# Did you believe joecool1983's "Confessions of a Whoremonger" story? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 15, 2013, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-believe-joecool1983s-confessions-of-a-whoremonger-story/661084 "2013-06-15T18:48:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-believe-joecool1983s-confessions-of-a-whoremonger-story/661084/1 "2013-06-15T18:48:03Z")
[Referenced closed thread here - “Confessions of a Whoremonger”](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=693642) This is not a thread to complain about the banning, it’s pretty obvious that a lot of people thought he was full of crap and some of the mods did too. This is simply an inquiry as to whether you thought his story was plausible. My Doper BSoMeter goes off pretty readily, and yet I was _really_ undecided on joecool1983. His stories were way out of the realm of most dopers experience, mine included, but the straightforward way he told his stories had me half convinced they were true. Usually a troll starts tweaking the drama and you can easily see the strings being pulled for the dance puppets dance attempts, but joecool1983’s affectless descriptions struck me as just the way someone who did that sort of behavior would talk about it. He was a posterboy for bad decision making, but I’m not at all sure he wasn’t real. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-believe-joecool1983s-confessions-of-a-whoremonger-story/661084/2 "2013-06-15T18:57:24Z")
I estimated it at about 50-50. I don’t have too much trouble believing that people like that exist. It’s a little less plausible that they’d unashamedly describe their lifestyle on a general-purpose message board like this, but not impossible to believe. I did wonder, if he’s for real, what his purpose was in starting that thread. Was he seeking validation for his choices? hoping we’d talk him out of what he knew was a dangerous and self-destructive activity? ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-believe-joecool1983s-confessions-of-a-whoremonger-story/661084/3 "2013-06-15T19:06:51Z")
Almost nothing surprises me anymore. And some people live some pretty fucked up lives they see as perfectly normal. Then throw in some less than average intelligence, desperation, “love”, denial, and lack of shame and bingo there’s that thread. Reasonably believable IMO (as far as it got at least). Now maybe if Vampires or Time travel started showing up we might have had a better idea of its realness. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-believe-joecool1983s-confessions-of-a-whoremonger-story/661084/4 "2013-06-15T19:27:27Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I estimated it at about 50-50. 50-50 chance of being real, I mean; not 50% real and 50% made-up. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-believe-joecool1983s-confessions-of-a-whoremonger-story/661084/5 "2013-06-15T19:33:18Z")
A guy patronizes prostitutes…what is hard to believe? ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-believe-joecool1983s-confessions-of-a-whoremonger-story/661084/6 "2013-06-15T19:41:37Z")
I was waiting to hear that the hooker was confined to a wheelchair but was an attractive blonde with a sunny disposition. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-believe-joecool1983s-confessions-of-a-whoremonger-story/661084/7 "2013-06-15T20:04:53Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > I was waiting to hear that the hooker was confined to a wheelchair but was an attractive blonde with a sunny disposition. > > 😉 Leave Ambivalid out of this you mean mean person! (Insert Emo version of me crying on youtube about it). I’m just teasing Jamie 🙂 I just couldn’t pass this one up. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-believe-joecool1983s-confessions-of-a-whoremonger-story/661084/8 "2013-06-15T20:06:19Z")
Is there something specific that he said that made his story unavailable? Because if it’s just “nobody would talk about going to hookers online” then I can’t believe you guys don’t believe it. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-believe-joecool1983s-confessions-of-a-whoremonger-story/661084/9 "2013-06-15T21:12:10Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Leave Ambivalid out of this you mean mean person! (Insert Emo version of me crying on youtube about it). > > I’m just teasing Jamie 🙂 > > I just couldn’t pass this one up. Yeah I understand, that was comedy _gold_ right there! ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-believe-joecool1983s-confessions-of-a-whoremonger-story/661084/10 "2013-06-15T21:19:20Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > Is there something specific that he said that made his story unavailable? Because if it’s just “nobody would talk about going to hookers online” then I can’t believe you guys don’t believe it. An interesting question. There was the palpable sense from several posters in the thread that it couldn’t possibly be true because his attitudes and activities offended and disgusted them so viscerally. The squalid things that he was talking about go on everyday in the big wide world, but they did not want to believe the world was that casually hopeless and vile and stupid. Saying he was a fake put the world right again. And that’s what made me think it was possibly real. How \*casual \*his attitude was. There was no typical hurry or fevered urgency of the troll in relaying his activities. It was just “ask me”. If it was all played it was well played. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-believe-joecool1983s-confessions-of-a-whoremonger-story/661084/11 "2013-06-15T21:23:35Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Yeah I understand, that was comedy _gold_ right there! 🙂 Though to be honest I thought you brought in more money as a redhead 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-believe-joecool1983s-confessions-of-a-whoremonger-story/661084/12 "2013-06-15T21:35:50Z")
Well, there was his constant referencing the fact that he wasn’t lying. Typically, if you aren’t lying, you’re not going to mention it almost every single post. It could have been a scribal tic, I suppose, but after about the 4th assurance people started to notice. And then there was the way his life became more involved with hers and her pimps every few posts. It manifests more as storytelling than in relaying of actual fact. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-believe-joecool1983s-confessions-of-a-whoremonger-story/661084/13 "2013-06-15T21:54:37Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > Well, there was his constant referencing the fact that he wasn’t lying. Typically, if you aren’t lying, you’re not going to mention it almost every single post. It could have been a scribal tic, I suppose, but after about the 4th assurance people started to notice. And then there was the way his life became more involved with hers and her pimps every few posts. It manifests more as storytelling than in relaying of actual fact. I see your point, but I’ve got a bunch of lazy writing “tics” myself so that part didn’t bother me so much. His antics with the pimp astounded me at first, but if he was really infatuated with her that’s exactly the kind of thing he would to get closer to her. There would be no common sense distance. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-believe-joecool1983s-confessions-of-a-whoremonger-story/661084/14 "2013-06-15T21:55:07Z")
I was amused that a mod made a note not to accuse him of trolling and then closed the thread because she said she suspected him of trolling. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-believe-joecool1983s-confessions-of-a-whoremonger-story/661084/15 "2013-06-15T22:16:21Z")
I think the stories were true. I base this on the matter-of-fact tone and details that lacked the exaggeration of a troll. I think he posted, in large part, as confession seeking some catharsis. I’ve never met anyone like **joecool1983** , nor heard such stories, but I’ve had second-hand experience with related cultures and find his story not overly farfetched. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-believe-joecool1983s-confessions-of-a-whoremonger-story/661084/16 "2013-06-15T22:18:53Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > I was amused that a mod made a note not to accuse him of trolling and then closed the thread because she said she suspected him of trolling. 😛 It’s mod town Jake… ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-believe-joecool1983s-confessions-of-a-whoremonger-story/661084/17 "2013-06-15T22:23:21Z")
If I had to lean one way or another, I’d say his story was true. It rang true to me. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-believe-joecool1983s-confessions-of-a-whoremonger-story/661084/18 "2013-06-15T22:32:35Z")
Only two funny things I’ve said on the dope in about a year were in that thread, and they go ahead and close it. How depressing. Also, I agree with Ambivalid, if it was trolling, it was well done. It just sounded so flat and unemotional, like real life. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-believe-joecool1983s-confessions-of-a-whoremonger-story/661084/19 "2013-06-15T22:42:35Z")
The idea that he might’ve been BSing didn’t occur to me, but I only read his first couple of posts in the thread. From those, he just sounded like a guy who didn’t realize how clueless and pathetic he was. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-believe-joecool1983s-confessions-of-a-whoremonger-story/661084/20 "2013-06-15T23:01:17Z")
Yeah, when I saw that was his first and only thread, and he [sidestepped my question](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=16378108&postcount=59), I figured he was another Prison Guard, Quadriplegic, etc. One of his followers somewhat [took me to task](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=16380405&postcount=97) on my skepticism, to which I can say, “Neener, neener, neener.” 😛 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-believe-joecool1983s-confessions-of-a-whoremonger-story/661084.md?page=2)