Internet hoaxes

[lightningandsnow]

I posted this in the lounge, but I figured I'd rant about it here as well.

A few months ago, I came across a blog, allegedly written by the mother of a baby girl, "Sara Joann", born with a rare and deadly form of cancer. I followed it religiously, checking every few days to see the girl's progress, and signed their guestbook often. Their site had thousands of hits and was quite popular.

Today, I found out the website was all a hoax. There was no Sara Joann. Even worse, the picture on the website, allegedly of her, was stolen from another website and was in fact a picture of a young girl who is actually ill.

This is terrible. I feel really emotionally used, despite the fact that I never had any direct contact with the person who started this site. I really felt an attachment to this family.

But, I'm happy there's one less ill child in the world than I previously thought.

[napoleon_in_rags]

1. We need to establish a real identity Internet.

To put serious posts on, like the blog of a dying person and support forums for epileptics and so forth. To communicate on the real identity internet you have to have your identity confirmed.

[Clovis Sangrail]

3. I'm guessing it'll be empty /nt

[Ghost in the Machine]

6. Free blogs, such as blogger, blogspot, etc. hinder this effort....

while it's a very good and noble concept, allowing anyone with a computer to have a "spot" on the internet, it also opens up avenues of abuse and fraud. An anonymous message board, such as DU, isn't as bad, as the owners/admins can weed out the bullshit.

We already have a "real identity" internet. It's called "registering a domain name"... it's against the law to use false information to register a domain name, although they do allow "private registrations", but ICAAN still knows who you are. My real identity, including name, address, phone number & email addy, is available to anyone who does a "whois" search on any one of my domain names. I've got somewhere between 65-70 domains... used to be more, but I've been letting some expire as they come due for renewal, due to financial reasons.

[napoleon_in_rags]

7. That's interesting, but it seems like there could be an simpler way.

Like just big identity validation service companies. You could then have a blog and allow people with real identities to post, but weed out all the rest. If it caught on with a few of the big companies like youtube and so forth, I could see it flying.

[lightningandsnow]

9. This was actually on a website that does more to verify identites.

When you sign up, you must give your full name, address, and phone number.

Still, people can still generate hoaxes.

[laylah]

2. I understand, AspieGrrl.

I got sucked in a few times before Snopes.com became my very good friend. :hug: You have a kind heart, don't let some low-life shysters rob you of that!

[lightningandsnow]

8. Thank you.

:hug:

[sharesunited]

4. It's ironic to see this thread in such close proximity to this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3086834

[lightningandsnow]

5. It is.

I believe that site is genuine.

With "Sara Joann's" site, things would seem off every so often, like the fact that there wasn't a picture posted for months and months. As well, the mother would report the most awful and dramatic things happening to her, like having MRSA and sepsis, having her trachea nicked during surgery, even being dropped on her head by a student nurse.

I didn't want to believe it was a fake, but honestly, I think the thought crossed my mind once.

However, as I said before, the site you posted seems real.