Internet hoaxes...a must read

I logged onto collegeclub.com today and I found this article about a "young woman" who established online relationships with people who all of a sudden "died". I'm curious to hear what you guys think.
--------------------------------------------
Her So-Called Life
by CleanupHitter

The good news is that Kaycee Nicole, known as Kutebabe to many CollegeClub members, isn't dead. The bad news is that she isn't alive, either. She isn't ANYTHING, in fact, except a work of fiction. An Internet hoax that drew untold numbers across the world into a saga of a young girl's battle with leukemia and, eventually, her death.

While the news of her "passing" on May 14 hit the Internet community hard, those who considered themselves to be friends of Kaycee were hit even harder when doubts began to be raised about the reality of her existence.

What Happened
Here's a short version of this convoluted tale...to the best of anyone's knowledge…that has been gleaned from Kaycee's Web traffic, correspondence shared by others and subsequent media accounts:

A few years back a young girl in the Oklahoma City area created an imaginary Web persona named Kaycee Nicole. At some point, the girl's mother, Debbie Swenson, took over the persona, claiming to be a 19-year-old athletic girl with leukemia, and joined various Internet communities, including CollegeClub.com.

In her various weblogs, Swenson/Kaycee told of her battles with the disease -- her treatments, her periods of remission, her relapses -- remaining optimistic throughout. Over a period of about two years, the ongoing story drew a devoted group of followers and well-wishers, many of whom sent gift certificates or other small tokens to a post office box established in Kaycee's name, even though gifts apparently were never actually solicited.

Her contacts and online relationships grew -- people began to consider themselves to be friends with Kaycee, e-mailing daily and even speaking to someone on the phone who claimed to be her. Requests for Kaycee to come visit various places started pouring in, including some with offers to pay for all trip expenses. It got to be too much for Swenson, so she killed off Kaycee.

But there were holes in the story -- photos were posted of a girl playing basketball, inconsistencies in what Swenson posted -- and they were soon discovered by an Internet community wanting to learn what really happened.

The truth soon came out, leaving many dealing with a mix of emotions -- relief that a friend had not actually died, anger at having been lied to for so long, confusion as to why a 40-year-old mother of two would invest so much time impersonating a 19-year-old girl (you psych majors should have a ball with this).

"I don't know if I should be mad, sad or what.," CC member SCbelle4u said on the Kaycee Nicole Aftermath MessageBoard. "I guess I'm still confused by all of this, like the majority of you all."

Friendship via Keyboard
The saga also raises the larger question of the validity of online relationships. Without face-to-face interaction, and no way of verifying what the other person is claiming to be, can the friendship be considered real?

"It makes me wonder if everything that people ever say is real, and if the people I've become close to over the few years I've been online are who they say they are." MelaniChire said. "It comes to the point that I don't know whom to trust and whom I can confide in about things. I like to think I can believe that my friends online are real people who represent themselves honestly, because I try to do that."

More than a year ago a collection of articles ran on CollegeClub.com about handling a romantic online relationship. In that series, the author referred to people having what they considered to be a boyfriend or girlfriend (Online Significant Others, he called them) without ever having met in person. While there were some posts questioning whether such interactions could be construed as true friendships, the vast majority were of the position that online relationships were real and valid.

A Question of Trust
It remains to be see if this elaborate and long-running hoax will have a lasting effect on the openness of those who frequent Internet communities, so we ask you, the CollegeClub community, for your thoughts. How do you feel about Swenson's lies and the issue of online friendships? Offering his own view, CC's CaptainKaya one of Kaycee's "friends," says this: "If this is this price to pay for trusting people, than I'll take it. I hope this doesn't kill the innocence left on the Web."




------------------
"I don't know the secret to success, but one sure way to failure is to try and please everyone."--Bill Cosby


Visit Alpha Gamma Delta-Delta Sigma chapter and help some sisters out!

[newbie]

Ughh...that really sucks. Thank you OTW for finding that article! I really feel for the victims involved...who really thought that they were her friends.

Well, I took Psych class last semester (I love it so much that I might major in it!), and perhaps the mother has an early stage of Multiple Personality Disorder?? Maybe not...but I think what she did was extremely off-key...but ALSO, since she was a mother, she would probably be middle-aged. Middle-aged people go through the very well-known "Middle-Aged Crisis," where they go through various symptoms, trying to be young again. Maybe the mother, in a VERY twisted way , was trying to revert back to young age? This is a VERY strange, crazy case though...seriously, I think she would be well suited to visit a Therapist!

Don't know about getting the $$$ though, but I think that mother was one sick person ...

Personally, I have trusted all the people that I have met online...but they have to EARN my trust first. I can gladly, honestly say that all those GCs that I e-mail with, I would gladly call a real-life friend, whom I can confide in. I also think very highly of those that I post often to. Maybe this isn't the best philosphy--but I think, FIRST you have to earn my trust...SECOND, I will then trust you, until you make me believe otherwise...

PLUS, with the exception of the weirdos recently , I love all the people of GC! Maybe I'm just too darned-trustworthy, but I really feel that GC is such a warm online community .

P.S. Though I am very wary about giving out personal info and such...have seen those horrible stories out there! And hopefully--nothign ever happens to me or you guys like those poor victims of Kaycee!


[This message has been edited by newbie (edited May 29, 2001).]

[LeslieAGD]

Not that any of the tale makes sense, but I'm confused as to WHY the mother assumed the personality that the daughter created?

[RedHotChiO]

That is a crazy story OTW, but it's kind of like that on this website too. People are always seem to be rather paranoid about whether people are telling the truth, by looking up inconsistencies in their posts and stuff. I guess that is just proof that the cyber world isn't a replacement for face-to-face interaction.

[Hootie]

A scary but reassuring story. I have been 'online' friends with a guy from San Antonio, TX for over three years now. I met him when he read my profile and noticed I was a Chi Omega...he was pledging our brother fraternity Kappa Sigma.
Our friendship, as I call it, has been ongoing ever since. I've talked to him on the phone a dozen or so times in the past three years. I feel comfortable and confident that he's legit. But still you can't help but wonder...is this person too good to be true. I have always just told myself, why would he lie for three years. I know that there are some looney toons out there who aren't truthful, but I suppose I'm an eternal optomist and think people are inherintly good and truthful.
In the case of the girl mentioned above, I would have never been so stupid to send her money or gifts. That's just dumb judgement. I would have, however, been upset in learning of the lies. I suppose that's just a price you pay for believing everything you see on the web.
------
As my teachers in college have reminded us...You cannot just count on internet resources to prove truthful and accurate. Now if only people would realize this.

[DGPhoney]

hey OTW good find. Wow it's hard to figure out what exactly to say about this one. I mean the internet it's self is full of hoaxes and people "playing make -believe" so I think it's a 50/50 chance when it comes to deciding on what your going to believe and what your not.
I believe the mom , must have had some serious free time on her hands anytime she can come up with such an ellaborate story.
I totally understand where people are mad, I mean they have every right to be mad especially the people who sent money and gifts.
I think it's kinda sick that someone would take advantage of the kindness of others, and the fact that when people hear or see a sad story we do what we feel to help others.
Lastly the article, unless I read it wrong says it was orginally the daughters email account, so what kind of example is the mom setting for the daughter. I think thats surely showing her true deceit.
DGPhoney~

[MeezDiscreet]

i think it SICK that one would do something so immoral as to create this false identity and go to such great lengths as this "mother" did to foster a "hobby." what about those people out there who are actually going through this type of thing? although it might not have been her purpose, this "woman" has devalued their struggle. i pray for the minds and methods of people liker her.

------------------
I hope life isn't a big joke, because I don't get it.

Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself: "Mankind". Basically, it's made up of two separate words - "mank" and "ind". What do these words mean ? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind

[This message has been edited by MeezDiscreet (edited May 30, 2001).]

[AlphaXiGirl]

Okay, I admit it, I could have fallen victim to this... I tend to get sucked into emotional stories like this... for instance, there was this little girl that had cancer. She became great friends with the radio personalities of a morning show here and everyone that listened to that show completely followed her story. Unfortunately, she lost her battle with cancer last year. I remember crying in my car on the way to work the day that the morning show announced her death. I really did feel like I knew her.

Unfortunately/fortunately, the little girl that I had "grown" so close to, was real. Her story is an amazing one, from the money that she raised for cancer research to her outlook on life, she was simply amazing.

NOW - if I would have found out later that she wasn't real? I would be irate. What a cruel hoax this was. I don't think that I would have been one of the ones that sent her gifts - but I still would have been irate.

I guess this is a good lesson for me - I tend to think the best about people until they prove me wrong. Call me naive. While I don't want to be completely jaded about the vast population, I guess it's time for me to realize that you can't trust people to do right.