No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on April 24, 2014

This is one of those times that several things happened several places on the Internet and in real life (or pseudo real life since it was email exchanges).

We talk about the problem of the Internet that you never know if who you are talking to is really who they say.

Twitters odd solution is a checkmark stating that the person has been verified as who they really are. Funny thing is that Peter has been on there for over two years and he has over 11,000 followers and he has proved time and time again that he is who he says he is but still no checkmark from the powers that be on Twitter. But @PeterDavid_PAD is Peter on twitter. Feel free to follow. I am on twitter too but don’t use it as much. My twitter handle is @KathODavid.

I am on tumblr too but I have just started there. I am Puppetmaker40 which is pretty much my handle in a lot of places starting with my live journal. It’s my pinterest handle as well. I am still sorting out how to use that site.

I learned at a very young age that lying on your resume or CV was a very bad idea. Padding it was forbidden as well. I grew up in an academic household and that CV was the ticket to tenure. Lying on it would get one shown the door for fraud pretty doggone fast. It just wasn’t done.

During my theater career, I had to deal with some actors and designers who claimed to have done all kinds of rolls over the years that they hadn’t done. I think my favorite was watching a stage manager I worked with give someone an out on a role they said they did. The actor insisted that they had done the role and the stage manager informed them that they didn’t since the stage manager had been the stage manager for that particular show and they know exactly who played the role. There was a lot of hemming and hawing after that on the actor’s part.

Occasionally I will get emails from various people inquiring about other people and the veracity of these people’s claims. They come to me because they know that I know other people who are involved in the situation or can get in touch with someone who is in the know. So I have been quietly debunking or confirming things for people over the years.

I think I get angriest when I see people lying to others and their actions cause harm to others. This harm can take many forms including financial, mental and even physical.

And the Internet has made this even easier to do. People can hide behind names and personas that don’t really exist. They can appear and cause harm and vanish only to reappear elsewhere rinse and repeat. Some are not that clever and are found out. Others have been getting away with it for years.

One would think that given the Internet and the vast resources at our fingertips, it would be easier to shine the bright light of truth onto the pit of lies but there are still shadows that can be hidden in.

So the adage of take anything you read on the Internet with a grain of salt is one that I subscribe to.

I am grateful for the honest folk on the Internet.

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