Do "role playing" Anandtech-posters need psychiatric help?

[StageLeft]

I don't want to name any names and have the thread locked for beating on a dead horse.

From time to time various members are shown to have been posting under multiple names or totally lying about themselves in major ways such as pretending they do something for a living that they don't.

Where is the line drawn between harmless fun and, give-me-drugs-I-need-help?

Personally I'd say that if you are posting under a fake name and most of your posts are entirely outrageous and nobody really takes them seriously then it could be some harmless role-playing, but what about the people who post a few hundred posts or - gasp - thousands of posts and over a long period of time people take them seriously as somebody that they really aren't? I think these people need help. I think that if you're sitting at the computer for a few hours a day rapping out messages playing an entirely different role than your life really is perhaps your life sucks and you should do something positive about it instead of living out a fantasy to strangers.

 

[ElFenix]

you're really mrsskoorb, aren't you

 

[RossMAN]

Aww give it up denn......

 

[StageLeft]

<< you're really mrsskoorb, aren't you >>

And if I said I was would you refer me to a good doctor?

PS - I'm not

 

[Hammer]

Its seems to be getting worse and happening even more often.

 

[PsychoAndy]

the skoorbmeister has a point....there goes the neighborhood. we've had how many guys open new accounts to post as women....

polagra was johnny reb, i think...

thunderbooty, need i say more?

um....who else was there?

has ATOT degraded to the "dumpster of AnandTech" that Russ so elequoently described it as?

 

[minendo]

<< um....who else was there? >>


Ava

 

[StageLeft]

Well the king, of course, was the guy who is still in the top 10 post list of all time.

 

[PsychoAndy]

well, dennifloss was a while before my time......sorry i didnt get to know him

feel free to add to the list

 

[AnthraX101]

I blame God.

It's usualy much easier this way.

Armani

 

[Geekbabe]

I've been taken in a time or two by posers myself. I've thought long and hard on this issue and come to the conclusion that the web has brought many good things into my life, I won't change my habit of taking people at face value unless and until I am given ample reason
backed by solid evidence to do so. If we all become hardened and bitter, skeptecial of everything and everyone it cripples the parts of us that are compassionate and want to reach out to others,even if it is within the limited context of cyberspace,when that happens, the trolls win and I for one won't stand for that. So what if occasionally I feel foolish for having offered empathy or support to someone via pm or email who later turned out to be a fake. Far better to waste a bit of my time than to risk losing the chance to make a real connection with somebody at a time when they or myself was most seriously in need of one.


If that makes me a chump,fool or a sucker,oh well, I can live with it, other people,including trolls do not dicate who I am to me... and imho
worrying about knowing who *we* are as opposed to speculating who others might be is really what matters most in the end

 

[Pliablemoose]

I'd actually like to trade lives with someone, they can deal with some of my weird-ass stuff. I'm still trying to figger out what the hell to do with my wife's ex's ashes...

 

[StageLeft]

<< I'd actually like to trade lives with someone, they can deal with some of my weird-ass stuff. I'm still trying to figger out what the hell to do with my wife's ex's ashes... >>

Um, I don't really know what to say about that.

baffled i agree

 

[ElFenix]

the really high profile ones where thunderbooty and nowheremom... nwm was a psychiatric thing, thunderbooty was a joke played on various members, so i don't think chipbgt needs any help for that.

i've had my suspicions about others. hk for instance.

 

[kgraeme]

<< has ATOT degraded to the "dumpster of AnandTech" that Russ so elequoently described it as? >>



It always has been. That's why it's here. It keeps the crap out of the worthwhile sections.

 

[docmanhattan]

<< the skoorbmeister has a point....there goes the neighborhood. we've had how many guys open new accounts to post as women....

polagra was johnny reb, i think...

thunderbooty, need i say more?

um....who else was there?

has ATOT degraded to the "dumpster of AnandTech" that Russ so elequoently described it as? >>

Any links to explain thunderbooty for those of us still relatively new to the party?

 

[Fritzo]

The problem with message boards like this is that they offer the ability to be totally anonymous and let you say anything you wish without any consequences. People can then use this to tell people they are living the life they "wish" they lived, and therefore tend to exagerate a lot, make up accomplishments, make up credentials, etc. I learned this after receiving my PhD in Psychology from Harvard while training to be an astronaut.

Anyway, an uninhibited environment spawns this type of behavior. It's common on the Internet and we've all done it to a degree at one time or another.

 

[docmanhattan]

<< The problem with message boards like this is that they offer the ability to be totally anonymous and let you say anything you wish without any consequences. People can then use this to tell people they are living the life they "wish" they lived, and therefore tend to exagerate a lot, make up accomplishments, make up credentials, etc. I learned this after receiving my PhD in Psychology from Harvard while training to be an astronaut.

Anyway, an uninhibited environment spawns this type of behavior. It's common on the Internet and we've all done it to a degree at one time or another. >>

I haven't. I'm not creative enough.

 

[Russ]

If all who role played on the internet were required to seek psychiatric help there would not be nearly enough shrinks on the planet to accommodate the influx of new business. Of course, anybody who actually cares about the issue should probably also seek help.

Russ, NCNE

 

[Pliablemoose]

I have to appreciate the creativity & effort Dennis put into his posts; the alien abduction thread/revalation was a work of art, the dude should have been writing novels...

 

[Red Dawn]

JohnnyReb was an old alkie homo and Polgara was his way of attracting idiots like MoronP and Texaster. Definitly a Internet Predator and in dire need of professional psychiatric help

 

[Russ]

Polgara was a fake? Gee, I'm shocked. Who's next? Luvly?

Russ, NCNE

 

[pyonir]

my take is some of them do it because they need professional help. some do it because they are lonely and need a friend (even if that friend is really that person posing as another). and some do it just for kicks and laughs.

 

[Red Dawn]

<< Who's next? Luvly? >>

Maybe docmanhattan.

 

Ok, I have to admit. I am not an average white guy geek. I am a really hot chick. Sorry for role-playing all these years