faking accounts?

[Almonds]

A lot of people want to hide their identity in the Internet for privacy problems, and thus faking accounts began a fairly well known way on keeping yourself hidden and safe from any potential harm done.

Some disguise their age, gender, everything possible.

However, what's your opinion on it?

 

[Cap'n Jack]

I can understand not putting it out there for everybody to see, but full-on lying about it bothers me.

 

[Goodbye Blue Monday]

What opinion is there to be had? I think it's everyone's personal decision to make for themselves.

There are some parts of the Internet where I feel more safe revealing certain parts of my identity than others. Even when it's something that seems like it wouldn't be a big deal like gender or age; there are areas where people treat you differently if you are perceived as male or female (such as a lot of online gaming communities where female gamers get automatically harassed), or based on your age. If people feel like they need to hide that stuff to have an optimum experience, I'm all for that.

I was the victim of online harassment a couple of years ago, when I accidentally revealed too many identifying details on a blog that (unbeknownst to me) had a huge bunch of jerks reading it who were trying to harass the blogger into silence. So after going after her family and friends wasn't enough, they started going after her regular readers, and I was one of them; they took the small amount of info I revealed and used it to look up more stuff about me, and along with other readers they'd done the same with, they compiled a site making shit up about us and then Google-bombed it so that it would come up in our search results. I'm lucky that with me, at least, they really didn't have anything to use against me except just call me every misogynistic slur in the book, but nothing substantive that would actually make it hard for me to get a job or anything. And they'd gotten my e-mail wrong. Still, it creeped me the fuck out that some random strangers were trying to make my life hell and following me around the Internet for commenting on a blog they didn't like. Ever since then, I've felt like it's always better to be safe than sorry on the Internet. You just never know who might use your information to hurt you.

 

[Therian]

Some things are ok if you don't want to reveal but I agree lying, or misleading shouldn't be encouraged. I see a lot of users here with the Trans or Genderless sign next to their names. I think it's ok for people who genuinely have problems, like feeling they are a woman in a mans body sort of thing, if they don't want to reveal it that's fine. But I think a lot of the users using it are pretty sure on their gender identity but just want to exploit it, to make themselves something mysterious or an enigma.

If you don't want people to know your gender or age don't put it, but don't say stuff like your genderless when you probably aren't. That or Bulbagarden has become home to hundreds of gender confused individuals.

 

[Gaga]

I don't think anyone should have the burden of telling the truth on the internet. I see no reason why someone hiding their gender (on a video game fan forum, no less) should matter. People treat others differently (even if they don't mean to) depending on whether they have a red or blue sign under their name. Some users want to avoid that, so they choose to hide and/or lie. Also, I have a sneaking suspicion that Gardevoir is chosen so often because it is far more awesome than the Lati@s twins :3c

Edit: lol, nevermind. Gender can be hidden to others. Apparently I didn't test it carefully.

And about other things that are often faked (age, location, etc) unless you're on a dating site or another site where the real world collides with the internet, I don't care if what you've entered in your profile is a lie. More often than not I choose to believe user profiles because there is no harm for me.

 

[Proxima Centauri B]

I hide various things about myself such as last name, real location, so on and so forth for privacy and safety reasons as well as things I don't want repeated anywhere, however I choose to display my gender and age and other things, but only those I feel comfortable sharing. This is the internet and there can be people that aren't nice or can be potentially harmful, I understand that and know what I can and can not share and what I just plain don't want to share with people online. Just be careful what you say because anythingcan be repeated and used against you if a person chooses to. Ive experienced people online that try to backstab others, don't give them the ability to. Im careful about pretty much anything I say because, it could also potentially be twisted around to something it's not, you just never know what people can do or what they could be saying about you that you don't know about which is another reason to be cautious. Call me paranoid, but sometimes there are reasons to be.

 

[dig]

Some people don't want to be harassed by people over the Internet, so they lie about their details. Some people know that I'm called Maria, they do not know however if that is the truth.

I want to stay safe so I keep myself as hidden as possible, but I do divulge information which I am ok with sharing.

 

[Ghetsis-Dennis]

Ever since my account was stolen on SPPF and other websites, I try to hide as much private info of me as possible. Only my gender, age, and state of where I live are the only things I'll reveal.

 

[Goodbye Blue Monday]

If you don't want people to know your gender or age don't put it, but don't say stuff like your genderless when you probably aren't. That or Bulbagarden has become home to hundreds of gender confused individuals.

First of all, it's not really that huge of a number of people who are using tags other than "male" or "female." I've been on the forums much longer than you have and I haven't seen that many, even in the LGBT user groups. And considering that Bulbagarden seems to attract a large number of gay, lesbian and bisexual users for a non-LGBT-focused site, it's not inconceivable that it would attract a large number of transgender or genderqueer users as well.

Second of all, it's kind of hard to take your views on transphobia seriously when you refer to the trans* community as "gender confused individuals." Having a gender that does not line up with your biological sex and/or that doesn't fit within the gender binary does NOT mean you are confused. If people are out as transgender or genderqueer, they probably AREN'T confused, as you would have to be pretty fucking sure before you'd be willing to identify yourself as a member of such an incredibly marginalized group. Check your own privilege, get to know some transgender or genderqueer people or read about their experiences, before you start calling anyone else out.

Anyway: Regarding lying, I would say that on something like a dating site or meet-up site, where it's designed so that you're likely to be meeting people IRL, it would usually be wrong. Another one where I think it's harmful is if it's used to profit off your fake identity, like the people who claim to be cancer victims to get money or sympathy. Or people like the two "lesbian bloggers" who were revealed last summer to be straight men. Presenting yourself as having life experiences you don't have in order to get people to pay attention to your opinions is basically just another kind of "profit" anyway. (And in the case of the guy who pretended by a Syrian lesbian, it may have made life more difficult for actual Syrian LGBT bloggers.)

But other than those specific situations, where it's intentionally malicious or deceptive, I don't see the big deal about it. Like, what is the big harm if someone here who never intends to meet any Bulba people offline or get emotionally close to them is dishonest about his/her gender or age or something? Who does that harm?