Something to ponder
Posted: 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.
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.
