Fictional blog that the readers didn't know was fiction

[SisJackson]

I have been a regular reader of a fascinating popular first-person diary-style blog for a couple of years until it was stopped and taken down a few months ago, with an announcement that "big news" was on the horizon.  Recently, the author of the blog "came out" admitting that the blog was entirely fiction and she has gotten a book deal and is asking her readers to pre-order the book online.

A few of her [former] fans have become quite irate at this - someone even set up a blog in order to basically be mean to the author.  Some people apparently got very emotionally invested in the "main character" and her life, and feel betrayed that she was never real.

While I don't think the people who are lashing out at the author publicly are right to be doing so, I can see why they might feel the way they do.  I myself was disappointed to learn that the story was all made up, but I'm not broken up about it.

I'm not all that familiar with the blogging world - is there some sort of unwritten rule or "understanding" that diary blogs must be factual unless the readership is made aware that they are reading a fictional story?  Has this author committed a blogging-etiquette gaffe?

[jimithing]

I had to sort of laugh, because this happened in my blogging circle about 6 months ago. A lot of people believed this fake blog and bought into it. People started sending the author, whom they thought was a young college girl, letters, pouring their hearts out about similar experiences they had with the blogger, etc. And she used these letters to write more posts, and in fact, threatened to shut down the blog because there were some people who didn't believe she was real, which of course fueled even more letters of support.

Then, it came out who it was, and it was actually a well known blogger in this particular circle.

There were A LOT of angry people. The people who write this fictional character felt embarrassed and humiliated, and I can see why. The real blogger posted about it on her blog, and finally stopped allowing comments because people were getting so nasty. She and I have since talked about it and I told her that I think that once she started getting heartfelt letters, she should have come clean.

She too was offered a book deal, but apparently didn't follow through and it fell through.

I think it depends on how it's handled. I feel like my friend's gaffe was not allowing comments on the fictional blog, but allowing emails and accepting them, incorporating people's real feelings and emotions for what sort of amounted for her own gain.

[Jocelyn]

I think that there's a line being crossed. The blogger knew that other people were being deceived. If she didn't know they'd be upset by finding out it was fiction, why not say it was fiction from the very beginning? People like reading fiction, too. Mark Twain and Charles Dickens made their reputations by having their work published serially in newspapers. Writing a blog that's fiction is just the 21st century equivalent.
Writing a blog that manipulates people into believing what they're reading is fact, is lying, IMO.

[jimithing]

I think that there's a line being crossed. The blogger knew that other people were being deceived. If she didn't know they'd be upset by finding out it was fiction, why not say it was fiction from the very beginning? People like reading fiction, too. Mark Twain and Charles Dickens made their reputations by having their work published serially in newspapers. Writing a blog that's fiction is just the 21st century equivalent.
Writing a blog that manipulates people into believing what they're reading is fact, is lying, IMO.

I read A LOT of blogs. I think that one thing that is unique about blogging is that people read blogs to connect with each other. I know that if I knew a blogger was fictional, I wouldn't read it. And many bloggers realize this. I suspect that's why they create fictional blogs.

[Namárië]

In my experience, when a blog is fictional, it is pretty honest (or very obvious) about the fact. (I see a lot of roleplaying blogs and such around.) Otherwise, a personal blog is typically considered to be non-fiction. I think it is cruel to do otherwise, especially once you get a following of people involved. I also detest this kind of viral marketing, so I am a bit biased.

For the record, there have been personal blogs that I followed because they were hilarious or otherwise interesting, then purchased their (non-related) books once they came out!

[Surianne]

I have the opposite problem.  I write a blog where I pretend I'm a unicorn, and my friends in real life keep assuming the posts are actually about me, secretly. 

Them:  "Ooooh, the UNICORN went on a hot date last night, did you have a good time???"

Me:  "Uh, no, it was the unicorn's date, not mine?  He's a unicorn and I'm not, so that's how you can tell us apart?"

Them:  "Suuuuure so did the UNICORN have fun then?  Tee hee hee!!!"

Me:  "I didn't go on a date!  I swear!"

But yeah, fake blogging...it just seems lame from the perspective of the writer in me.  Either your fictional blog stands on its own as interesting fiction, or it doesn't.  If you have to lie about it, that seems like cheating.  And it will make people very, very angry.

[hobish]

I know i am in the minority here ... but i think it is pretty funny.


~hobish, big ol' JT Leroy fan 

[Dindrane]

Generally, I think that lying is very often rude.  I don't know that it always is, but I do think it usually is.  A situation like this is pretty much a lie of omission - the blogger knows the blog is fiction, and also knows that most of the audience thinks it's fact.  Thus, not explicitly stating that the blog is, in fact, fiction is lying.

I don't think it's the kind of rudeness that people should get super upset over, but that's because I don't generally think it's a good idea to get so invested in anything that takes place solely over the internet.

I will also say that it's a really scummy thing to do to take advantage of people's inherent trust.  Most people are trusting enough that if you post something in a blog and say it's the truth, they will believe you.  I think the place to draw the line is that you should never use the trust that others give you for your own selfish ends - be it getting an ego boost because you have such a large audience, or getting a book deal.

[Slartibartfast]

I think if you're going to write a fictional blog, even if it's pretending to be real, you should make that clear.  The fallout from being "outed" is never good - even when you're just fudging the truth a bit sometimes.

[magician5]

It was probabnly over the line, but so many things on the internet are other than what they seem. For example, I'm really a lonely underage teen girl looking for understanding and an opportunity for rebellion ... and if you believe that, you're too dense to be here on E-Hell.

Maybe we'd all better accept that (as Marvin Gaye sang) "People say believe half of what you see, son, and none of what you hear."

[Elle]

It was probabnly over the line, but so many things on the internet are other than what they seem. For example, I'm really a lonely underage teen girl looking for understanding and an opportunity for rebellion ... and if you believe that, you're too dense to be here on E-Hell.

Maybe we'd all better accept that (as Marvin Gaye sang) "People say believe half of what you see, son, and none of what you hear."

And less than none on the internet.

I'd say it is rude to actively and knowingly deceive people. Especially once you know they're buying in emotionally. To do otherwise is a lot like a mean-spirited prank.

[hobish]

It was probabnly over the line, but so many things on the internet are other than what they seem. For example, I'm really a lonely underage teen girl looking for understanding and an opportunity for rebellion ... and if you believe that, you're too dense to be here on E-Hell.

Maybe we'd all better accept that (as Marvin Gaye sang) "People say believe half of what you see, son, and none of what you hear."

And less than none on the internet.

I'd say it is rude to actively and knowingly deceive people. Especially once you know they're buying in emotionally. To do otherwise is a lot like a mean-spirited prank.

Maybe not mean-spirited. Maybe a social experient. Maybe a personal experiment. Who knows? I take everything i see on line with many grains of salt. Many. It could be absolute truth spoken from anonymmity, or it could be well-written fiction.

[Waltraud]

I had to sort of laugh, because this happened in my blogging circle about 6 months ago. A lot of people believed this fake blog and bought into it. People started sending the author, whom they thought was a young college girl, letters, pouring their hearts out about similar experiences they had with the blogger, etc. And she used these letters to write more posts, and in fact, threatened to shut down the blog because there were some people who didn't believe she was real, which of course fueled even more letters of support.

I can understand that the letter-writers feel humiliated. But, OTOH, anybody can pretend to be practically anybody else on the internet, so it is very important to be sceptical at all times. Some people might have learned a lesson about not being so gullible...

I also think it's even a pre-internet phenomenon to emotionally invest into a fictional character. I've read about actors who played the same part for decades in a very popular soap opera. They were called by their role names, told off for being mean and vicious, and a girl who played a teenage mum got lots and lots of both advice and reproaches. Some grown-ups seem to have problems seeing the difference between fiction and reality.

*soul-searching* All in all, being open and up-front about writing a fictional blog is the polite thing to do, in my opinion. But if I were to write about me being a half-elf, half werecat college girl with amazing healing powers, a hot body and a hard-to-suppress desire for blood and tuna, SOME people probably would think it's real, too.

Waltraud

[Twik]

It was probabnly over the line, but so many things on the internet are other than what they seem. For example, I'm really a lonely underage teen girl looking for understanding and an opportunity for rebellion ... and if you believe that, you're too dense to be here on E-Hell.

Maybe we'd all better accept that (as Marvin Gaye sang) "People say believe half of what you see, son, and none of what you hear."

And less than none on the internet.

I'd say it is rude to actively and knowingly deceive people. Especially once you know they're buying in emotionally. To do otherwise is a lot like a mean-spirited prank.

Maybe not mean-spirited. Maybe a social experient. Maybe a personal experiment. Who knows? I take everything i see on line with many grains of salt. Many. It could be absolute truth spoken from anonymmity, or it could be well-written fiction.

In my own opinion, it's VERY mean-spirited to treat other human beings as labrats in a "social experiment".

And it really destroys something important in human relationships to have to distrust everything that someone else says, even online. Why else is that sort of trolling reason for banning on this site?

[PeasNCues]

It was probably over the line, but so many things on the internet are other than what they seem. For example, I'm really a lonely underage teen girl looking for understanding and an opportunity for rebellion ... and if you believe that, you're too dense to be here on E-Hell.

Maybe we'd all better accept that (as Marvin Gaye sang) "People say believe half of what you see, son, and none of what you hear."

And less than none on the internet.

I'd say it is rude to actively and knowingly deceive people. Especially once you know they're buying in emotionally. To do otherwise is a lot like a mean-spirited prank.

Maybe not mean-spirited. Maybe a social experient. Maybe a personal experiment. Who knows? I take everything i see on line with many grains of salt. Many. It could be absolute truth spoken from anonymmity, or it could be well-written fiction.

In my own opinion, it's VERY mean-spirited to treat other human beings as labrats in a "social experiment".

And it really destroys something important in human rel@tionships to have to distrust everything that someone else says, even online. Why else is that sort of trolling reason for banning on this site?

I completely agree. Manipulating and using people for your own amusement/edification is cruel.