I know what all of you mean but why do people lie online to make themselves look so great? I mean what kind of a complex do they have that they have to lie their arses of..... Anyway The same is with me, I usually ignore a personal question or just tell them bluntly that I do not wish to divulge any secrets

I have heard of cases where guys prey on girls through the net, That is pathetic,Also the people who take naked pics of people using the webcam.
But the thing is creepy when the person you know lies a lot for it makes you trust them a bit less.

I mean a bit of harmless fun is alright but it should be told not increased and make people distrust you.

Thanks for the cool responses.

Yeah, I agree. For the most part, I don't see the point of selling to online advertising firms my address, phone number, and numerous other pieces of information for free. It's better to lie to them than it is to be burdened with mass mailings/emailings of advertisements, and most of these organizations don't really need to contact me to accomplish whatever I want them to do.

Usually for locations I give a pretty vague location--like I'd say I'm in the United States, which is the truth but doesn't really get stalkers anywhere. There are some sites that ask for zip codes and actually check the random number I enter for accuracy. For those I just Google a random city and paste the zip code that shows up.

For age, though, I tend to be more honest. I guess I just find that age isn't a big identifying factor for stalkers--it's hard to track someone down with only their age and a very vague location. There are hundreds and thousands of people in a certain country with that very age, after all. For that same reason I don't really bother lying about my gender either--it's too general to pinpoint anyone down. At the same time though, if people don't ask, they're not going to get an answer, so I often end up with a mistaken gender.

Personally, in most cases I see nothing wrong with lying on the internet. Now, if you're a trusted news source or someone of that caliber, then we've got a problem. But if you're just talking to another unknown person, it's not a huge deal. Security is probably more important than just a random stranger you meet who decides to become your "friend".

This post has been edited by Arbitrary: Apr 12 2007, 11:09 PM

I have just one word I have never lied to person online that is in some chat room just never I would rather not reviel some information instead of lying.

But in the case of application forms for certain service for which I am hundred procent certain that it want misuse my personal data I have sometimes bended truth a bit, as probably we all did it a matter of personal security and a way of protection against identity theft.

I do not want to lie here by saying i haven't lied online !!

Yeah, lying probably is inevitable. But you can definitely cut down the extent of how much you do lie !!! You cannot avoid lying to a certain degree on several occasions. I believe the stealth mode available in yahoo messenger is a great example. You may lie to your boss you are working on your projecy and actually be doing something else , totally off topic.

And , what about making new friends on the internet. I really think, you cannot put your trust on someone , unless or until you get to know him /her in person. What a user generally presents on the internet, is a virtual image of him. It may not be the real him. It usually seems to be what he wants to be , rather than what he is .

I have lied about my exact location, but only to very dodgy websites that require your address for some reason, like If my address was 94 Baker st, ST Mirvin, Hamilton, New Zealand, I won't say that, just a New Zealand would be fine

well i wouldn't lie outright maybe exaderate a little.

well. lets see i dont think i have really outright lied on the internet. i probably did exaderate mabe a little too far.
wel i hope i'm not lying now that would ruin my great record
my friends lie to me all the time but i can usually tell wen. then i tell them i know they r lying but they just deny it
oh well i will try not to lie

I haven't, if I don't want someone to know something I just don't tell them, it's the internet it's not like they can reach through our monitors and make me say something. I guess there are a few people out there who need to stay anonymous and lie for that reason, other people I don't know about.

Well I think that this cannot be taken into account as lying as you were just ommiting your data and you were not saying that you are like from Australia or something else if you woudl have said that you would be lying then.