If you had to give a percentage of honesty on the net

If you had to give a percentage, just a general guess. How much of what you see people say on forums and different sites on the web would you say is true?

This is all opinion, just want to see what everybodys opinion is. I tend to take people at face value and i think thats a mistake a lot of times because lets face it theres a lot of dishonesty in the world.

So as somebody whos been burned a lot of times including identity theft and people lieing to me more times than i can count, id say maybe 70% of what we see is actually true. Keep in mind i dont mean just on forums but the entire internet, chatrooms, social media, etc.

What are your opinions and experiences with this?


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Theres a lot of different reasons for this including people maybe having mental illness, trust issues,people that like to play mind games as some form of sick entertainment, etc. Like heres an interesting article i read about munchausen via the internet. If youre not familiar with this disorder refer to the link below it tells you a bit about it.At least as far as the internet is concerned.

Not trying to make people anymore paranoid than they already are, but im just really tired of running into people like this and with this mindset. Ive gotten a lot better over the years about not taking things to heart, but it still affects me somewhat because its so hard to get away from all the dishonesty in the world.

http://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/munchausen-by-internet-812176.html

I don't lie. I may skirt the truth, but I will not outright lie, neither online or off. It's just not who I am and I hate lies.

But yeah, I think it's safe to say that a major percentage of people on the internet lie about stuff.

I'm blunt and honest with my opinions and experiences I share on here, and social media. I am careful what I put down though. For instance, I don't put negative opinions or experiences on social media, because it always bites me in the butt with drama.

I agree though, I bet it's 70%. There is too much propaganda online.

I'm going with 20 - 25%. More people say what they really think, however stupid. So in a sense they aren't lying, alot of it is just bullshit regardless.

EDIT: I misinterpreted the percentages. It'd be 75 - 80% then.

There have been times i had to keep the truth away but even if it is online or offline I would lie under any circumstance coz on the other side of the screen is another human with flesh and blood and full of feelings as i am. Just like i dont like being lied to I know the other person does not like it either.. I dont know how many people think the same way i do so it takes me time to trust someone completely before i start believing them.. So i stick to 53%

On here I think the majority of people tell the truth.
Other parts of the internet is full of lying and bullshitting.

I've never lied on here. And it has hurt me been so honest.

15%. And there are many places I haven't seen yet and which I never plan to explore...suffice to say, I believe that only 25% of what people in real life tell me is truthful either.

I'm a realist. After information has passed through the ears and mouths of 4-5 different people, I'd reckon it has become as close to a rumor as any deliberately spread disinformation anyway. *shrugs*

I think the internet is one of the only places some people feel they can truly be honest and admit secrets and how they are really feeling, its easier for alot of people to talk anonymously to a stranger through a screen about certain things, than to someone they actually know.

However there are some people out there that just want to hurt peoples feelings or there are people who want to be someone else and the internet gives them that option, there are also people that tell lies just to try and make themselves look good, they try to convince people that there lives are better than they really are.

I think maybe 40% of what I see on forums and social networking sites is real.

A lot of people fake who they are and claim to be honest, trustworthy and non-judgmental people but they are not. The ones who promote it the most are usually the worst offenders. Many will go around spilling your secrets to others and talk about you behind your back, then act all nice to your "face". Having run into people on a variety of different forums with some who even lied about their gender I'd have to say 25% is true.

I really couldn't even begin to guess at how much is true vs. not.

On one hand, the internet makes lying incredibly easy, as very few people will have the ability and will to fact-check anything that is said about one's personal life. It's easy to lie and revel in the reaction and response to the false life and reality you crafted.

But on the other hand, the internet offers practically unprecedented anonymity and interaction potential. Plenty of people would be (and are) willing to reveal personal truths, fears, and demons that they would never actually tell anyone in real life.


But there's practically no way of telling these things apart from an outsider's perspective, unless a person contradicts themselves with their stories.

Sci-Fi said:

A lot of people fake who they are and claim to be honest, trustworthy and non-judgmental people but they are not. The ones who promote it the most are usually the worst offenders. Many will go around spilling your secrets to others and talk about you behind your back, then act all nice to your "face". Having run into people on a variety of different forums with some who even lied about their gender I'd have to say 25% is true.

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Just 25%?

Well then, how do you separate out those making crap up, and the secretly manipulative.. from the truthful and trustworthy?

I would say a good bit of it is harmless as one of the good things about the net is fantasy indulgement and to a certain extent theres nothing at all wrong with that. Its just when peoples real emotions get involved its when people get hurt. Im getting alot better about not wearing my heart on my sleeve and realizing how really dumb that was to do all these years. Guess i watched too many disney movies as a kid lol.

Trying to learn to take each interaction with people as its own event and not attaching any sort of expectation to people beyond that one shot scenario. Seems to be working and im a lot happier this way.

Just sucks when it comes down to a thing in my head of not IF people will dissapear but a matter of WHEN.

But oh well nothing in this life was ever promised to be permanent i guess. Thanks for the feedback and opinions so far.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I know that I am probably in the high 90s. The only reason I don't say 100% is because I am occasionally very vague when I don't want to reveal something about myself.

I'm probably naive, but I like to think that the people I converse with on a regular basis are equally as honest.

If we're talking about the Internet in general, then I doubt it's much higher than 50/50.

Batman55 said:

Sci-Fi said:

A lot of people fake who they are and claim to be honest, trustworthy and non-judgmental people but they are not. The ones who promote it the most are usually the worst offenders. Many will go around spilling your secrets to others and talk about you behind your back, then act all nice to your "face". Having run into people on a variety of different forums with some who even lied about their gender I'd have to say 25% is true.

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Just 25%?

Well then, how do you separate out those making crap up, and the secretly manipulative.. from the truthful and trustworthy?

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It's very hard to do with some people, others you can pick up on fairly easily. Even if you think you know someone very well they can turn out to be someone else entirely. When you hide behind a computer screen you can be anyone you want and do whatever you want. You just have to look for the patterns of how a person acts and hopefully find people who show that they can be trustworthy.

Cavey said:

I can't speak for anyone else, but I know that I am probably in the high 90s. The only reason I don't say 100% is because I am occasionally very vague when I don't want to reveal something about myself.

I'm probably naive, but I like to think that the people I converse with on a regular basis are equally as honest.

If we're talking about the Internet in general, then I doubt it's much higher than 50/50.

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Being vague doesn't mean you aren't being honest. Not everyone needs to know everything about you, so unless you are flat out changing the truth, it's not a lie.

I don't really care how much of the internet is honest. People will lie or they won't. However, the truth usually reveals itself eventually, so I don't worry about it until that time comes. I'm careful not to reveal much of anything personal online unless I know the person well. What I say on the forum are things I would tell anyone, if asked.

Maybe 65-75% depending on the type of interaction. I'd trust a 40-year-old hetero woman to be mostly honest with me barring severe personality disorders. I'd assume a 20-year-old hetero man to be bluffing a little in the name of his appearance at best and outright constructing a fake life via Google research to try to "pick up" women online at worst.

TheRealCallie said:

Cavey said:

I can't speak for anyone else, but I know that I am probably in the high 90s. The only reason I don't say 100% is because I am occasionally very vague when I don't want to reveal something about myself.

I'm probably naive, but I like to think that the people I converse with on a regular basis are equally as honest.

If we're talking about the Internet in general, then I doubt it's much higher than 50/50.

Click to expand...

Being vague doesn't mean you aren't being honest. Not everyone needs to know everything about you, so unless you are flat out changing the truth, it's not a lie.

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You're correct, of course, but I just feel a bit disingenuous sometimes, because there are aspects of my character that I keep under wraps here.

It's hard to say. I don't trust people anyway so I always take things with a grain of salt. There are some things I've read that I have to shake my head at, right or wrong, but somethings I think you can feel it.
I don't pretend to be special - I'm a selective racist, alcoholic, drug addict, red neck and I can't seem to change that. But there is a lot people will never know because it's too much.

50%. But I'm paranoid and assume people are tricking me until proven otherwise.

But everyone can trust me. I'm actually an albatross and they never lie

I would say that on this site most of us are honest.
On dating sites I would say that some people are out and out liers, some are partial liers and some (a small percentage) are honest.
On Facebook I think that most people try to make their lives seem better than they are in order to give the impression that they are popular and in demand.