rodent1 Posts

    A few thoughts on identity

    Yesterday, I found myself 'in conversation' with someone who'd left a comment regarding one of my videos. Trouble is, she's been accused by several other Xhamster members of being a fake profile, so - in the spirit of offering a fair hearing - I sent a private message. Curiously, 'she' didn't really respond to that charge and was more interested in explaining how excited she was to have been contacted by me. Had I any lingering doubt as to the truth of the matter, my suspicions were rapidly confirmed when I discovered a further three near-identical users had left comments on other of my videos. I immediately blocked all four, though I remain mystified as to what possible benefit could be gained from this subterfuge.

    Matters grew even more bizarre when I got in touch with one of the original profile's more vocal critics. He actually raised the possibility of my being yet another fake from the same stable, although I think I managed to convince him in the end. After all, although I have personal and professional reasons for not using my surname or a personal photograph on Xhamster, I believe there is more than sufficient material here to prove my authenticity.

    This entire affair does raise some interesting questions regarding the nature of identity in the Internet age. I state that I am real, yet there is virtually no way of proving this short of recording myself on video, holding my passport open before the camera lens. And even that would only provide evidence of the existence of someone with my declared name, not that the author of these words was in fact him. Welcome to the future.

    (For the record: the original contact came from Hottgirly4u; the subsequent clones were Luckgirl2, Hottgirly420 and Freakygirly2.)
    Published by rodent1
    11 years ago
    Comments
    11
    Please or to post comments
    anthony_weston
    anthony_weston 11 years ago
    Steve, and everyone reading, here are a couple of wikipedia articles which might be helpful in dealing with "fake profiles"
    1) from Wikipedia's article on "Trolls"
    "In Internet slang, a troll (/ˈtroʊl/, /ˈtrɒl/) is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people,[1] by posting inflammatory,[2] extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a forum, chat room, or blog), either accidentally or with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.: see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_(Internet)

    2. The Liar's Paradox
    In philosophy and logic, the liar paradox or liar's paradox (pseudomenon in Ancient Greek) is the statement "this sentence is false." Trying to assign to this statement a classical binary truth value leads to a contradiction (see paradox).

    If "this sentence is false" is true, then the sentence is false, which is a contradiction. Conversely, if "this sentence is false" is false, then the sentence is true, which is also a contradiction.
    see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liar%27s_paradox
    Reply
    anthony_weston
    anthony_weston 11 years ago
    to rose__girl : Camera Models use names like that and that's fine. They want to drive men to their site and they are willing to deal with the basement trolls and there are whole chains of "hot wife" profiles which want to ultimately sell you clips, etc. There are Site Promoter profiles that appear real and even will leave appropriate commentary on videos as if they were viewing them. So, what's a "fake" profile?

    There's a lot mroe to this but a lot of men on this site who ineptly delve into the social side seem really bewildered, and, in part, I can't blame them. All that said, there's still no excuse for rude behavior and general evil doing.
    Reply Original comment
    anthony_weston
    anthony_weston 11 years ago
    If a man wants a women's profile or a woman a man's it's really none of my business. I pretty much go with "face value." Now, there are other things that may be afoot with the use of sock puppet accounts. Scam artists would use them like a kind of hunting party to lure in marks for various schemes. There are Trolls who just enjoy playing people, trying to socially engineer them for whatever sort of kicks doing that brings them.

    Thanks for another good, thoughtful post.
    Reply
    bigharv69
    bigharv69 11 years ago
    I agree.
    Reply
    rodent1
    rodent1 Publisher 11 years ago
    to rose__girl : Seems a far better use of free time.
    Reply Original comment
    R
    rose__girl 11 years ago
    And what exactly is a fake? A guy who writes that he has sex with women all the time but actually never comes out of his basement is, in my opinion, as much a fake as Hottgirly4u. Even the self-recorded video you mentioned can be "doctored". Some xHamsters whole page is dedicated to identifying fakes. I'd rather spending my time watching good videos.
    Reply
    rodent1
    rodent1 Publisher 11 years ago
    to mike0207 : Bizarrely, I've just been accused of being a phony. If 90 videos, 306 photographs, 6 blogs, 1 short story and more than 1100 comments can't convince him, what will?
    Reply Original comment
    rodent1
    rodent1 Publisher 11 years ago
    to mike0207 : I'm fairly transparent on other sites, Mike. My accounts at Facebook, Flickr, LiveJournal, even the page I used to have at OkCupid, carry my full real name. Here, for clear personal and professional reasons, I'm just Steve, but that's still more than most Xhamster members are prepared to reveal.
    Reply Original comment
    mike0207
    mike0207 11 years ago
    Some people have such strange ways of thinking.Perhaps it's their way of having fun.Still sooner or later they will be uncovered.Their name is already a clue Like "Hottgirly4u" is so stupid,a promise to nothing.
    Reply
    rodent1
    rodent1 Publisher 11 years ago
    to kakaloka : They all comprise a similar name, a single gallery entitled "Me!" or some variant, and a history of posting hundreds of comments in a matter of days. What baffles me, Eva, is what they hope to gain.
    Reply Original comment