Do you really believe in whatever I describe myself to be in this blog? This is the question many have to ask themselves, while chatting or reviewing others’ online identity. Identity plays a key role in virtual communities. In communication, which is the primary activity, knowing the identity of those with whom you communicate is essential for understanding and evaluating an interaction. Yet in the disembodied world of the virtual community, identity is also ambiguous (Donath, 1996).

The push factor for communicating in ambiguity is due to their reputation and online identity; that are often the motivating factors that push people to actively participate in forums and online communities. (Donath, 1996) However, due to the current widespread use of the internet as its many communication applications has brought the 'identity' factor to a whole new level. Along with this new freedom have emerged many unique issues and problems (Lackaff, 2003).

Having an online identity, one can include whatever they like on it. They can have fake names, fake pictures and fake profiles. But why did they fake up all these? To me, it seems like a privilege to set-up online identities, as no one knows who you are and that means you can type or chat about almost anything and everything. Creating false identities and masquerade are often present in online chat forums. One good example is the chat application called Internet Relay Chat (IRC).

In a Chat forum, it doesn’t literally means that people actually talk to each other and hear each other’s voices. Instead, it means that you hold live keyboard “conversations” with other people on the Internet- that is, you type words on your computer and other people on the Internet can see those words on their computers immediately. One can also hold simultaneous chats with people all over the world. There are a number of ways people can establish an online identity and start chatting on the internet- one of the most popular ones would be the Internet Relay Chat (IRC).

IRC follows a client/server model, which means that both client and server software are required to use it. Many IRC clients are available for many types of computers, so whether you have a PC of Macintosh, or Unix, you can use IRC. Each topic you join is called a channel. When you join a channel, you can see what other people on the channel type on their keyboards. You can also hold individual side conversations with someone. To me, this is the best time to use fake online identity. I am sure most of you have done that before. By distinguishing yourself as a female, when actually you are a male, to tap on girls online and relishing the conversation with another stranger. This happens very often! IRC is also a place for geeks to make friends. Why so? Probably they can find someone who they can really talk to online, be it personal problems or other issues, they will not know who you are unless they start asking a meet-up in person session. That is where disappointments comes in. The contents of the posting can reveal a great deal more about the writer. It may include overtly identity-related data: name, age, etc. More importantly, it provides a chance to get a sense of the writer's "voice'' and to see how he or she interacts with others in the on-line social environment. (Donath, 1996).

However much, there is a setback on the use of IRC. Other people or even your friends can use your nickname and hack into your account. They can simply tarnish and destroy your reputation in a second. This means a lot to some people; especially regulars who never change their nicknames and had constantly chatted or even made friends online. Furthermore, users can make people believe in what they said, when it is untrue. This can lead to serious outcome, depending on how much they believe in. Lastly, it is also advisable not to meet up in person with your online-chat friend. Because, you will never know what might happen if you met up in person. For example, you might be very disappointed in his/her looks and gets pissed on the fact that he/she did not live up to your standards as described over IRC.

The growth of internet usage in the past decade has changed both human society and the medium itself (Lackaff, 2003). In this modern era, it is so easy to create false identities. It may or may not be a bad thing- depending on what you are looking for. However, it is advisable that you do not reveal too much of yourself as the fact that we cannot prevent others to create false identities.

Work citations:

Donath, Judith (1996, November 12). Identity and the virtual community. Retrieved February 23, 2007, from Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community Web site: http://smg.media.mit.edu/people/Judith/Identity/IdentityDeception.html

Lackaff, D, (2003). A review of moderation regimes. Retrieved February 21, 2007, from Norm maintenance in online communities Web site: http://lackaff.net/node/20

E-mail Spam. (2007, February 17). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved February 23, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRC
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