How honest do you think people are on DU?

[XemaSab]

Do you generally take what people say here at face value?

[kick-ass-bob]

1. I have a spreadsheet of my trust values for every person on DU with annotated experiences.

Trust me.

XD

[MrCoffee]

2. This is an internet message board you're asking about, right?

[Sky Masterson]

3. It depends on who.

I hold people on different levels of scrutiny determined on the amount of integrity I believe one has.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. Hi Xema...

Some are, some aren't.

If you really pay attention, you can normally figure out who's doing what.

:shrug:

[HERVEPA]

6. I, for one,

do believe Random Thoughts is due beer and travel money.

[kick-ass-bob]

9. this has been bugging me. Is it

(beer) and (travel money)? Or (beer and travel) money?

I need order of operations here... :crazy:

[HERVEPA]

41. I've always thought the first.

[LeftyMom]

5. I'm beginning to suspect that you're not really an astronaut. nt

[Sky Masterson]

7. She told me that she was Gabbie Giffords sock puppet

:eyes:

[Ohio Joe]

8. An interesting question

For the most part, I don't believe shit and go do a bit of research on it to see.... But.... and there is a big but to that... If I'm going to be honest here :D If someone says something that I already believe, I don't tend to look deeper... only when they say something I do not agree with do I look into it.

Thats pretty fucked up... I should work on that... But I probably won't :P

[annabanana]

39. Seems like an honest response...

I believe you.

[dawg]

10. More honest than average.

The internet is, by nature, an untruthful medium. I think the people on DU are a little more honest than what you encounter on the rest of the net. But that isn't saying very much.

[libodem]

11. I tend to believe others

I'm not much of a liar so I'm easily taken in.

[SOteric]

12. Seriously?

Have you ever read through the responses on a "What's your IQ?" OP? Apparently they should just change the name of this place to Mensa Underground, everyone who posts here is genius of the highest possible magnitude. Ordinary, average, mediocre people don't post here. Either that or we're a big bunch of fibbers.

[MrCoffee]

15. Only two synonyms for ordinary?

That's not quite Mensa material, SOteric.

[kick-ass-bob]

18. well, who is gonna post "mine is 98?"

A selection bias in those threads. Either the people under 130 (or whatever you see) don't post or they lie about it.

Some lie, but probably most don't post.

I like how most people say they are INTP or whatever other one is rare. Like anyone can say they're better than someone else based on that...:shrug:

[murielm99]

19. I know. It really is funny.

There is a lot of anti-Mensa sentiment among them, too.

And only a handful of people could have the IQ's that some of them claim.

There is a lot of collective knowledge here. Usually, if I ask a question, someone will find an answer and a link. They may present me with a different point of view.

Most of the time, I accept the people here at face value, unless they start to contradict themselves wildly. And of course, we surely have some right-wing trolls, paid and otherwise. Some of them are quite convincing. I don't think they were quite as successful in the past. Something always tripped them up. They are getting better at it. But we are getting better, too.

I don't really care if people embellish about their IQ or some of their experiences. That is human nature. I still learn a lot here and have a few laughs.

[pamela]

20. That's true of every site though.

I think most people don't even know their true I.Q. and are going by a score they got on one of those internet I.Q. tests. Heck, one of the questions on a real I.Q test should be "Do you believe the results of internet I.Q. tests?"

[kick-ass-bob]

21. I actually know mine, my son's and my brother's.

Mine is actually the lowest of the 3. My brother's is genius level, but it's "Beautiful Mind" genius. :(

[pamela]

23. I know mine, too.

My guidance counselor in High School told me mine and then I had to take (and administer) the Wechsler in grad school. That was particularly interesting because I was able to see all my subscores. I highly recommend that. The subscores give you very useful information. A really good Psychologist can even detect things like depression from the subscores.

Your brother probably has some subsccores that are through the roof and then others that are relatively low. A person with a lower score, with relatively consistent scores across the board, might do better in school and in life than someone who has wildly divergent subscores. The latter is indicative of a learning disability or even mental illness.

[kick-ass-bob]

45. I'm sure he does.

I don't know anything about the subscores, but I'm sure his are off the hook wild. He doesn't do human interaction very well, but boy, can he write.

[DFW]

13. Actually, mostly, yes

Sure there are some I read and say "gimme a break!" But there are probably some who read my stuff and also say "gimme a break!"

But I read stuff posted by Alan Grayson and Thom Hartmann and have no reason to doubt they are indeed the ones posting.

Hell, I remember posting about a thing I was at with Al Gore and Howard Dean, and was called out for posting absolute bullshit.

Another time, I got advance word before the media did that Obama's running mate was Joe Biden, posted it first on DU and got
dumped upon for posting more bullshit. In neither case was I posting anything but the truth, but the truth doesn't always win
out, does it? If it did, there would be no such thing as Fox "News."

So, you trust what you feel you can trust, and disregard the rest. It's an internet board, not a set of stone tablets
sent down from Mount Sinai (and I don't even trust them.....).

[ceile]

14. I do.

But that's because I don't much care. You could pretend to be the queen of England, but because I don't know you IRL it's no sweat off my back...

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

16. Hard to say - I think many are honest; some are not so honest

and some are outright lying psychopaths -- I met one of those (one who is no longer with us) IRL. And then there are the heroic tales of defeating teabaggers in the grocery store checkout line....

[CreekDog]

40. !

:rofl:

[Raffi Ella]

17. I do.

It doesn't even cross my mind that someone might be lying, usually.

I mean if it is an over the top story, too concidental to current events THEN I question the truth of the story. but that's just in G.D. really. In the lounge I never wonder if people are telling the truth. lol. I don't lie so I guess I don't suspect others of doing it either.

[struggle4progress]

22. I'm a buff 28 year-old self-made billionaire, currently sailing my yacht solo from the

Aegean to my Swiss chateau

I'm really really incredibly superhonest, and you can trust me with anything: your bank account and credit card numbers, the key to your Ferrari, your collection of gold Krugerrands, whatever!

But because I like you, I should warn you: there are lying scammers out there who (unlike me!) could take advantage of you. Don't trust them! But you can trust me, because I'm superhonest, and I like you

Also because I like you, let me add that when I was rooting around in the dumpster at the grocery store this morning, I just found a brown paper bag containing $100K. Being a billionaire, I don't need the money, so I'd like to give it to a good person who needs it, somebody like you! If you'll wire me $5000 to show good faith, I promise I'll send you the bag! You can trust me!

[pamela]

24. I tend to take things at face value.

But sometimes a post will just reek. Lately the trolls have seemed ridiculously obvious, too. I'll look at their username and sig line and think "Damn, why didn't you just pick "FREEPER!" as your username?

[Ikonoklast]

25. "I was standing in line at the grocery store, when..."

Every time I see that preamble here, I know a that there's a tsunami of b.s. following it.

It's exactly the same CB trucker stories I hear, except for a trucker, the beginning of the story is always "I know you're not going to believe this shit, but..."

They are right. I don't believe it.

I don't take half of what I see and hear with my own two eyes and ears at face value, I'm certainly not going to accept what people post on a website as the absolute truth.

It always seems incredible things happen to the same people all the time. Their lives are either exceptionally exciting, or I know you're not going to believe this shit, but...

[MiddleFingerMom]

26. My penis is ENORMOUS!!!!!!!!.

Ask me anything.
.
.
.

[seabeyond]

28. ya... unless talking about their penis. lol. hey....

i hope you are feeling better. sounds like a really tough time. take care

[nolabear]

32. You pick THIS one to reply to?

:hi:

[seabeyond]

27. a lot of regulars.... ya. i believe them. nt

[Kali]

29. pretty much the same as the rest of the world

there are always liars, some lie more to themselves than to the world

but

most people are basically honest and decent and I pretty much feel if you believe otherwise (the worst of people) then that is what you get...

[madinmaryland]

30. As much as LynneSin denies it, she actually works at a toll-booth at the

Delaware Memorial Bridge.

She is also a closet Dallas Cowboys fan!!

[Amerigo Vespucci]

31. Several notches on the food chain below carnies.

HEY! YOU asked.

:-)

[nolabear]

33. Oh, pretty much. Sometimes they're a bit TOO honest.

I'm sometimes astounded when all pretense of civilization goes out the window and the most id-driven side of peoples' natures some out. Then it's not a discussion board. Then it's a pissing match. And then I run to the Lounge where we are a bunch of crying, kitten-happy, vibe-beaming, word game playing, silly mofos and I feel all batter.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

37. batter?

like cake batter . . . yeah :D

[dimbear]

34. Posters who agree with me and support me are honest and good.

Dissenters and detractors are nasty liars. That's it in a nutshell.

[mcctatas]

35. for the most part, fairly honest...

HOWEVER, I have run across at least one who lied about EVERYTHING. At least they were interesting lies :shrug:

[Tuesday Afternoon]

36. which to believe . .

what is said on public forum or what is said in PMs . . .

decisions. decisions.

[femmocrat]

38. It actually amazes me how much people reveal about themselves here.

Not sure how much is fiction, but most of the posters with whom I am familiar seem genuine.

What I love about DU is all the expertise. Have a problem? You can always get great advice here!

[csziggy]

42. Only if they say "Woof"

[clyrc]

43. Mostly it doesn't matter if people are truthful

I usually assume people are telling the truth, unless something seems really unlikely. But enough weird things have happened to me that I don't automatically disbelieve something odd.

[Z_I_Peevey]

44. Well, I was standing in line at the Big Lots last night

and I was telling the clerk that I had two orders, one for work and one for me personally, when a well-dressed lady with one item got in line behind me and I told her "Since you have only one item, you can go ahead of me." But the store manager said to her, "You can just come over here M'am, I'll open this other register." And so he did.

The well-dressed lady checked out with her one item, and I made my purchases, and we both left the store. We went our separate ways.

Me, I'm fairly honest, but as for others, I can't be certain.

;-)