Is fiction lying?

[drafdog]

Dear Curious in Illinois,
It seems by reading your initial submission and subsequent clarifications that the question is about web aliasing.
The custom of aliases in web communication is a troubling one. I avoid using aliases whenever possible. The name at the top of this reply is a comment on my work personna. I am a designer/draftsman. My real name is affixed below as a signature. This departs from the all too frequent habit of completely fictional (misleading?) web aliases. The use of anonymity as an excuse for deception is spurious at best and more likely just plain malicious.
In communicating on the internet it is best to be as honest as possible within the boundaries of personal safety. Don’t give out personal information indiscriminately, but don’t fictionalize either. To refrain from giving information is not deceptive; it is just uniformative.
In the past “a friend of mine has a problem…” was a euphamism for “I have a problem.” On the internet it seems that we are abandonning this “fiction” by substituting “I have a problem…” for “let me make a hypothetical case…” I’m not sure how deceptive this is. Does the writer want you to believe that what you read is true, or does the writer assume that the fictional nature of much internet communication covers the need to make the fictional nature of the submission explicit? Only the writer can answer such a question.
You will do well to keep to honest communication on the internet. This means that you must excercise great care at all times. Good Luck.
Matthew

 

[JimG]

Of course fiction is not lying. If it were, we would have to categorize Chaucer, Shakespeare, Twain, and Hemingway as some of the greatest liars of all time (not to mention all those who write screenplays and TV scripts.)

Often there is more truth in fiction than there is in non-fiction.

(As for what is to be found on the Internet, most of it must be treated as fiction until proven otherwise.)

 

[Mintaka]

You don’t have to tell people all about yourself or anything about yourself on the Internet; but if you do say something about yourself, it should be true. (Unless you’re on a site designed for roleplaying in storytelling, and everyone knows that’s what you’re doing.)

The thing is, I’ve seen people who presented themselves as what they’re not getting caught up in it, in a much more harmful way than anything I’ve seen in roleplaying. They say one little thing, get unexpectedly sympathetic responses, and can’t bear to confess that the whole thing was not quite accurate. These huge structures of lies get built up for months and years, and eventually they end up disappointing the people they know online. People have even reported their own deaths online to escape this sort of trap, only to start another series of lies.

That said, there is an old online tradition of posting in a semi-fictional way, with the understanding that everyone knows it’s a joke. The classic example was the science fiction fan who called himself “Gharlane of Eddore”. Everyone knew that he was neither a galactic overlord nor a brain in a jar, but posting from that POV was really funny. (And allowed him not to reveal much about his personal life.) When he passed away, we learned that every detail he had posted about his real life was true.

 

[porthos11]

“The people and events portrayed in this work are fictitious. Any similarity with actual events and people, living or dead, is entirely unintended and coincidental.”

– Standard disclaimer on all modern motion pictures.

Applies to books too.