Catfishing
Entry posted by wildone in Announcements
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Catfishing
I’m sure you have heard of it, and I’m sure you know what it is, but here is the definition that I found on the word:
INFORMAL•US
lure (someone) into a relationship by means of a fictional online persona.
"he was being catfished by a cruel prankster"
Being that we are an online community we are always prime for catfishers to join and then lure possible members to lie to.
We do have members who come and for their own personal sense of safety, may become Fred instead of their real name of George. We have members who say they live in Georgia, when they really live in Mexico. These are not in our opinion catfishers. They are just members who want to protect their identity and participate on the site.
What catfishing is when someone joins the site under the two above false pretenses and then start to befriend multiple people. As their friend base increases, so does the drama they create about themselves, looking for sympathy and sometimes resorting to attacking other members who question their lies.
We have had numerous people die on-site, and it was all calculated by the catfisher as one final gasp for attention. Yet they are signed up again to see the tributes and discussion about them. This and other cases of baiting members is a major cause of site disruptions and a major part of using staff resources.
So how does the SMT handle these? First off, like above we just ignore the little things that are obviously for personal security. I'm comfortable with my first name and location known, but some are not. Usually the SMT will be alerted to catfishers by our perusal of the topics and forums. Then as a group we start to look at their activity and such. Most catfishers do get a warning that only they and site staff are aware of. In a lot of cases this is the end of it as they are aware they are being watched for creating site drama. Many times they quietly fade away.
Some, however, don’t get the message and will double down on the drama, spinning more elaborate issues regarding health, friends, family, etc. Most will receive a second warning on this.
Eventually, though, warnings just don’t get the message across. When catfishers start to take actions against the site staff for just letting them know that we are onto their lies and continue to pile more drama on the site, it is time to bid them adieu.
This can and does have consequential effects on all our members. Posts and other content disappear and reputation from likes and such disappear too. This may have happened to your account in the past or more recently. It is not a bug and we can't prevent or reverse the points, unfortunately.
On a personal note, I am a skeptic by heart on a lot of things. I’m always warning my dad and other seniors I know about current scams (no, not forwarding 100s of emails though 
). I usually think I’m a pretty good judge of when something is too good to be true or too unbelievable to believe. Sadly, I have been caught up by catfishers on our site as well ☹ . It can happen to everyone.
I’m not saying be a skeptic of everyone and everything, or you would never leave your house or participate here. Just be aware that there are catfishers out there, and that our SMT will try every possible means to minimize the site drama they create until there is only the one option left.
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