Something to ponder

Hexaphim · Post by **Hexaphim** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 9:12 pm

I regularly read and post on a forum for the fans of my football team, Lillestrøm SK. One of the most active and consistently entertaining posters was "TurboJenta", who was and had been active in several other football forums and internet societies for over three years. Several of the forum members spoke with her regularly on the phone and through MSN messenger.

A few months ago, one of these friends of hers posted horrible news on the forums: TurboJenta had been hit by a car in Manchester, and was in critical condition. The forum community came together and wished her all the best, and through irregular bulletins we got updates on how she was doing. She started doing better, but was still too injured to be moved from the hospital in Manchester. The support team went to Lillestrøm's manager (Jan Åge Fjørtoft of Swindon and Barnsley "fame"), and told him about the situation. He provided a team jersey signed by every member of the team to give TurboJenta, as the doctors had to cut off her Lillestrøm jersey when she was brought into intensive care.

Weeks went by, and it looked like she was getting better, but suddenly her condition worsened, and we got the horrible message: TurboJenta's heart hadn't been able to take the strain, her organs started shutting down, and she died.

The community again came together with sorrow, because we all felt like we knew her through the forums, and especially this thread. On our next match (last Sunday), we had a banner that said "Tonight we sing for you, Maya" (Maya being her real name). We won the game 4-0, and we said we won it for her.

But see, here's the thing: Yesterday, after a lot of detective work from moderators of our forums and other forums she frequented, we find out that there never WAS a TurboJenta. It was all fake. She never existed. Neither did her abusive ex-husband, her young daughter or her close friend, all of whom had posted on the forums. They were all the product of one person who had created several identities for herself that she had maintained for well over THREE YEARS, and many people had grown especially close to the TurboJenta persona, whom they'd shared intimate details of their lives with and spoken to on the phone and on Messenger for hours and hours.

I never saw any reason to doubt that TurboJenta was real. I was heartbroken when she "died", despite not having really known her. To some people, apparently, this story is amusing (I didn't know this until the story was posted on one of the major news sites in Norway and people that support other teams started posting about how hilarious this is, and how stupid we were).

Me, I feel I've learned a thing or two about trust and the internet. Hopefully, I won't ever be as naive as this again.

hippy dave · Post by **hippy dave** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 1:48 am

i'm sorry you (and others) were screwed around like that. some people suck

niksa · Post by **niksa** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 6:03 am

Well said, Hex.

It's hard to believe people can be that cruel. Well, actually, it's not really all that hard to believe. People can be disgustingly cruel. I'm sorry that you had to deal with this though, because you will have to second-guess it now whenever you hear about something similar.

memly · Post by **memly** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 6:46 am

That is just so wrong.

stargurl · Post by **stargurl** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 8:37 am

That's... shockingly horrible.

I've been participating in online communities for 16 years now, and thankfully, I can't say that I've ever had a bad experience when meeting somebody that I met online. I can't even imagine why somebody would want to spend years developing a fake online persona and backstory.

davemacfrombath · Post by **davemacfrombath** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 11:17 am

*goes VERY quiet**

Dog · Post by **Dog** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 12:32 pm

I'm just a figment of my imagination...

It's true though, unless you actually meet the person behind the ID, you have no way of knowing if they're real or just someone's idea of a joke...

Dollydagger · Post by **Dollydagger** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 1:31 pm

How absolutely bizarre. The woman must have no life if she has to make up fake persona's on the internet.
I guess you never really can tell unless you've actually met up with people, which on this forum a lot of us have - so I KNOW YOU ARE REAL Dave Mac From Bath!!!

memly · Post by **memly** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 1:48 pm

If only he was someone else...

Willsy · Post by **Willsy** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 2:31 pm

Memly is really a 7 year old girl.

Pooka · Post by **Pooka** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 4:11 pm

I still think thats a pretty rotten thing to do.
Why invest so much of your life into doing that? That person most be so sad and lonely to do that.
And to pretend that they "died" is rather crass.
I speak to people through another forum on the internet, and I take them as I find them even though they could be complete nutters.
I've met enough people on here, and a few I know very well so I know they arent fake.

Funky Dung · Post by **Funky Dung** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 4:31 pm

Dog wrote:It's true though, unless you actually meet the person behind the ID, you have no way of knowing if they're real or just someone's idea of a joke...

I've met you and you really are someone's idea of a joke.

Dog · Post by **Dog** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 6:46 pm

Funky Dung wrote:
Dog wrote:It's true though, unless you actually meet the person behind the ID, you have no way of knowing if they're real or just someone's idea of a joke...
I've met you and you really are someone's idea of a joke.

I blame God...

Timbob · Post by **Timbob** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 8:03 pm

I was (still am) friends with a girl from a dutch forum. some other guy from that forum told me once i had to call his number because something bad happend to her.

I was shocked so i called.
turned out he gave me a number of some prank phone.

some people just think that as long as it's internet you don't have to show emotions or something.
It makes it easier to mess with peoples head. but just because it's easier it isn't less wrong.

that about covers it.

the PLA · Post by **the PLA** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 11:12 pm

It's all a hoax!

Can't believe no else said it.