As you might know by now, I’m a story faker on Reddit, or I was. I haven’t even opened Reddit in days and I’m detoxing.
However, I wonder what are your opinions on fake Reddit stories. Some people seem to take them very seriously, but I don’t know what a bigger amount of people think about it. Do you care? You don’t care? You find them entertaining? Or it makes you upset when you discover a story is fake?
What if you realized a story that deals in heavy topics turns out to be fake? Something that real people might have real trauma about?
I’m kinda beating myself for making so many fake stories and I’m overthinking a lot about what people really think about it, maybe I’m making it a bigger deal in my head than what it really is.
Seems like a waste of time and erodes the trust people have in other stories. I’ve seen plenty where half the OP’s replies are trying to convince people they are genuine.
I think if you want to write a fake story, you need to make sure that by the end of it people realize they’ve been had. A high-effort troll is entertaining. A person who writes a story that just happens to not be true is just wasting everybody’s time.
EDIT: What if OP wasn’t a Reddit story faker? 😮
What if OP wasn’t a Reddit story faker?
LOL I had that thought too. Like…
I think you have a real addiction and I’m glad to hear you’re trying to get better. I’ve got nothing else to say on the topic.
Feels pretty exploitative. Hope it goes away without karma as an incentive.
The only issue I currently take with it is when it’s presented as real. Otherwise, creative writing is a good thing in general. It’s like the set of emotions one uses to approach the content with is different when one thinks it’s real vs when one knows it’s fake, and people get real sore when they feel like their emotions have been exploited for any reason, even if it’s only for internet points that don’t matter for anything.
I really hadn’t considered the trauma perspective, I seriously don’t understand why someone would fake a story about enduring trauma for internet points… But that’s my perspective.
Personally, when I find out reddit stories are fake, I usually just feel a little annoyed and roll my eyes, but then I move on. I don’t think it’s really anything to beat yourself over. Keep writing, just advertise it for what it actually is (just my opinion of what the best path forward is though, this is not a command lol)
In the words of one of my favorite memes that I’m too lazy to learn how to link right now: '“who would do that? Go on the internet and tell lies?”
If it’s presented as real with some kind of consequence/resolution.
Faking AITA’s? Meh. Faking the science fair project that you are using to make a point about something? That’s the wrong direction.
{For the commenter, it’s ! [Text] (url)}
I seriously don’t understand why someone would fake a story about enduring trauma for internet points
I didn’t really think much about it until recently, I just wanted to make dramatic stories, but then I remembered people commenting about similar personal stories with some real trauma. It wasn’t my intention to make them remember that or trigger anyone.
So the interesting thing about this is that I personally don’t think just because you haven’t had those experiences doesn’t mean you can’t write about it (for the most part, I think there are likely exceptions I would draw the line at). However, as someone who hasn’t experienced those things, my reasoning goes, it’s part of your duty to ensure it’s not going to cause harm, and that takes a lot of research into the topic (ideally with people who have experienced what you want to write about) along with a healthy dose of empathy.
I think you’ve made some mistakes in the past that you’re currently feeling growing pains from. Don’t feel like you’re a bad person just from your past actions, you seem to be growing. You’d be a worse person than you are if you were continuing to do it on purpose despite realizing all of this.
First off, I’m glad to know you’re reconsidering your previous actions. While it’s a good thing to regret and genuinely feel remorse for things you in hindsight maybe should not have done, beating yourself up over it won’t really help you, and all you can ever do is change your present and future, not the past.
Now: as for my opinions on that sort of thing, I have a few. LOL
On a smaller scale/short term, fake stories are mostly an annoyance depending on where they’re being promoted as real; in some cases as in subreddits/places that are attempting to help people with serious problems, it can be more problematic. There was a sub called justnomil about in-laws who were causing problems in people’s marriages. There were some creative writers who seemed to be going through some awful abuse, and were describing ‘found memories’ of previous sexual abuse in somewhat graphic detail. The problem with that is there were people in that sub with actual traumatic SA in their past who read those things and felt deeply for the OP, who were devastated and to a degree re-traumatized by the fact that they had invested their emotions and energy into something that wasn’t true.
On the larger scale, though, fake stories can be of a societal problem in a subtle but real way.
People form their world views from everything around them, including stuff they read online, even if they aren’t trying to let that stuff influence them. So if they’re reading a ton of (fake) stories presented as real where, say, someone’s girlfriend/wife is cheating on them, or cops egregiously abusing their power, or men beating up their SO’s, or trans people littering, they may not on the surface believe all of them are true, and may doubt many of them, but sort of the whole glob (lol IDK what to call it) of those type of stories will subconsciously form part of their opinion about cops, men, women, trans people, or who or whatever.
People like to think that they’re above that but our brains are tricky things and process stuff below the surface that we don’t realize.
So that’s why I get soooo frustrated with fakers online. It seems like just a minor thing, but even known fictional stories can shape society, so fake stories that people actually think may have happened, or could have happened, are IMO at least that powerful.
I suspect it’s that in some way people who write those understand the power/influence they have and it fills a void in them, but the problem is the way they are filling that void or need to feel important (which is a natural need that all of us have) is unhelpful or potentially harmful to others.
Anyway, cheers. Thanks for the question.
beating yourself up over it won’t really help you, and all you can ever do is change your present and future, not the past.
You should really talk to my wife about this.
Well, it’s easier said than done, and processing guilt/regret is also easier said than done lol.
But hearing it a lot of times and telling yourself a lot and pretending someone else you love very much did the same thing and how you wouldn’t think nearly as badly of them for the same thing, helps.
It’s the reverse with her. She’s beating everyone else up for different things that happened ages ago, but she has to bring them up. It’s not one single big incident, they’re individual incidents, not related or anything… it’s just shit she remembers and just has to be the high and mighty judge, judging everyone else about their sins 😒. I mean, it gets tiring after a while. Yes, we know we screw up, we make mistakes, we are human, that’s what humans do.
But, dare not point at her own mistakes, oh no, not only will you get a shitstorm of insults, completely unrelated to the problem, but also get accusations that this problem or mistake of her’s is not actually her fault, but everyone elses… that, or she’ll just start crying and play the victim.
Why are you still with her?
And yes I know is just a comment, maybe she’s great in other aspects of life, but this kind of attitude is a dealbreaker for me, I don’t care if they’re great in other aspects.
Because we have a kid together. I stay because of the kid. He likes having both of us at his side, not just me or her. Besides, I’m more of a mother to him than she ever was and he adores me, so I’m not about to leave him with her (the court will give custody to her by default, I’d have to fight for him, and that will cost, A LOT, which is burned money, he can decided when he’s 12 who he wants to live with, I’ll stay around till then).
You are absolutely correct. Whatever postive sides she might have (there are, but they’re not that many to be honest) are completely overshadowed by her toxic personality.
I hope it ends well for you. Good luck.
Thanks, will need it.
I’ve assumed all “personal” stories on reddit were fake since I started reading reddit. I’m sure that isn’t true of all of them, but I’ve found it better for my mental health to just assume those stories are all fiction or creative writing exercises.
If it’s a one-off story being told in a comment, I don’t care. If it’s one where it becomes obvious that it’s fake while reading it (e.g. the jumper cables guy, or the Hell in a Cell guy), that’s great.
When it’s problematic to me is when it’s posted as a thread purporting to be asking for advice about a topic, or one intended to be controversial. I don’t want to waste my time writing a thought-out response to a post to help someone, only to find that it was fake all along, or debating solutions to a non-existent problem with people.
I have never been as annoyed by a fake story as I consistently am by people whining about fake stories. To my mind any community that invites people to tell their stories needs a “no crying fake” rule.
It depends if it’s funny or not, good troll posts can be the heart of internet culture - but if the only punchline is that the story is fake it seems like a waste of everyone’s time.
Many years ago I posted a true story on r/nosleep or r/letsnotmeet (forget which) bc I didn’t realize most of those stories are fake. It was frustrating to realize my weird situation that I wanted other people to know about and empathize with me about (bc the cops did nothing) was largely ignored.
Realistically it probably doesn’t matter much. You could probably become one of those legendary posters where there’s always a twist at the end (e.g. the guy whose dad is always beating him with jumper cables) if you enjoy it but feel bad deceiving people, or put in your account bio that you like to make up stories.
I’m there for entertainment not a scientific accounting of any event, so I frankly never cared.
