Rather than get too wrapped up in all the threads about fakes, I thought I would summarize my feelings here in a blog entry. To be clear, when I say 'fake', I am referring to any LPSG user who misrepresents themselves by posting pictures of someone else or showing photoshopped pictures that make them out to be something they are not. Usually this means using pics of someone who has a larger penis, or making one's own penis larger in an image editing program.
There seems to be two main schools of thought about fakes. The first is "I don't care" and the second is "this bugs me." While I'm not terribly vocal about it, I am definitely in the second group and here's why:
In the grand scheme of things, it does not matter if you fake who you are online. However, I do think it reflects on the kind of person you are. When you get down to it, you are deceiving others. I don't think it matters that you're deceiving people you probably won't ever meet. It is still deception, and that bothers me. It also disturbs me when people take the fakers at face value and fawn over their fake pictures, or even go so far as to defend them when they have been exposed as fake. There is one member here who gathered quite a following before being challenged as a fake, and now the people who sang his praises before are continuing to do so because to do otherwise would force them to acknowledge that they were duped. They spend hours defending him in threads while he throws out childish responses to his challengers, saying "no, you're a fake". All the while he refuses to provide evidence that his pictures are him. And yes, while I know that absolute proof is extremely difficult, if this member provided just some more evidence it would quieten his detractors. His continued misdirection and refusal to take a couple more pictures just seems to cement the assertions of his challengers.
Therefore I am glad that there are people who can and will take the time to find and challenge these fake members. Those with genuine pictures can easily back themselves up with additional pictures, video or cam sessions.
While I don't want to become some kind of faker activist myself, I will not insult the intelligence of others or compromise my own integrity by fawning over or defending people who are disrespecting everyone with misrepresentations and lies. And you shouldn't either.
There seems to be two main schools of thought about fakes. The first is "I don't care" and the second is "this bugs me." While I'm not terribly vocal about it, I am definitely in the second group and here's why:
In the grand scheme of things, it does not matter if you fake who you are online. However, I do think it reflects on the kind of person you are. When you get down to it, you are deceiving others. I don't think it matters that you're deceiving people you probably won't ever meet. It is still deception, and that bothers me. It also disturbs me when people take the fakers at face value and fawn over their fake pictures, or even go so far as to defend them when they have been exposed as fake. There is one member here who gathered quite a following before being challenged as a fake, and now the people who sang his praises before are continuing to do so because to do otherwise would force them to acknowledge that they were duped. They spend hours defending him in threads while he throws out childish responses to his challengers, saying "no, you're a fake". All the while he refuses to provide evidence that his pictures are him. And yes, while I know that absolute proof is extremely difficult, if this member provided just some more evidence it would quieten his detractors. His continued misdirection and refusal to take a couple more pictures just seems to cement the assertions of his challengers.
Therefore I am glad that there are people who can and will take the time to find and challenge these fake members. Those with genuine pictures can easily back themselves up with additional pictures, video or cam sessions.
While I don't want to become some kind of faker activist myself, I will not insult the intelligence of others or compromise my own integrity by fawning over or defending people who are disrespecting everyone with misrepresentations and lies. And you shouldn't either.
