Thread: Being Honest Online

So, how do you feel about the question of honesty and the necessity of anonymity on the internet? Do you consider it shameful when people hide who they really are? How far is too far, in your opinion, when it comes to someone hiding their identity? Are you ever scared about being victimized? I've had a lot of experience with telling stories about my life and being dishonest with people online. Nothing illegal or super crazy ever happened but... people DID get hurt by my lies and fantasies. I am in no way proud of my behavior in the past but it gives me a lot to think about, particularly how there is this expectation of complete disclosure to complete strangers through the screen and how crippling that can be. I mean, along with the assumption that I am exactly who and what I say I am, people will also automatically assume I am a good person, if I am polite, courteous and the things I say and do appear to be nice. But the truth is, you have no clue, do you? I mean, really. Sure, there might be some of you out there who are creepy and sleuthy, but for the general public who uses online as escape and entertainment, it's too much work and effort to put into a casual relationship to look up and fact check every thing I post. I just find that it's a kind of interesting standard to hold people to. Especially when there are bad people out there who look to prey on and victimize others. You're still expected to be completely forthcoming about who and what you are. But lying about yourself doesn't automatically mean you're one of them, those predators, does it? I mean, let's assume pictures are never shown, numbers are never traded, money is never touched or exchanged the only thing is the person you've been talking to has been telling stories about who they are. If you never find out and still maintain a friendship with themlet's say you both play games together and you like gaming with them, was what they did to you wrong? Even if you did find out, would it be enough to completely reject them and stop gaming with them forever, even though nothing they ever did affected you negatively and really didn't affect what you enjoyed about them most, namely, playing games? Where do you draw the line? Stealing pictures seems to be a big deal breaker for some but I admit to having done it before. And even knowing that others could do it to me, I share my photos online without a second thoughtmostly because I seriously believe you could find better models for your persona out there and would feel flattered if chosen to be your mask. Does it make you pause for a second before sharing if you know that there are those out there who may right click on your images and take them for their own? What do you consider a bad reason for lying? Is there a good reason? Back when I first joined Blue Moon, I lied about my gender because there is a serious prejudice on adult role-playing sites towards certain genders wanting to play the opposite side. If I made a thread in the females request section right now, with this male-themed name and male themed everything and said I'm a guy but I'd like to play a female character how many PMs do you think I'd get from horny guys looking to role-play a smutty story with me? How about vice-versa? Experience has shown me that there's not a lot of people willing to takeu a chance on someone not of their fantasized gender being behind the screen. It like, seriously deflates their boner. The already excruciatingly long waiting process of role-playing becomes even longer as people pass over your request thread and the flaky partner syndrome increases about 50. Have you ever lied about anything online? Have you ever felt bad about it or did you feel entitled for some reason? Is it important to you that people always tell you the truth about everything online? When, if ever, is it not important to you? Have you ever had an experience where someone lied to you and you found out? How did you react and why? What made it okay? What made it totally not cool? Have you ever been conned out of money by someone on the computer? Has this changed your view of the truth and how readily you part with personal information? What do you do when a friend asks for personal information? What criteria does someone have to fill out to be okay and trustworthy? Is a phone call, photo, Facebook profile or Skype call enough? Come on, Blue Moon, let's talk about it. Be... honest.