After reading the article, A Virtual Death and A Real Dilemma, I
was very surprised to see that Debbie Swenson led an entire virtual community
into believing a tragic story about a fake persona. I was also surprised to learn how angry the
virtual community members got after hearing that Debbie Swenson came up with
the entire story. People can become
whoever they please when hiding behind a computer. This is supported in the article, "One
of the most touted beliefs about Internet communication is that the medium strips
away users' offline identities and leaves them free to reconstruct a tetherless
online persona" (p. 203). To me,
blogging on virtual communities has the user taking a big risk. For me personally, I go into these situations with some skepticism
because I know there is a possibility that someone out there isn't who they say
they are. I rarely post or debate with
people in a blogging setting, however when I do, it isn't about personal
information. I will usually talk about
movies, sports, or even politics. Trust
is a big part of having a successful online community and I don't think I would
be able to sincerely appreciate the other individuals input unless I really
knew who they were. Virtual communities
are still growing and maybe someday there will be a way to eliminate some of
these inconsistencies.
Hey SCbaseball,
ReplyDeleteIt was pretty intense how the virtual community was affected by this falsified person. Although I can understand how some people may be angry, they should be a little more aware that there is a possibility that this may be fake. Nothing is for certain...especially on the internet. Because of situations like these, people are more afraid or upset in the use of blogs. I liked how the author identified a point that people shouldn't be upset at the medium used to convey the information, rather they should be upset at the information. It is the responsibility of the user to cross reference information from any source.
-Rob
SCbaseball,
ReplyDeleteI found the story about Debbie Swenson to be very surprising. I couldn’t imagine someone thinking that creating a total fake identity to be a good idea. I believe that the people in the online communities had the right to be angry because they trusted what she was saying and having to find out it was all a lie would be rough. I’ve never interacted in an online community where I didn’t know anyone. I’ve never felt comfortable enough to trust the people on the other side of the computer screen because they can easily lie about everything.
Hi SCbaseball,
ReplyDeleteI guess I am on the other side of the spectrum and wasn't too surprised that a large group of people believed Kaycee was a real girl with a terminal illness. I feel that many people want to look for the best in people in general, and that humans are quite an emotional bunch that are sometimes easily swayed by said emotions. It is unfortunate that all of it was a lie though, because things like that call into question the validity of other blogs, some of which truly are legitimate–the blogs of real people who genuinely do want support from an online community. I do agree that more skepticism would have been healthy, and that the skeptics should not have been criticized as being nothing but cynical or rude.