Help?

[brinshannara]

Quick post -- I need your responses ASAP. Like, in the next hour.

For what, if any, reasons would you lie to someone with whom you communicated in an online setting?

I'm trying to nail down some variables for online deception, and I'm having trouble.

Comment, comment, comment, please. :)

Comments

[tapdancinghippo.livejournal.com]

One reason I would lie to someone in an online setting is if I were trying to keep myself from hurting their feelings, because, in most cases, people you talk to online are still people. I guess another reason I would lie is to use it as a defense mechanism, or to keep people from knowing who you really are. Example: people lie and make themselves sound better than they really are to gain acceptance in other places if they can't get it in real life or people lie and don't let people know who they really are in case they're paranoid about stalkers or people they know in real life finding out what they say or do online.

That's all I can think of right now.

[brinshannara]

I spoke to you about this yesterday, but thank you again. :)

[hambam.livejournal.com]

Hmmm....I would say that lying would be a way to protect your real life identity - either for safety or because you are not comfortable with who your real-life self is.

[brinshannara]

So that's a desire for anonymity, for whatever reason. Thank you. :)

[shiningmoon.livejournal.com]

The first thing that came to mind was "to protect my identity".

Another reason (not one that I would use) might be to take advantage of someone, for whatever reason (financial gain, lust, etc.).

[brinshannara]

Hm, hm. Taking advantage of someone. I think that can fit into one of my variables, which is the purpose of the CMC (computer-mediated communication). Because if you PLAN to take advantage of someone, yeah, you're probably going to lie.

Good stuff, though, thank you! :)