Blog Fraud

Probably like most bloggers, I have many blogs just at the edge of my radar. I discover them by chance, but they make such an impression that I immediately recognize them when I come across them again, sometimes months later. One such blog was Plain Layne, an online journal by a twenty-something woman who had been a rape victim a few years earlier. Many of the entries dealt with how her life had been affected and how she was coping. I came across the site from time to time and read an occasional entry here and there. Since I didn't feel I could say anything useful or helpful, and because she already had such a large following, I never bothered to leave a comment. Then one day Snowball remarked that Plain Layne was gone. I went to the site and, sure enough, the blog was down and the domain was being occupied by one of her readers trying to piece together what had happened to her and whether she was even a real person to begin with. As it eventually turned out, not only had she not been real; her entries had actually been written by a man. I definitely didn't see that coming, although, in retrospect, the fact that some of the posts were oddly titillating does seem a bit out of character for something written by a rape victim.

This is not the first time such a widereaching hoax has been perpetrated on the blogiverse. A couple years back, there was Billiam. The fellow who put that together was arguably a greater master of his craft than the man who did Plain Layne. I won't go into too much detail on Billiam, since you can (and should) read all about it in the authoritative article on the subject.

Readers of Hardcore Billiam had a very different experience from those who read Plain Layne. He was portrayed as extremely unlikeable. He was crude, vulgar, illiterate, and a pervert. And, much like Andy Kaufman's character of Tony Clifton, these qualities made him very popular with his readers. One thing which ultimately tipped readers off to the fact that Plain Layne, was not for real is that she had never met any of her readers face-to-face. This was not a problem for Billiam. He met at least two of his readers. One of them ultimately killed him. But these readers were also creations of the man who invented Billiam. Even though Billiam died, he's back. Now everyone knows he's not real, but that doesn't seem to make a difference. Currently he's giving out Gmail invitations for people who send him "some sausagez", meaning pics of their boobies. (Hmm, Bakerina could kill two birds with one stone.)

To me, the fundamental difference between the two hoaxes is the level of betrayal experienced by the readers. Those who followed Billiam saw him as something of an ass. They never expected much from him other than his usual crap. The fact that he turned out not even to exist was merely a surprise, not an insult. And he had the good grace to continue blogging even after being murdered by one of his readers and not even existing. Layne, on the other hand, had many readers who cared about her and were genuinely concerned. Some had been rape victims themselves and confided that to Layne. Layne also communicated with some of her readers via e-mail and instant messaging. Imagine how they must feel now that they know they were really interacting with a man who had made the whole thing up. Layne makes Billiam seem positively saintly by comparison.

That feeling of betrayal is something I know all too well. Ever since I found out that Snowball is actually a twelve-year-old boy in Fiji, my life has been turned upsidedown.