Well, the experiment is finally finished. Allow me to explain.
For twelve years now, I've been conducting an experiment of sorts. Consider it a kind of field study in Sociology. The question was, could a normal guy masquerade successfully on-line as a woman for ten years and fool all of the people all of the time? The answer, as I suppose is obvious to you now, is yes. There is no such person as Sarah Crisman. She never existed, save in my head.
In April of 1996, I thought up the idea. I had just acquired Internet access and was taking both sociology and psychology in high school. Specifically, in sociology, we were studying differences in gender and race, with "Black Like Me" used as one of our sources for attempting to understand the ideas that fomented at the basis of racism. I started observing how the girls in the class behaved in contrast to both myself and other males in the school, and decided that while I couldn't exactly do what John Howard Griffin had done and cross-dress my way through life, I could do something similar on-line. Could I, an 18-year old male, convince the rest of the world that I was, in fact, a woman?
I told my Sociology teacher about the idea for such an experiment and she was intrigued by the idea. I told her I'd try it out for the remainder of the school year (two months at that point) and report my findings to her at the end of the semester, along with copies of chat logs and other events to show how I had gone about portraying myself in this other persona.
The two months went by much faster than I thought, but at the end of the school year, I collected all my information together and was able to turn in an 8-page report and give a four minute speech to the rest of the class concerning my findings. Without fail, I had managed to convince everyone I had come into contact with on-line that I was female. I received an A+ on both the report and presentation.
After class, my Sociology teacher asked me to stay afterwards. She told me this kind of thing was exactly what people in the real world do when they attempt to learn about another kind of society: they do their best to become those they wish to study. She couldn't assign it to me, obviously, as I would be graduating from high school, but she asked me to consider continuing the charade. Two months of such a deception is relatively easy to maintain, after all. But what about a full year? Two years? Five? Was it possible to carry out such an experiment for so long? And if so, what would the result be?
I decided over the course of the summer that I would see how long I could go, and after 10 years I would look back and correlate all the information I had kept to see what all it was possible to learn from such an undertaking. As it turns out, I kept it going for another two years, simply because I was having too much fun and was learning more and more and more.
Twelve years, however, is long enough. So the lie ends tonight.
For those of you who feel I have violated your trust, I realize apologies are in order. You have been lied do, misled, and misinformed every step of the way. I don't expect you to understand why this was done now, but it is my hope that in a few years' time, you will understand why it was necessary for me to proceed. I've learned an amazing amount of information over the last decade, and I hope the academic world will be interested in reading it an analyzing it. Names and faces will be changed to protect the innocent, of course, so don't worry. Your personal lives will always remain yours alone.
In January, I queried such publications as Psychology Today with the question of whether or not they would be interested in reading the results of this personal undertaking. To date, I have received three replies, all from reputable journals, stating that they would be very interested in articles describing ths journey I took. I suspect that they will begin to appear no later than June or July; it will take some time to collect my notes and work out just how to approach such an article or series of articles.
I wanted to thank you all for participating (albeit unknowingly) in this study. What I have learned is utterly invaluable and may one day prove as insightful to readers as "Black Like Me" was when it was first published in 1964.
Most of you will have words for me. You will feel hurt and angry. Perhaps you will even hate me. I understand all of it, and in some ways, I deserve every negative emotion you will heap on me. I considered this very, very hard before I came to this choice to end the charade. A lie always hurts worse than the truth the longer the lie is perpetuated. I think twelve years is enough, and it is time for the mask to come off. I prayed a lot about this, and I hope you will be willing to forgive me.
Gaia bless.
Jonathan E. Chrisman
PD never called me btw.
Is he going to get banned now?
FUCKKKKKKKKKKKKK
PD never called me btw.
Is he going to get banned now?
If PD never called you why did you lie and say he did?he sent me this pm:
That is it. PD = CHEEBS CONFIRMED.
I am attempting to pull off the single greatest prank on the internet, and I need your help. PLEASE. Just post that you talked to me and I'm a chick. Everyone will believe you because I kept you in the dark so long. We will fake a meeting too.
I want people to think I'm a chick until they meet me for the POTC3 meetup PLEASE. You must help and go down in history. It would be wise
This forum sucks.
PD is such a piece of shit. Yet I can't stop laughing. :lol
Mandark is lame for pulling the plug on the prank so fast though.
Mandark is lame for pulling the plug on the prank so fast though.
Please delete all the stupid Cheebs/PD topics and clear the air for some more prosperous topics.
PD is such a piece of shit. Yet I can't stop laughing. :lol
Now you can go to bed :lol
I should have changed the post more. Ugh Mandark, you win againDo you do this with your essays too? I'm going to alert the Dean!
I should have changed the post more. Ugh Mandark, you win again
This could have been so fucking awesome :-\you didnt try hard enough
This could have been so fucking awesome :-\
This could have been so fucking awesome :-\
These things need to happen:
-PD shouldn't be banned, but moved to Townie Leper status for the month of may
-His forum name should be Michelle, and his tag should be BLOW JOBS ONLY TWO DOLLARS, FREE FOR CHEEBS
-I should get season two of the new Doctor Who on DVD for free (just thought I throw that in there)
This could have been so fucking awesome :-\It is fucking awesome. For Mandark though, not you.
DO IT WILLCO. His name HAS to be changed to Michelle. :lolThese things need to happen:
-PD shouldn't be banned, but moved to Townie Leper status for the month of may
-His forum name should be Michelle, and his tag should be BLOW JOBS ONLY TWO DOLLARS, FREE FOR CHEEBS
-I should get season two of the new Doctor Who on DVD for free (just thought I throw that in there)
SOLID SUGGESTIONS
Phoenix wasn't going to pull it off though. There wasn't a single person who bought into it and no one was going to be suprised when he revealed the "gotcha" moment. It had all the makings of Gob Bluth magic trick.trick? What I do is an illusion. Tricks are what whores do for money....or candy.
Phoenix wasn't going to pull it off though. There wasn't a single person who bought into it and no one was going to be suprised when he revealed the "gotcha" moment. It had all the makings of Gob Bluth magic trick.(http://www.jeffnye.org/adventures/gob.jpg)
Phoenix wasn't going to pull it off though. There wasn't a single person who bought into it and no one was going to be suprised when he revealed the "gotcha" moment. It had all the makings of Gob Bluth magic trick.
It's not Mandark's fault that PD did this whole thing so half-assed.
Phoenix wasn't going to pull it off though. There wasn't a single person who bought into it and no one was going to be suprised when he revealed the "gotcha" moment. It had all the makings of Gob Bluth magic trick.(http://www.splattermail.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/210.gif)
Michelle
y helo thar homeskooled kid
Townie Leper
Posts: 13722
It's my fault. I rushed things.
Clearly April was a great month for the bore
What in the hell?Go back to bed, bluemax. PD tried to say he was a girl, Cheebs revealed that he was the orchestrator of the whole thing. Mandark uncovered the whole thing like he was fucking Dutch Wagenbach or some shit.
So are we still having the POTC3 meetup?
:bowSo are we still having the POTC3 meetup?
I'm in
dont do itSo are we still having the POTC3 meetup?
I'm in
What in the hell?Go back to bed, bluemax. PD tried to say he was a girl, Cheebs revealed that he was the orchestrator of the whole thing. Mandark uncovered the whole thing like he was fucking Dutch Wagenbach or some shit.
EDIT: Holy fuck it's 3 o' clock. History final in twenty minutes.
I don't know what it says about this place when Drinky and MAF seem like the most normal people here.Seriously. :lol
hahaha
actually, pd/michelle should be THANKING mandark -- me and tvc were gonna get him banned from gaf as a joke character.
girl sucking giant penis
hahaha
actually, pd/michelle should be THANKING mandark -- me and tvc were gonna get him banned from gaf as a joke character.
lol so you believed me?
Pffft. I thought we were buddies
Pffft. I thought we were buddies
It would've gotten you to drop the joke quickly. Mandark disarmed the whole situation while I was on lunch, though.
Aries (AKA Cheebs and Phoenix Dark), that's fucking it. I'm finding your goddamn phone number and calling you up, possibly when you least expect it.I find it hilarious people think I am him. My internet "persona" (as does his I assume) stretches back over google on various boards and sites for over 5+ years before I joined gaf in 2005
"My number is unlisted."
I have ways of finding out.
"Please don't."
Aries, you shouldn't lie to people over the internet.
"My mom might pick up the phone."
Good. I'll tell her what a bad boy you've been.
Aries (AKA Cheebs and Phoenix Dark), that's fucking it. I'm finding your goddamn phone number and calling you up, possibly when you least expect it.I find it hilarious people think I am him. My internet "persona" (as does his I assume) stretches back over google on various boards and sites for over 5+ years before I joined gaf in 2005
"My number is unlisted."
I have ways of finding out.
"Please don't."
Aries, you shouldn't lie to people over the internet.
"My mom might pick up the phone."
Good. I'll tell her what a bad boy you've been.
I still think you two are one and the same. I'll be making phone calls to determine just that.
Explain this thing.Aries (AKA Cheebs and Phoenix Dark), that's fucking it. I'm finding your goddamn phone number and calling you up, possibly when you least expect it.I find it hilarious people think I am him. My internet "persona" (as does his I assume) stretches back over google on various boards and sites for over 5+ years before I joined gaf in 2005
"My number is unlisted."
I have ways of finding out.
"Please don't."
Aries, you shouldn't lie to people over the internet.
"My mom might pick up the phone."
Good. I'll tell her what a bad boy you've been.
I still think you two are one and the same. I'll be making phone calls to determine just that.
Why would you post my email address here?everyone knows your name is Maurice Cooks, and you go to emich. It is isnt a secret code!
Emails are worthless. One can get multiple campus Emails by being friends with somebody in the IT Department...explain why you can find posts under my alias loooong before I ever went to gaf and "met" PD?
Cheebs we need an official thread for the Republican primary debates. I was just watching Hardball and realized it scheduled for ThursdayI will make one the day before
explain why you can find posts under my alias loooong before I ever went to gaf and "met" PD?