I am just honestly surprised anyone would be interested in reading that. Its so harlequin-y. I tried to read it but after his first entry I skimmed through the rest. The fact that he is being lauded as a GREAT writer amazes me. Since when is Harlequin ‘great writing’? People that think he is the next Steinbeck(or insert author of choice here) should perhaps , um, read steinbeck (or author of choice).
I didn’t see that he said he was Northern European until someone pointed it out later. I was pretty surprised because of word usage. Words such as "Giddy’ strike me as odd being used by American Teens or European ones. There were other words in there that were ‘American’ that seemed odd in usage.
My take on it, true or not (but I feel its most def. not) the main reason it is being written is to stroke his ego:
“wow! look at all the attention I am getting!”.
what I find obnoxious about it is that he is so coy:
oh, please, I don’t want to share (bats eyes). Oh, it’s personal! ooooooooo, but you want more?!! twist my arm! OK! I WILL DO IT BY GOLLY!
please.
:rolleyes:
and let’s say it is true:
If I was the p-p girl, I would be pissed that my SO was sharing our ‘private moments’ against my knowledge with 1000’s of strangers.
He is sooooooooo in love, but sees nothing wrong with exploiting their ‘relationship’ for ego stroking? Nice touch. Such the gentleman, he is!
And the fact that he refuses to disclose where he is?
There’s something rotten in Denmark, me thinks…
I came upon the thread late but thought it was cute enough, though the low post-count was the first alarm; unless he’s the ultimate lurker, it kind of screams “look at me!” I can more easily understand someone who slowly grows to trust this community from gradual participation, but to share so much so easily to total strangers seems a bit peculiar.
Still, the writing was engaging enough, although I glossed over the details which, thanks to some previous posts in this thread, may not stand up to much scrutiny after all.
But the last thread with the horse was where my suspension-of-disbelief got tackled; it all seemed too perfect and too convenient, and while some of the previous scenarios seemed innocent enough and generic enough, there were too many here that pulled me out of the story–or should I say narrative?
There was also something a tad salacious (for lack of a better word) about the last post, too. If this is real, he’s on very thin ice since he’s sharing more than I’d ever want to about someone I care so much about and want to be with (although he’s also conveniently written her as the ultimate tease who’d probably find such posts endearing or stimulating).
I think I’ll be monitoring this thread from now on instead of that one to see how things develop…
He’s 18 and intelligent. What do you mean “way too good” for a teenager? A friend of mine, who’s 17, recently received a gold medal in a national writing competition. She writes better than him, btw (no offense, Skewbald). So, how is he way too good?
The way I see it, he’s either lying (which is what I suspected right from the first message of his), in which case he’s a bad guy, or he’s telling the truth - in which case he’s a bad guy for violating someone’s trust in a big way.
I don’t see too many scenarios in which this guy comes across as decent.
I havent quite decided whether or not his story is true, but then, I really dont care. I do have a few points.
*About the “I cant believe he’s sharing her private life to everyone like this! I’ be so offended if it were me!” This is a message board. We all live slightly anonymous. Half the stuff I post gives out my entire life story, and everytime, I get responses like this. The odds of her finding the SDMB (unless he tells her about it) are pretty slim. If he does tell her about it, then he assumes the risk of her finding the thread. We know very little about either of them, except that it’s a teenage couple, and she likes to go pantieless, and they dont live in America. Sweeties, Europe is a big place. I think her idenity is safe.
*About his writing style-I’ve known 14 year olds who write with such amazing style, you’d swear they were at least 40. In the same aspect, I’ve known adults who write like adolescents. For example, Handy comes to mind. I dont know his exact age, but I’m sure he’s 18+…could you picture him writing something of this level? Most of the time you’re lucky to get more than 2 sentences out of him…
Some of Skewbald’s details are a little far fetched. But he’s an 18 year old boy, supposedly in love. His view is slightly altered. Hell, when I was 18, I thought the sun rose and set around the love of my life…I’d write diary entries desribing my dates, and everything was perfect, and nothing he did was wrong. Looking back now, I realizehow clouded I was. Was I lying to impress my diary? No, I really thought he was perfect.
It’s a post on a message board, in MPSIMS nonetheless. Maybe he just wants to exaggerate here because his real life friends know the truth, that she’s not perfect, and that she does wear panties to school. Maybe he chickened out about asking her to the dance, or they’ve only been on one date and he’s too shy to ask her out again. The truth isnt always ideal, and it definitely doesn draw in the response he got with his story. Let him feel that his life is intresting, and people want to hear about it.
Not to toot my own horn, but…
I’m 19, and while no one has compared me to skewbald, I would definately say I’m a better writer than him. The idea that an 18 year old can write like that is by no means ridiculous. I’ve met some that can write most 50-year-olds, I’ve met some that can write like most five-year-olds.
As for whether it’s fake or not…
It’s on the internet, so it has to be true.
I have never enjoyed attention, no matter if it’s positive or negative. I have 30 posts or something and this is just too much.
I don’t care if people think its fiction or not and I’m most certainly not offended. I have a girlfriend for the first time in my life. I’m so happy it’s disgusting, people are avoiding me on the street. This feels like such a minor issue right now, to me at least.
It’s not a minor issue; it’s a non-issue - or it should be to you for right now.
I read this thread, and the one that “spawned” it, and I have to say, rarely have I seen such a witch-hunt here on this Board. This thread should have been closed by a Moderator long ago.
People doubting your story are reading umpteen billion motives into every single word and phrase, every little detail, every reported mannerism and…ah, Jesus Fuck.
So your story reads a little funny at times - so? You’re not Danielle-freaking-Steele here. Believe it or not, I had people doubting that Fierra and I were actually an item IRL for 6 freaking months after we hooked up - all due to some mis-typed words once!
Come on people - if he’s a troll, it will be revealed soon enough - they always slip up, because they get too greedy for attention, and the story becomes too wild. Remember Freak? And if he’s not, then you’ve given this lad a taste of just how nasty the SDMB community can be to people at times.
Save your castigation for the the proven trolls. How about taking down some of the 4-digit post trolls that are allowed to infect this Board continuously with their message of hate? Or is picking on someone with 30 posts easier or safer than someone with 5000?
If he’s a troll, I’ll be in there after him. But as of right this minute, I see no reason for this thread to exist. I urge the SDMB Staff to respectfully consider closing this thread, as until this person is shown to clearly be “trolling”, they have committed no offence on this Board worthy of a Pit thread.
Fascinating. I understand your confusion! Who would have thought that a 50,000 word romance novel published on a message board with intimate details about tight teenage pussy would garner any attention.
Believe me…I’m as lost as you are. Enjoy your romance. :rolleyes:
Skew…here’s the thing. If it’s true, you are living the greatest love story ever and God bless…
However, if you’re sitting back in your smoke filled computer room chuckling to yourself about how you’ve fooled everyone EVERYONE BWAHAHAHAHA…I want you to know…you haven’t.
i don’t begrudge you any joy or happiness and your writing talent is painfully apparent. i love writing myself. And i really LOVE reading good fiction…although teen romance isn’t my bag. So…good work my man. Let us know when you get published.
Aw, bullshit. I don’t see a witchhunt here. I here one person asking “Do you think this guy’s for real?,” people weighing in to say yes, people weighing in to say no, some people (including me) saying: even if it’s fake, it’s harmless and who cares, and some few – very few – people assigning him some nefarious motive. That’s not a witchhunt.
On balance, I think the guy’s probably full of shit. That’s why I’m not reading the thread. I have a right to say so (since someone else specifically asked, “anybody else think this guy’s full of shit?”) and having said so does not make me a participant in a witchhunt.
If this dream woman is real, then good for him. If it’s just a story, well, that’s okay too. Anyone who thinks only the unvarnished truth is posted to a message board is a fool. He himself has said he’s not offended that people wonder if the whole thing is real, so I don’t think he needs you (or anyone) to defend him by claiming something is a “witchhunt” when it pretty clearly is not.
And I also thinks it’s a bad idea to close threads just because you (or anyone) has decided there’s no good reason for them to exist. If that’s the criteria, let’s just shut the board down now.
Point taken, again. I see how it could go wrong for whatever reason. I also see how it could be just an attention thing, a build up to some sort of scam, a test of a story idea, or whatever.
However, as other people have mentioned, there is no evidence of any of that. There is no direct evidence of the story being false and no evidence of it taking a nasty turn in the future. Perhaps we should take things at face value for the time being.
Having said that, do you think that it’s ever appropriate to post fiction as fact in a medium such as this. I’m sure many people ‘embelish’ some of their posts (I haven’t posted enough to need to yet, at least I don’t recall doing it) where do we draw the line ? Where does it become unacceptable ? Is it wrong to post something fictional if you never own up and no-one is any the wiser ? Is that a whole new thread ?
I think a dose of healthy cynicism is useful from time to time, this thread has highlighted the possibility of deception and I’m not sure what more can be gained in this instance. Skewbald says it’s true, we don’t have direct evidence to the contrary, give the guy the benefit of the doubt. Just 'cos my teenage years weren’t like that is no reason that his can’t be.
Hmm, I’ve started rambling again. I think I’ll leave it there.
Our opinions obviously differ. I have to say that your response, coming from you, surprises me more than just about anything else that could have been posted in response to me.
Not for just me, nor for any “one” person. But if 20 posters agree a thread should not exist, shouldn’t closing it then be considered? What about 100 posters?
Right now, there’s just one person that I see calling for it to be closed - me. Evidently the target is not concerned enough about it to defend himself.
But this Board is “us”, and if “we” don’t care for something here, then we have the right to say that we don’t care for it, and we want it gone. And I think that a thread going after someone who has not given a more clear indication of trolldom is unneeded on this message Board. Perhaps a Pit Mod will weigh in on my request - it is but one person, respectfully requesting, that this thread be closed - due to the reasons I already stated.
Whether or not anyone acts on that is up to many factors. If the answer is “no”, then so be it. The issue is dead. If the answer is “yes”, then so be it. The issue is dead as well.
Why? Do I have to agree with you, just because I like and respect you? Or did you take what I said as an indication that I don’t like or respect you? Because it was not so intended. But I hate to see terms like “witchhunt” thrown around for something that IMO pretty clearly is not. We’re not persecuting the poor little thing. We’re not nailing him to a cross. We’re just questioning whether he’s for real or not. And the “we” who are doing that appear to be balanced out by the “you” who are defending him. So how is that a witchhunt? It’s not. So, yes, our opinions obviously do differ.
Shit, ANTH, what about 36? How about 47? How about 602? IMO the level of board-wide outrage that might indicate closing a thread upon demand has pretty clearly not been met in this case. In fact, you admit the only one suggesting it be closed is you. Again, IMO, that’s a pretty hysterical reaction to a pretty innocuous thread.
I understand that, but as you have already noted, I disagree. And I really disagree with using terms like “witchhunt” and asking people to consider closing threads for what is – again IMO – a pretty minor dust up, one that the person being attacked (if you can even call it an attack) apparently doesn’t even mind.
I didn’t mean to attack you personally; I don’t think that I did. But I found your response to be a tad on the over-reactive side and not justified by what I have read in this thread to date. “Close this thread; this is a witchhunt?” C’mon. I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings, I certainly didn’t intend to. But I’m going to call “over the top” when I see it, and I know (or hope) you’d do the same to me.
I don’t see the majority of people calling Skew a troll, Anthracite. You seem to be reading a great amount of animosity that I, personally, can’t see. But I agree with you: Skew is not a troll. However, I don’t believe that the fact that he is not a troll means that he should not have a pit thread about him. Any time one poster has any issue with another, it is almost always addressed in the pit. Why should that change now?
You suggest that this thread should be closed because the subject is not a troll. It’s hard to see the connection between the first and second parts of that sentence. A great many threads exist, open and unclosed, without referring to or addressing, “jerks”.
It just did was all. It seemed obvious to me what was going on here with this whole business. Apparently, no one agrees with me. Won’t be the first time, and it won’t be the last.
I thought that was what I was saying when I admitted I was the only one complaining about it. I do not disagree with the facts.
You didn’t “hurt my feelings”. I am just confused. The tone of this thread seemed clear to me. I guess I’m still the only one that thinks so, or thought so.
If I wrote what what Skewbald wrote, and I knew it to be true, and I had a Pit thread started about the veracity of what I knew to be true - one that reached 3 pages in length before I even showed up - I don’t know, I would be pretty offended, and feel more than a little picked-on.
I guess I was just personalizing it, and trying to lend a hand to someone who didn’t want or need it. Or didn’t give a fuck that someone exposed themselves to scorn by trying to (grossly mistakingly, evidently) lend a hand. Won’t be the first time I got my ass fried for trying to help someone who didn’t want it - or didn’t need it, as everyone is telling me is the case here.
I’m writing the poster in question, and this issue, off. I lose.
