Deception and Authenticity. How false and misleading profiles are impacting online dating.

28/04/2010 murrayw 45 comments

Deception and Authenticity.

How false and misleading profiles are impacting online dating.
By Murray Watts

The deception and authenticity of Web2.0 users in relation to online dating is an area of increasing concern. The stream of Identity in Community and Networks provides a ground for debating this topic. Computer mediated social interaction differs in important ways from face-to-face communication and online dating is no exception. Online communities are growing rapidly, and are enabling people to connect despite the physical distances between them (Ellison, 2006).

Online dating systems play an important role in the social lives of millions of people around the world (Fiore, 2008) and establishing a virtual identity is crucial for people participating in this form of virtual interaction. Online identities can vary from real life identities as the virtual identities are not restricted by the physicality of the real world. For most participants, identity, both the establishment of their own reputation and the recognition others, plays a vital role in their activities – their successes and failures online. The ambiguity of the Internet allows complete anonymity, providing the user with the ability to create false and misleading profiles and identities online, thus hiding their true identity. This can take the form of complete gender swapping online, with men playing women and vice versa. This is an extreme form of false identity. A milder case of false and misleading identities could be in the form of lies or exaggerations of one’s physical appearance, personality or characteristics, or even slight exaggerations of a genuine characteristic such as denying being a smoker, drinker, etc. One can have ‘as many electronic personas as one has time and energy to create’ (Donath, 1999).

In this conference paper, I will investigate deception and authenticity in relation to online dating. I will do this by identifying the strong bond between the self and the identity by looking at the capabilities of various online dating sites. I will then explore the types of online identities and how one can create a misleading or false profile, showing the potentially severe consequences related to a false identity.

The concept of Identity is vital in communications. In face to face communication, identity is undeniable, as both parties have a physical presence. In this sense, the potential for a false identity is extremely limiting. Online however, it is a different story, as Donath explains that knowing the identity of those with whom you communicate is essential for ‘understanding and evaluating an interaction’ (Donath. 1999). In the increasingly popular realm of online dating, identity is ambiguous, both in its physical presence and its personality traits. The traditional traits of identification used in the real world are absent. Characteristics used as identification such as physical presence, height, weight, body type, facial expressions and personality type are nonexistent in the virtual world providing users with an opportunity to create a misleading profile. The anonymity of the Internet allows for many forms of false information to be created in the realms of virtual profiles. Such is the quote ‘on the internet, nobody knows you’re a dog’ (Steiner, 1993). What leads users of online dating sites to create false or misleading profiles?

To understand this, we must first look at a variety of online dating sites and examine what each has to offer in terms of profile characteristics. Online dating communities are growing rapidly, catering for every desire. Online communities are “one of the fastest growing categories of Web-sites” (Ridings, 2004). Some of the most popular online dating sites are RSVP, Plenty of Fish, Oasis active, Adult match maker, and match.com.au. These sites, some of which are free to use, others charge a monthly fee or a usage fee are among the most popular for the online dating community. They are heavily marketed in various media such as radio, TV, magazines and billboards and all offer a simple online dating solution, requesting the user to setup a profile and enabling them to search for partners.

In addition to the list of standard dating sites, a number of other online dating sites exist that cater for more unique and specific tastes. Some of these sites include Positive Singles (positivesingles.com) which caters for HIV and STD positive people. It allows the user to enter a specific STD and find others with the same condition, reducing infection rate and risk within the community. Pounced (www.pounced.org) is another unique site which caters for ‘Furries’ – members of the community who dress up as animals for adult activities. Suicide Girls (www.suicidegirls.com) is an adult lifestyle brand that has ‘redefined the ideas of beauty’ showing pierced and tattooed girls in provocative poses. These sites have enabled previously subdued personality traits to be exposed. Through the emergence of online dating communities, groups that were a sub culture, now permeate into the everyday.

Traditional methods of dating involved face to face meetings, where identity is by nature, very difficult to hide. Personal ads in the local paper were a source to find a partner, and face to face activities such as speed dating are another means to meet people in the real world. In these quick meetings, a person’s physical appearance is backed up by their personality in a series of short encounters. In the real world, the person’s physical traits are obvious, and personality comes second. Web 2.0 has changed the way people meet, and has added an element of mistrust by enabling false and misleading identities to flourish. The processes of presenting one’s self and viewing others can now take place in a virtual world where a users profile is all they have to present themselves. Fierce competition online ensues, increasing the need for profile to stand out and draw attention above the rest. Exaggerations, slight untruths or blatant lies may be necessary to constitute an acceptable profile to attract a mate. Users may feel that other users online are also exaggerating and they must ‘exaggerate as well, just to remain competitive’ (Fiore, 2008).

Many types of misleading and false identities can be created due to Web 2.0 and its associated and rapidly growing list of virtual communities. These virtual relationships develop over time and due to the nature of the Internet, can be misleading. Misleading identities have become common in this virtual setting with extreme examples of women posing as men and men posing as women. The web has enabled many false scenarios to occur such as a child being able to provide advice to adults on issues they have no experience with, while others can provide detailed scientific information that they have no knowledge of. Hobbies can turn into professions, false profiles exist with false profile pictures (taken 10 years ago for example, or being entirely fraudulent). Misleading information is abound as profiles boast of activities the user participated in as a youth. Profiles can also falsely claim wealth, fame and fortune.

False information is common in all areas of virtual profiles, in particular, a study by Blair has discovered certain false character traits common to each sex. According to Blair ‘Women tend to desire men who have a high socioeconomic status’ (Blair, 2009). In this regard, men are more likely to lie about their profession, and state a higher education that may be the case. As women tend to desire men who are taller than themselves, this can be a common untruth in a male profile (Blair, 2009). In terms of women’s profiles, ‘women desire men who are older than they are’ (Blair, 2009). This suggests that women attempt to make themselves look younger in their profiles than they actually are in order to attract a man. This pressure also suggests that there is a tendency for women to underestimate their weight on their dating profiles (Blair, 2009). Women are also more likely, according to Blair, to use a photograph that is inconsistent with their actual appearance (Blair, 2009). Studies have shown that 86% of online dating participants believe that others do not completely tell the truth when describing their physical appearance (Blair, 1999).

Identity is directly related to the individual, making it difficult to create a completely disconnected profile as explained by Aguiton ‘individual productions are intimately mixed with cultural products, personal feelings’ (Aguiton, 2007). In this sense, there may always be slight traces of the individual appearing in online profiles, regardless of their apparent disconnection from the creator. This does not prevent individuals from creating a misleading profile, but suggests that the individual is always present in their activities. A misleading identity may be the result of the creator presenting their ‘ideal selves’ (Blair, 2009) the way they want to be viewed. This disembodiment further enables deception by reducing the number of cues available to detect a false profile.

Actions online happen in real time, however they occur in a virtual space. This presents a ‘blurring of the boundaries’ when it comes to what is considered real and what is virtual. The question remains ‘what can be counted as ‘real’ in a virtual space.’ (Turkle, 1997). People can be consumed by the reality of their virtual identities “this is more real than my real life” says a character who turns out to be a man playing a woman who is pretending to be a man (Turkle, S. 1997). This practice of gender swapping is common in online forums. People can use gender swapping as a ‘firsthand experience through which to form ideas about the role of gender in human interactions’ (Turkle, 1997). According to Turkle, research has shown that female identities are offered help without requesting it and that male sexual advances and requests for intimacy are frequent (Turkle, 1997).

From an online dating perspective, false and misleading profiles can be easily created. Typical fields in creating an online profile allow for slight variations of the truth and the following personality and physical criteria’s are an example: height, body type (with options from of thin to big and tall), hair colour, interests, profession, ethnicity, education level (with everything from High School to PhD), marital status, children, do you smoke, do drugs, drink, income, religion (plentyoffish.com). Each of these fields, are essential criteria in the creation of a virtual identity and can be manipulated to reflect who the creator wants to be, rather than who they actually are.

‘Online dating systems play an important role in the social lives of millions of people around the world’ (Fiore, 2008). The success of these sites can be due in part that many of these online profiles are authentic and honest. Misleading profiles do exist, however there are consequences of creating a false or misleading identity. They may be created, consciously avoiding physical hindrances or personality traits that are hampering the creator’s real world activities. Engagement with online dating sites facilitates in some cases a series of second chances for adults to work and rework unresolved personal issues and more generally, to ‘think through questions about the nature of the self’ (Turkle, 1997). Online dating sites allow users to search for people with similar interests by browsing through profiles. They also display their own profile and allow others to do the same and initially communicate with others through a private message system. Falsely boasting online of a skill that is not present, a physical characteristic that is untrue or a possession or skill that is an exaggeration of the truth can get discovered quickly or linger on and force the affected party to live the lie. A particularly costly form of identity deception is impersonation (Donath, 1999).

Identity deception is common online and occurs when the person creates misleading information, generally due to absence of physical contact (Donath, 1999). Deception of identity, be it a false identity or a blatant untruth via a profile can impact the relationship from its beginning, forcing the perpetrator to continue acting out the false profile. There may be many reasons for identify deception from attempted, or intended fraud to a lack of self confidence and social issues. Many individual identity deceptions are ‘acts of omission, rather than commission; they involve hiding one’s identity’ (Donath, 1999).

In the real world the norm is ‘one body, one identity’ (Donath, 1999) but in the virtual world, the body is free of the physical constraints and is able to take up multiple identities. Some can be a true reflection of the self, others are misleading and an exaggeration of the self, while some take on a different gender and even different forms. Donath asks the question ‘Do virtual personas inherit the qualities – and responsibilities – of their creators’ (Donath 1999). What do the identity deceivers gain? What is the reward? What are the risks, what happens if you get caught? Textual is actual in virtual communities (Turkle, 1997).

There are many consequences related to the creation of a misleading identity due a lack of physical contact. Some main consequences are outlined above and also include misrepresentation of gender, race, age and sexual preference. In extreme circumstances, this has raised concerns about child pornography and the ability of paedophiles to obscure their identity (Ellison, 2006).

I have outlined above the implications of misleading and false identities in relation to online dating and shown how online dating is now a major source of social interaction through the Internet. I have defined how the Internet is increasing its potential, with a larger number of online dating websites appearing and catering for a growing number of interests from positive dating and furries to single dating. From this essay, one can see that everyday life is being experienced through the Internet medium of online dating and specifically how deception and authenticity of these users exposes some concerns that the community must be aware of.

References

Aguiton, C. & Cardon, D. (2007). The Strength of Weak Cooperation: An Attempt to Understand the Meaning of Web 2.0. Communications & Strategies. Retrieved March 15^th from http://www.idate.fr/fic/revue_telech/696/CS65_AGUITON_CARDON.pdf

Blair, S. Marshall, C. Fahnestock, S. (1999) Deception in online dating. Accessed March 26^th from

http://webspace.ship.edu/jacamp/psyberpsych/deception/page3.html

Donath, J. (1999). Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community. Accessed March 24^th from http://smg.media.mit.edu/people/Judith/Identity/IdentityDeception.html

Ellison, N., Heino, R., & Gibbs, J. (2006). Managing impressions online: Self-presentation processes in the online dating environment. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11(2), article 2. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol11/issue2/ellison.html

Fiore, Andrew T. Self-presentation and Deception in Online Dating. Accessed March 23^rd from http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~atf/papers/fiore_secrets_lies.pdf

Online Community Report. Accessed April 25^th 2010, from http://www.onlinecommunityreport.com/category/key-resources/oc-expert-interviews/page/10/

Plenty of Fish. Accessed March 31^st from www.plentyoffish.com

Ridings, C., & Gefen, D. (2004). Virtual Community Attraction: Why People Hang Out Online. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication. Accessed March 31^st from http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol10/issue1/ridings_gefen.html

Steiner, 1993. On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog. Accessed March 12^th from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Internet,_nobody_knows_you’re_a_dog

Turkle, S. (1997). Constructions and Reconstructions of Self in Virtual Reality. Accessed March 30^thfrom http://www.mit.edu/~sturkle/pdfsforstwebpage/ST_Construc%20and%20reconstruc%20of%20self.pdf

”Virtual Community.” Accessed March 4th, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_community.

Wellman, B. & Gulia, M. (1999). Net Surfers Don’t Ride Alone: Virtual Communities as Communities. Accessed March 22nd from http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman/publications/netsurfers/netsurfers.pdf

Identity in Communities and Networks authenticity, dating, deception, misleading

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Comments

Written by Susan Doroguh about 2 months ago. Reply

Hello Murray, Your paper presented real-life scenarios of online dating services. As for myself, I do not trust online dating services. However, a childhood friend of mine was intrigued when her neice became married to a wonderful young man whom she met on an online dating service. My friend decided to try. I live on the west coast- she lives in the midwest. She began to try a couple services and she said she met many wonderful people. However, when I asked her if she developed any true relationships from her relationships, she gave many reasons why her relationships didn’t pan out – from both her standpoint and giving the standpoint of her dates, she and they felt that both misrepresented themselves in the areas of fiance, physical appearance and other subtle more minor issues – thing you just don’t know until one meets and begins to discern the situation. However, she did marry from an online site. After her marriage, she convinced me to try online dating. I would not. Finally, she included me in an IM with a man from Los Angeles, Ca that had moved to the Midwest for work. She gave him my email. She felt she knew him – she was a strong Christian woman – and he supposedly a Christian. She felt this person would be perfect for me. I actually enjoyed his emails and then I gave him my phone number. He called every single night. I thought he was witty and must have a great social life. Then all of a sudden, he said he ran up his cell phone bill to a extremely high amount. At that point, he asked me if I could help him out in parts to pay his cell phone bill off. I was shocked! I informed him that I could not communicate with him any further. However, months later we began speaking again. And, again, another bombshell… He admitted that he misrepresented himself. My friend had no idea but he confessed to me shortly after we began communicating again that he owed $40 in back child support. He said he also owed other very high-ended bills. He was tremendously intelligent but he said he just couldn’t face his own character flaws. And then, when I found myself reeling from this knews – it got worse, he told me that he didn’t find me the least appealing – and to top it off, he said he would take any woman who could provide the type of financial security he was seeking. I believe he was a manic depressive or sociopath. Although, this is only my story – and one incident, I am grateful that I lived six states away from this individual. I am convinced he was a predator.
Written by Nora about 4 months ago. Reply

Hi Murray, I liked your paper I found it really interesting. You said that “The web has enabled many false scenarios to occur such as a child being able to provide advice to adults on issues they have no experience with, while others can provide detailed scientific information that they have no knowledge of. ” In your opinion, what do you think these online dating sites can do to prevent these from happening? And to completely remove false and misleading profiles on online dating sites?
Written by FransiscaMS about 4 months ago. Reply

Hi this is an interesting paper,

Nowadays computer are working as strong tools in way of communicating without and time and space differences, which is provide easy ways to interacting with other peoples. We are having similar thoughts and ideas, where mine are more focusing on how virtual communities provide several ways for the users to reconstruct their identities.

Do you have any ideas how people could put self awareness regarding to this deception identities?
Written by Scott Mackenzie about 4 months ago. Reply

Hi Murray,

I enjoyed reading your paper, and as someone who has not spent any time using online dating sites it gives me a good idea of some of the issues faced by people using these sites. It would be interesting to see some further investigation not only of the reasons for this deception but also the future consequences of creating these profiles.
I briefly touched on internet dating within my paper as it is well known that internet dating sites are prevalent with false and misleading profiles, whether seriously deceptive or simply ‘tweaked’ to present the most appealing profile.
Thanks again,
Scott
- Written by murrayw about 4 months ago. Reply
  
  Hi Scott, thanks for the comments. Perhaps you too could join the online dating world with a false profile and experience this unique world.
  While many issues are present in the online dating world, we can step back and take a look at the real world. How many issues are experienced in the real world of dating? Rejection, broken hearts and potential dangerous situations arise. Online dating generates much criticism and comments, but I believe it is the safe alternative to dating if you look at the options.
Written by 14379286 about 4 months ago. Reply

Hi Murray
I find you paper very interesting we sort like covered the same issue. As mentioned in your paper that “Online identities can vary from real life identities as virtual identities are not restricted by physicality of the real world.”This is indeed very true as virtual communities do not offer physical contact. On my paper (IDENTITY DECEPTION IN VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES AND NETWORKS AND ITS RÉQUISITOIRES) I used any example of a sixteen year from Texas posed her self as a 67year old from Zimbabwe. These thing the do happen for the very same reason you mentioned about there is no physicality on virtual communities. You also mentioned a good point that these online communities have increased rapidly the element mistrust by enabling false and misleading information to flourish This is indeed very true as people in virtual communities meet a lot of misleading information. There is further clarity of this misleading information by the studies done which shows that 86% of online dating participants believe that others do not completely tell the truth about their physical appearance.
Written by KathleenV about 4 months ago. Reply

Hi Murray,

I found your paper particularly interesting and I was intrigued to learn your perspective on deception and authenticity online. Your paper held a similar viewpoint as my paper “The benefits of gender swapping online” in regards to anonymity on the Internet allows users to create identities restricted only by their imagination. I was interested to find out the reasons that you provided as to why people created false identities in online dating environments and if there were any links to my chosen topic of gender swapping online. For someone who has never experimented with online dating, I was amazed that there were such sites as Positive singles and Suicide girls.

You wrote “Misleading identities have become common in this virtual setting with extreme examples of women posing as men and men posing as women”. I am interested to hear your point of view if you feel there are benefits to gender swapping in an online dating environment? In my paper, I explain some benefits such as how men posing as women online can become more in touch with their feminine side by experiencing some of the feelings and emotions that a women can experience online if she is being pursued by a male character.

I was interested to read about the reasons as to what are the common things that men and women lie about to better improve their online profiles. With various forms of identity deception (such as lying about one’s appearance) being so prominent in the online dating scene, I wonder how many relationships succeed in real life by meeting online?

A great paper. Well done
- Written by murrayw about 4 months ago. Reply
  
  Thanks for the comments Kathleen,
  Your paper was interesting and I posted some comments.. I like the idea that you have focused on ‘benefits’ of gender swapping. That sounds like it will present a controversial argument.
  I’m sure that we covered some similar territory in that the Internet has facilitated a range of areas that can be exploited. As for benefits to gender swapping in relation to online dating, my research did not identify any situation with a positive long term benefit to gender swapping, as the end goal is to meet face to face as described by Lauren, “While researchers have long noted that relationships formed online often migrate off–line and develop into face–to–face” (Lauren, 2009)
  Unless a specific website exists that specializes in lady boys or the like, I would see no long term benefit to gender swapping in relation to online dating.
  This is in direct conflict with claims that gender swapping can benefit users in the realm of MMORPG’s where a man can pose as a woman for virtual financial gain or in social networking sites to get an incite into the way the other gender lives.
  
  Lauren, F, 2009.You looked better on My Space. Accessed from http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2539/2242
Written by matthewh about 4 months ago. Reply

Hi Murray,

I found your paper very interesting, especially in light of my research that found in general people to be fairly truthful about their online identity. It is strange that the type of virtual identity that people are using for the purpose of explicitly forming a real world relationship is one that they commonly alter the truth.

Matthew Hewett
- Written by murrayw about 4 months ago. Reply
  
  Matthew, it is interesting how people can slightly alter their profiles for their own benefit. While we may create virtual identities that are true reflections of ourselves, I am sure we are all guilty of slight manipulation here and there, such as selecting which photos appear as our profile pictures. Take a look at this interesting article called ‘you looked better on myspace’. It targets exactly that. How profile pictures, while true can completely misrepresent our true forms by capturing the ‘Angel Angle’.
  
  Lauren, F, 2009.You looked better on My Space. Accessed from http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2539/2242
Written by Sharlene about 4 months ago. Reply

Hi Murray,

A very interesting paper and a topic that is interesting. It will be interesting to know if dating sites will ever make restrictions on the types of information that you can provide and make restrictions on how old photos are. I know that this may be hard to determine, although by making everyone upload a photo taken by a web cam may reduce false identity on older photos, photos that may have been photoshopped etc. I know that a particular dating site eharmony.com.au asks you to complete an online personality profile consisting of approximately 50 questions. Maybe these type of questionnaires will be compulsory to ensure that people answer questions honestly and openly as it is quite difficult to remember what you have answered on question 1 when you are answering question 35.

A large majority of my friends and also myself have attempted online dating, with myself having the experience of having men who altered their profiles quite dramatically in physical sense and also one my friends had her profile photo used by another women, which amazed me that someone would go to that extent for a profile.

It would be interesting to also see if there is any research based on identity theft due to profile information placed on dating sites.

Great paper.
- Written by murrayw about 4 months ago. Reply
  
  Thanks for the comments Sharlene. Many websites are currently imposing certain restrictions on photographs with some sites such as RSVP requiring the photo to be approved before it is posted online. Most sites require the profile picture to be a clear shot of the face and have an option to report photos if they are felt to be deceptive by viewers.
  Eharmony as you mentioned requests its users to complete a thorough profile questionnaire to accommodate the users needs. This will eliminate certain deceptive profiles and place a more accurate and reliable description of the users online.
  Web2.0 has provided a huge market for Identity theft and Paul Bocil from the article “victims of cyberstalking” notes that “new technology inevitably leads to new forms of deviant behavior that arise in order to exploit new opportunities”.
  http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/1086/1006
Written by JeremyN about 4 months ago. Reply

Hi Murray,

This was a really interesting read. It was great to learn more about the deception of online dating sites as you do hear the stories quite often. It is interesting to see the different dating sites tailoring to certain groups or needs, such as sucidegirls etc.

Cheers,

Jeremy
- Written by murrayw about 4 months ago. Reply
  
  Hi Jeremy, deception is a sad reality at times. Particularly lately with the breaking news of a facebook deception from http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/facebook-teen-killed-20100515-v5da.html
  A trusting NSW Girl of 18years was lured into a deceiptful web of lies and false identities and murdered. She had been communicating with who she thought was her new employer and agreed to go on an overnight camp with the stranger.
  A sad day for social networking.
Written by TessaG about 4 months ago. Reply

Hi Murray,

I enjoyed reading your paper – it is well written and researched and I found your chosen topic quite fascinating.

Our papers focus on identity in very different ways.

Where your paper addresses the development of identity in online dating forums and the some of the main consequences of misrepresenting the self, mine takes on a vastly different focus.

My paper “Look at me not my chair: unmasking ability and disability online” views the formation of online identity as a positive step for people with a physical disability.

I noticed the emphasis you placed on how physical characteristics can be misrepresented leading to conflicts and a host of other issues that could not be addressed in such a short paper. I agree wholeheartedly with your conclusion however, my view is entirely opposite.

I wrote about the fact that as a person’s physical attributes are not the main focus in an online community, a person with a physical disability could be their ‘real’ self – be unmasked from behind the exterior of their disability.

Online dating sites were not addressed in my paper but I hope that if a person with a physical disability were to join one, they would be comfortable enough with their physical attributes to disclose that information. Otherwise, deception from hiding their physical disability is bound to be unpleasant and perhaps not taken very well by the person they are trying to attract on the site.

Thanks again for sharing your topic
- Written by murrayw about 4 months ago. Reply
  
  Physical disabilities could no doubt prove to be an area where people may misrepresent themselves. The Internet provides a number of communities such as MMORPGS and of course dating. The end goal of most online dating sites is to physically meet someone. If a user had a physical disability that was not disclosed before the meeting, it could generate complete dissatisfaction from the other party. I have come across a number of profiles on plentyoffish.com where the other party has described in detail their disabilities such as deafness. I think its great that they can get online and with the huge amounf of members on these sites, they have the potential to find someone. While a persons physical attributes are not the main point of focus in virtual communities, it is the end goal and hopefully deception of this kind could be limited.
  “If anybody asks me what the Internet means to me, I will tell him without hesitation: To me (a quadriplegic) the Internet occupies the most important part in my life. It is my feet that can take me to any part of the world; it is my hands which help me to accomplish my work; it is my best friend — it gives my life meaning.”
  — Dr. ZhangXu (Zhangxu and Aldis, 2001) from: http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/1015/936
  - Written by TessaG about 4 months ago. Reply
    
    Hi Murray,
    
    Thank you so much for replying to my comment
    
    I totally agree with you on your comment that “physical disabilities could no doubt prove to be an area where people may misrepresent themselves”. I feel that self-esteem and the level of acceptance a person has regarding their physical circumstances has a lot to do with this sort of deception.
    
    The quote you added is fantastic – I’ll definitely be looking up that article by Dr. ZhangXu on First Monday!
    
    Thanks again, Tessa
Written by Zohara Ibrahim about 4 months ago. Reply

Hello There,

I really enjoy reading your paper and really interesting to me. Yes i agree, each of your point that you wrote here “People can be consumed by the reality of their virtual identities “this is more real than my real life” says a character who turns out to be a man playing a woman who is pretending to be a man (Turkle, S. 1997). Yes, there are a lot of men who belong to the women account and it is really misleading profile and is really hard to identify. I think the reason they used may be they trying to talk with the real women through women profile, because usually the women profile do not talk or respond to men profile, and some of them are real lesbian who added the other women profile and some of profile are true. This practice of gender swapping is common in online forums. yes that right in your point here, the people usually swap the gender for they opportunity and they habits. People can use gender swapping as a ‘firsthand experience through which to form ideas about the role of gender in human interactions’ (Turkle, 1997). anyway, really enjoy read your paper good point. Chessss
Written by laurap about 4 months ago. Reply

Murray, great paper, very thorough. What it made me think about though, was that I’m not convinced that internet dating, in its long term potential, is any different to numerous traditional dating methods.

In your paper you say “Traditional methods of dating involved face to face meetings, where identity is by nature, very difficult to hide.”

I believe this is only true if identity is classified as your physical appearance. Traditional methods of dating still suffer the same issues with people lying about their wealth, age (more within reason perhaps), social status, past relationships, hobbies, life, etc. There’s nothing stopping some guy at a bar lying about all these things and probably more when faced with someone they are interested in dating.

I think the reason internet dating sometimes has a reputation for deception is that the people allow significant emotional connections to be formed prior to verifying the person’s physical appearance and therefore the ‘let down’ seems even greater, perhaps?
- Written by murrayw about 4 months ago. Reply
  
  laurap, I appreciate your comments.
  Face to face meeting drastically limits the ability for misrepresentation and deception. It can, and does still happen, however the boarder sense of misrepresenting gender is much more difficult in a face to face communication than the hidden realm of web 2.0.
  Nonverbal communication, being gestures, body movements, facial expressions etc in a face to face meeting can tell much more in a short time than spending hours in communications over email and messages online. The Internet will never replace a physical presence.
  Efimova states that there is ‘growing evidence of social structures evolving around weblogs’. While the virtual world can influence the real world, there is still a need to a physical presence.
  Efimova, L., & Hendrick, S. (2005). In search for a virtual settlement: An exploration of weblog community boundaries. Communities & Technologies. https://doc.telin.nl/dscgi/ds.py/Get/File-46041/weblog_community_boundaries.pdf
Written by Cathy Brzeski about 4 months ago. Reply

Hey There

You chose a very unique and interesting topic which i believe is actually an important one in today’s context. Online dating is growing rapidly and highlights Web 2.0’s ability to help people find love through the web! It has challenged the traditional notion of meeting someone. This is stated by Andrew and Donath (2004, p. 4) who state that “Traditionally, people meet dating partners within some context: friends of friends, school, work, the local grocery store or place of worship”.

Users can select from a catalogue of singles in the privacy of their own home. It is preety amazing when we think about it. However, it is important to consider the implications of this technology and how it is being used to manipulate ones identity.

The paper was written and structured very well, i found it very easy to understand and you walked me through the topic and then had a really nice conclusion which summarized your points clearly.

“Web 2.0 has changed the way people meet, and has added an element of mistrust by enabling false and misleading identities to flourish” (Murray, 2010) – I like how you have linked identity deception to the concept of Web 2.0. Web 2.0 has brought some fantastic elements to our lives but with this comes implications. I have explored a very similar issue to you in my paper. I talk about identity manipulation on Facebook, and like you explore how a persons profile is intentionally constructed in order to portray yourself in a particular way.

I started thinking about the difference between identity management in online dating and in social networking sites. I thought about whether users had similar motives. From reading your paper i established that in online dating sites people manipulate their profile and are deceiving to boost the likelihood of getting attention from others for romantic/relationship reasons. In social networking sites identity management occurs so users can portray themselves in a particular way to their peers. They want others to perceive them in a as being a certain person.

There are great similarities between how users manipulate their profiles in dating sites and on social networking sites! Both are used to position audience members to perceive a person in a particular way. Both have to be quite truthful to a certain extent. For example if Bob Smith claimed on his RSVP dating profile he was a millionaire and he was not then obviously this lie would quickly be discovered when he goes on a real life date. Similarly on social networking sites most of your network consists of people that know you so you have to be truthful.

This leads me onto my next point. Just because information presented is true doesn’t mean it isn’t manipulative or deceiving. This is a point i stressed and you did too. Users may post photos of themselves but they are carefully picked and considered.

I remember when my mum had a profile on RSVP and she wanted me to take nice photos of her for her profile photos. She got dressed up, did her hair, wore nice clothes and high heels, just for her profile! This is a great real life example of your argument. Profiles can be very deceiving and carefully constructed. Sure those photos are of my mum but she doesn;t always look like that 24/7! She wanted to portray herself as attractive and successful.

It is useful to compare identity management on different platforms. In my essay i have compared identity management on facebook to gaming platforms. Your paper allowed me to compare and contrast identity management on facebook with online dating communities. There are huge similarities in the way profiles are managed by users. Making such comparisons provides us with a overall picture of how identity is being manipulated in today’s context. It was great to read your paper, thankyou for choosing such an interesting topic

References
Fiore, A.T., and Donath J.S. (2004). Online Personals: An Overview. Computer-Human Interaction 2004. Retrieved May 8, 2010 from http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~atf/papers/chi2004_personals_short.pdf
- Written by murrayw about 4 months ago. Reply
  
  Hi Cathy, thanks for the detailed and lengthy comments.
  Online dating profiles, and in a boarder context, a person’s web presence in general can be manipulated how they wish, portraying a false personality. Sites like pipl.com can help to identify these misleading profiles, but if a user brings a new identity to the web and backs up the profile with a number of sites, such as facebook and myspace, this deception could be seen as real. It is, as you stated, a vulnerability in Virtual Communities.
  I took a look through your paper have posted my comments.
Written by CarolynS about 4 months ago. Reply

Hi Murray,

Great paper and an interesting read.

I know there was a limited word count but wanted to mention that one of the other reasons for a misleading profile is current marital status – online infidelity is another obstacle that the Internet has presented. As you quoted from Donath (1999), many deceptions are ‘acts of omission, rather than commission; they involve hiding one’s identity’. In researching my own paper, I was appalled to find that there are actually dating sites the cater to this stream, such as Married and Flirting, Married but Playing or Perfect Love Affair.

Also, I noticed simliarities between your paper and my own in the creation of the idealised self. As you’ve stated ‘A misleading identity may be the result of the creator presenting their ‘ideal selves’ (Blair, 2009) the way they want to be viewed’. In my research I discovered the same was true in the creation of avatars for the virtual world Second Life. People “tend to make their avatar’s body, hair-style, and clothing somewhat more attractive than those related attributes of their real self” (Bone et al, 2009). Perhaps this is in hope of living the life they feel they are missing out on in their real life?

Anyway congratulations on writing a great paper.

Carolyn.

Bone, M., Lyons, K., Messinger, P., Niu, R., Perelgut, S., Smirnov, K., Stroulia, E. (2009), Virtual worlds – past, present and future: New directions in social computing, Decision Support Systems, 47, 204-228. Retrieved April 25, 2010, from ScienceDirect.

Donath, J. (1999). Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community.
Written by jhiroberts about 4 months ago. Reply

Hi Murray,

Interesting read.

Well researched and written.

I find it a very interesting part of the human mind, that thinks that changing one or two things in an internet site will not come back to haunt them later. I have had a dabble in internet dating, well it was quite a few years ago. At that time I was still astounded at the amount of lies / ranging from white to big whoopers where told on people profiles, from pictures of others (not themselves) or totally incorrect ages.

I have a few friends now how do a bit of online dating. The only piece of advise I give them is to have a very open mind, and not to believe everything you read on a profile or are told over online chat.

Great read.

Cheers

Jhi

http://networkconference.netstudies.org/2010/04/facebook-and-the-demise-of-individual-privacy-%E2%80%93-a-flawed-assumption-or-serial-disregard
Written by Richie_M about 4 months ago. Reply

Hi Murray, I enjoyed your paper, it was well researched and had some excellent points to make.
“These sites have enabled previously subdued personality traits to be exposed” is a very revealing aspect of Web 2.0 interaction and opens so many areas that can be discussed about the affects created.
The point you made about Blair’s research and how Men and Women act in order to be considered more appealing towards the other was quite interesting and one that would make for an interesting study on sociological behaviour.
Thanks for a great paper.
Written by janette about 4 months ago. Reply

As you note – how truthful is the information supplied by people joining dating sites? I suppose the motivation of each person will define how honest or not they are in creating their profiles. If they are experimenting with identity, anything goes; if they are really looking for a partner they will likely create a profile in order to fulfil that need.

If 86% believe people are not telling the truth, was you report, why does anyone persist?

Still, as you say, it is big business and there seems to be many dating sites available so someone is using them and someone is obviously getting some reward!
- Written by murrayw about 4 months ago. Reply
  
  Hi Janette and thanks for your comments. The main point to be aware of is don’t believe anything you read online. Apart from my article that is. Misleading identities are prevalent in the online dating world and also within Web2.0 sites in general. An array of false information is presented in many realms web communities. It is also important to be aware that ‘Online dating systems play an important role in the social lives of millions of people around the world’ (Fiore, 2008). The success of these sites can be due in part that many of these online profiles are authentic and honest. It is these honest profiles that continue to draw the crowds.
  You raise an interesting point, in that if people are creating profiles in order to meet someone and start a meaningful relationship, what benefits do they gain from creating a misleading profile, as they will surely get caught out.
  The reward is twofold. It offers the users of virtual communities a place to meet likeminded individuals and at the same time it also creates a profit for the sites.
  
  Fiore, Andrew T. Self-presentation and Deception in Online Dating. Accessed March 23rd from http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~atf/papers/fiore_secrets_lies.pdf
  - Written by janette about 4 months ago. Reply
    
    The study of human nature is certainly interesting.
    
    The news is full of stories about people being ripped off because they trusted what ‘that anonymous stranger’ at the other end of the internet communication assured them was true.
    
    True, the site owners are making a profit and many people who use the sites have success stories.
    
    I also imagine that communicating with people on these sites can also be a positive experience for those who suffer from isolation, shyness, disability, etc. It offers them the opportunity to communicate with people and explore their own personalities.
    
    I will read that article. Thanks for the link.
Written by PaulaB about 4 months ago. Reply

Hi

You have chosen a similar topic for your paper so I can relate to many arguments you’ve made in your paper. I also researched RSVP dating website. It is neat website reflecting business conduct. I was suprised about number of people joining dating online agency on daily basis. It is quite big number. It is becoming a trend to date online and once it used to be something people did not want to talk about due to being embarrased not having chance dating someone they meet in real life.

Identity and Online dating you wrote:

‘Such is the quote ‘on the internet, nobody knows you’re a dog’ (Steiner, 1993). What leads users of online dating sites to create false or misleading profiles?”

Suppose if dog could talk then we may get very close to the statement above. Some people are very good at abusing communication in cyberspace – false identity for what ever reason they may have

I recommend reading book ‘Love online’ by Ben-Ze’ev it explorers all different areas of dating and cyberspace.
cheers
- Written by murrayw about 4 months ago. Reply
  
  Paula, I appreciate the feedback you have posted about my paper. This topic is of particular interest to me and I really enjoyed the excuse to research it and present my findings in this fashion. It is said that dating and porn sites are driving technology and you are correct in your reflection of the status of RSVP. It is a hugely successful site and a brilliant example of a well run business. They stand by their privacy agreements morally and socially as the site grows in popularity. Their transition from a virtual community (rsvp.com) to a real community in their monthly gatherings is a great case study on how there is a fine line between the real and the virtual as in this sense, the aim is to transfer the virtual to the real.
  Societies view and acceptance of online dating has changed considerably over the last few years as you mention and you are right in saying that people need not be embarrassed about meeting someone online, it is becoming as common as meeting someone in a real world social scene.
Written by Joshua Atlee about 4 months ago. Reply

I myself have used online dating websites and are familiar with how they run and it’s true that a lot of women don’t actually post their profile pics that actually represent themselves and guys normally talk themselves up, there are people that tell the truth but believing people on these sites becomes a security risk mostly but relating this back to MMORPG’s people gender swap all the time and it’s not because they want to lie but they either want to attract attention or the complete opposite because if women become man inside games they get more help compared to being a women and attracting the wrong kind, a lot of women gender swap for freedom but there are many other positive sides to why people gender swap.
Hussain, Z et al (2008). Gender Swapping and Socializing in Cyberspace: An Exploratory Study. Retrieved May 2nd 2010 from http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/cpb.2007.0020?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%3Dncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Written by murrayw about 4 months ago. Reply
  
  Joshua, online dating is brilliant isn’t it. I too am a user of a number of online dating sites. I have found it to be a superior way to meet likeminded people and ensure you filter through the potential misleading profiles via an online relationship before meeting face to face. I have utilized sites such as pipl.com to sort the good from the bad and have had many successes. Personally I have not experienced the extremities that I touch on in my paper, such as misrepresentations of gender etc but I have noticed a number of small untruths within certain profiles. Particularly related to body type. What some call ‘Average’ is up for debate.
  You mention there are many positive sides for gender swapping. In a virtual world where there is no chance of a physical face to face presence such as in MMORPG’S this is true. There are positive sides to gender swapping. In selecting a female character, studies have shown that female characters may attract more attention and assistance than their male counterparts. There are situations online where characters meet and have relationships. An example from the Turkle reading (Turkle, 2007) states that a specific character “turns out to be a man playing a woman who is pretending to be a man.” In this online world, many misrepresentations are possible. Participants in these games can create many characters with a variety of genders and other physical attributes.
  It’s an interesting concept, however in the dating community, this deception would obviously only go so far before being caught out as in most cases the objective is to physically meet someone face to face.
  Turkle, S. (1997). Constructions and Reconstructions of Self in Virtual Reality. In S. Kiesler (Ed.), Culture of the Internet. Hilldale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
  Available: http://www.mit.edu/~sturkle/pdfsforstwebpage/ST_Construc%20and%20reconstruc%20of%20self.pdf
Written by JoG about 4 months ago. Reply

Hi Murray, thanks for your paper. It effectively brought to light some of the issues associated with deception in online dating forums.

As you mentioned, studies have shown that identity deception is common in online dating; however, from my reading it appears that the discrepancy between the misinformation presented and the actual self has been found to be relatively small (for example, Toma, Hancock, & Ellison, 2008). It also appears that a degree of misrepresentation is tolerated as part of the norms in online dating (see Ellison, Heino, & Gibbs, 2006). However, as you noted, blatant misrepresentation in this forum has consequences. I would think that it would be much more difficult to establish and maintain a relationship that is based on gross misrepresentation; thus, negating the reason (for many) to be a part of online dating forums.

I think that niche dating sites that you mentioned are more likely to reflect an authentic self than traditional dating sites, as they are a reflection of the individual in response to defined groups norms. Social expectations of the traditional dating sites are probably more likely to attract misrepresentation as it is often harder to meet the broader social and/or physical ideals anticipated on these sites. Did you find any studies in your research related to identity misrepresentation on niche dating sites?

Ellison, N., Heino, R., & Gibbs, J.L. (2006). Managing impressions online: Self-presentation processes in the online dating environment. Journal of Computer-Medicated Communication, 11, 415-441.

Toma, C., Hancock, J. T., Ellison, N. (2008). Separating fact from fiction: An examination of deceptive self-presentation in online dating profiles. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 1023–1036.
- Written by murrayw about 4 months ago. Reply
  
  JoG, I am glad to have assisted in shedding some light on these issues. I certainly learnt a great deal in studying this area, particularly as you mention, that people are expected to misrepresent themselves in some way when creating profiles online and we have a level of tolerance for misguided profiles. It is when these lies present themselves that they become a problem and force the user to live the lie or come clean.
  Niche dating sites are increasing in popularity as you defined – ‘they are a reflection of the individual’. They also allow the individual to come clean with their fetishes and desires without having to hide the truth as may be the case on traditional dating sites. Misrepresentation of the self on these niche dating sites is an interesting topic. Would people be more inclined to hide the fact that they are furries and post their profiles on standard dating sites such as rsvp? Or would they join furries sites but not actually be furries themselves? What are the implications and motivations for this?
  I did not find any references to this during my initial studies, however your points got me thinking and after a little research, another thesis would be along the lines of, what benefits are there to misrepresenting yourself intentionally?
Written by Damien C about 4 months ago. Reply

Hi Murray, this was an interesting read. I wonder what you think of sites like http://www.pipl.com which are seem designed to help people check if people are who they say they really are and whether this says anything about how we’re reacting as a society to this problem.

The friend who introduced me to this search engine was using it to make sure the people he was meeting were really who they said they were and we found it rather incredible the amount of information it can find with as little as first and last name along with city/country details.

While there are good uses for it, is it outweighed by the possibly negative uses of it for identity stalking? Is it even ethical to be able to find out so much about a person before you even meet them? I wonder whether you think there are better ways at combating online deception than these means?
- Written by Keith Law about 4 months ago. Reply
  
  I had a look at PIPL website and was pleased to see that a search on my name only found a reference to unclaimed money on the ASIC website. { I knew about it but the amount was tiny and the paper work large }. I would have expected a few references to my websites so it seems to be less comprehensive that a Google search on name. Name searches are of limited use because there are so many people with the same name.
- Written by murrayw about 4 months ago. Reply
  
  PIPI.COM is a brilliant website and ideal for identifying identity misrepresentation and impersonations, untruths and other false data in online profiles. It searches the ‘deep web’ for content that is not part of the surface web indexed by search engines. (Bergman, 2001). By searching the underlying content, it can return successful results for people searches that are not possible in a regular search engine such as google.
  This is a useful research tool to find holes in people’s online presence and also presents a vulnerability and ethical consequences. There are many tools available to guard against identity deception, but who is to blame. The deceiver or the deceived?
  Bergman, Michael K. (August 2001). “The Deep Web: Surfacing Hidden Value”. The Journal of Electronic Publishing
  - Written by RosannaCandler about 4 months ago. Reply
    
    This PIPI really caught my interest. After reading about the comments says how comprehensive it is, I was actually a little hesitant to search my name. What horrifically embarrassing information would be revealed about my online identity? As it loaded towards 100% I almost felt nervous One quick search and the only page that wasn’t a Myspace or Facebook account was an old high school newsletter- which was, to be perfectly honest, a little disappointing. But I was pleased to see that the search engine did not pick up anything specifically tied to where I live (which now I think about it is odd, shouldn’t my social networks have been picked up based on location?).
    It is nice to know that no one has tried to take on my identity- although I can’t imagine who would want to steal boring old me. But I do agree with Keith, when I google my name there are a lot more pages and references than PIPI. But I suppose they work towards different outcomes.
Written by Michael N about 4 months ago. Reply

Very good arguement. I wonder how much the role of rejection plays in this. Or is it that the online world creates a fantasy world where you look for the perfect partner/s or friends on these sites? I think the niche sites are the way of the future. But also is the society itself and the beliefs in beauty and youth and shunning imperfection another part of the problem?

I think a good piece of interview data from Ellison et at (2006) is worth reproducing because it suggests the age adjustment which is a common complaint from many. On the one hand people do not want to be rejected on age yet are upset when they date someone who has lied.

“They don’t seem to be embarrassed about [misrepresenting their age] … in their first reply they say, “oh by the way, I am not so many years, I am that many years.” And then if I ask them, they say, well, they tend to be attracted to a little bit younger crowd and they are afraid that guys may surf for a certain age group of women, because you use those filters. I mean, I may choose to list only those that are between X and Y years old and they don’t want to be filtered away.… They are trying to be sort of clever so that people they tend to be attracted to will actually find them.”

I remember one person saying to me they met someone off a site and at the dinner casually in the middle he said ‘oh by the way I have a partner.” When that person was asked why they put single on their profile he replied simply “oh we have an understanding get over it, it is what people do”. This was not word for word verbatim but I do remember the person who told me they do see this person strictly 100% as a friend and made it clear they do not approve; but the reaction was, “I was going to thrown the wine over him.”

Well written interesting paper.

Ellison, N., Heino, R., & Gibbs, J. (2006). Managing impressions online: Self-presentation processes in the online dating environment. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11(2), article 2. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol11/issue2/ellison.html
- Written by murrayw about 4 months ago. Reply
  
  I did not investigate the role of rejection or a specific motivation for creating a misleading or false profile however it would be an interesting thesis for another paper. How rejection varies online and offline and the emotional connections associated with each means. Rejection certainly would play a big part in why people conduct relationships online. Face to face rejection is difficult to deal with as most people know. Conducting the act of dating online partially removes the emotional connection and eases the pain of rejection. However, the aim of online dating is to meet someone, develop a relationship and eventually meet face to face is it not? Hopefully by the stage of a physical meeting, the variations from truth in online profiles will have been realized so as to not disappoint either party.
  - Written by Michael N about 4 months ago. Reply
    
    I certainly agree with you Murray that online does remove a certain element of ‘face’ and absolves responsibility with the rejector. I am not sure if it lessons the harm to the rejected. The aim is to meet and meet face to face, but there is no doubt many do rely on the picture first and the text to make up one’s mind. Good point you make there Murray thank you.
Written by laurap about 4 months ago. Reply

Hi Murray, I think one of the major implications the deceptions you outlined have for the future of online dating refers to signalling theory. That is, those using online dating and being regularly deceived will eventually stop thinking of pictures and profiles as reliable information they can assess potential dates on, or in the very least, they will develop better ways to identify that they are being deceived.

I am sure some people are already becoming experts at identifying deceptive behaviour. As Donath covers in the chapter ‘Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community’, “Identity cues are sparse in the virtual world, but not non-existant. People become attuned to the nuances of email addresses and signature styles.” (Kollock, 2005)

Kollock, P. (2005). Communities in Cyberspace: Routledge.
- Written by murrayw about 4 months ago. Reply
  
  Laurap, thank you for your comments. Deception is without doubt a factor limiting the uptake of social networking sites. The key is in overcoming it, by using sites such as pipl.com and as Donath touches on in the paper “The spread of deception can be limited. In particular, imposing a cost to being caught deceiving” (Donath, 1999). This cost and punishment for a deceptive profile is impractical in a live environment such as online dating but it is an interesting concept, the idea of forcing every account online to be authentic.
  Donath, J. (1999). Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community. In P. Kollock, & M. A. Smith (Eds.), Communities in Cyberspace (pp. 29-59). New York: Routledge.
  Available: http://smg.media.mit.edu/people/Judith/Identity/IdentityDeception.html
Written by Marie McCabe about 4 months ago. Reply

Hi Murray,
I especially enjoyed reading your paper. I found the paper was confidently written and I noticed the arguments were well balanced. The essay covered all the issues that I had often thought about in regards to identity and online communications.

Your paper appears to have been well researched and I learned quite a lot from it.

‘Textual is actual in virtual communities (Turkle, 1997)’ That concise statement is the essence of online communication.

Marie McCabe
Written by alan_beazley about 4 months ago. Reply

As an avid fan of a little internet woo every now and again, I found your article to be an interesting reading read. I did however come across a few statements that I was hoping you can clarify.

”The concept of Identity is vital in communications. In face to face communication, identity is undeniable, as both parties have a physical presence. In this sense, the potential for a false identity is extremely limiting. Online however, it is a different story, as Donath explains that knowing the identity of those with whom you communicate is essential for ‘understanding and evaluating an interaction’ (Donath. 1999).”

I believe that the gap between the outside and virtual dating world is closer than you make out, a recent example include the case of Janet Campbell who was recently pushed off a cliff and to her death by her husband of 6 months. At the time of her death it was said that the husband was also juggling several relationships.
http://www.theleader.com.au/news/local/news/general/wife-was-pushed-off-cliff-jury-told/1813972.aspx
This is just one example where an interaction has occurred for many months between two people in a relationship from the outside world yet the union was completely based on lies and deception.

”The web has enabled many false scenarios to occur such as a child being able to provide advice to adults on issues they have no experience with; while others can provide detailed scientific information that they have no knowledge of. Hobbies can turn into professions; false profiles exist with false profile pictures (taken 10 years ago for example, or being entirely fraudulent).”

I agree that there is a lot of potential for profiles to reflect a fractured and in some cases misguided representation of the individual but now with the transition web 2.0 we are seeing an evolution from the Virtual MUDs to the public and semi-public social media spaces. Do you feel that the cost of deception is a lot higher than previous years and the potential to lie is less due to the fear of being outed or ridiculed within the dating service?

”In the real world the norm is ‘one body, one identity’ (Donath, 1999) but in the virtual world, the body is free of the physical constraints and is able to take up multiple identities. Some can be a true reflection of the self; others are misleading and an exaggeration of the self, while some take on a different gender and even different forms.”

Can you elaborate more on which form of identity in the real world you are referring to – modern or post-modern? A post-modern form of identity sees it as fractured, multiplied and overlapping not a singular fixed identity (Bromberg, 1994). Do you think that the online space found within the social dating sites may in fact represent a reflection of the real world – the multiple identities / exaggeration you mention may mimic the exaggerations of the real world. Goffman uses the example of a waiter – the social performance may change depending on the situation, in front of a customer they may be reflecting a professional demeanour but away from the general public and in the kitchen it could reflect something for natural, relaxed and laid back. (Goffman, 1959). Would the deceptive nature of the fake profiles be a sign of unauthenticity in the real world too?

Bromberg, P. (1994). Speak That I May See You: Some Reflections on Dissociation, Reality and Psychoanalytic Listening. Psychoanalytic Dialogues 4(4): 517-547

Goffman, Erving (1959). The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York: Doubleday.