I’d never heard of any of this so of course just spent time googling and wiki’ing. Can I say that I am highly amused that ‘[name]Cassandra[/name] [name]Claire[/name]’ looks exactly like how a woman who ran a [name]Harry[/name] [name]Potter[/name] fanfic website and has three cats should look?
Not sure is you know who [name]Raymond[/name] E. Feist is, but he does not allow fanfiction of his work, either and it’s always really, really bothered me. I actually saw [name]Cassandra[/name] [name]Clare[/name] for the first time the other day in the store and I was drawn to the cover but now I probably won’t bother.
I think the whole fantasy life is just odd. Perhaps it’s because I grew up with books and video games to support creativity. At least, in terms of creating characters and a magical world. I suppose inventing a life for ones self is the new creating fictional characters. Could it be because it’s free to do so? [name]One[/name] video game could cost a hefty amount especially if new. Not to mention if it’s an MMO then theirs the possibility of having a monthly fee to play the game on top of the initial cost. Could the economic decline perpetuate the amount of trolls on forums?
I’ve learned not to become overly invested in anyone’s “story”, especially if seemingly tragic. I find the whole over sharing to be incredibly odd on a naming forum.
All in all, the whole faker thing doesn’t bother me anymore. I basically assume everyone is faking, so when it turns out they aren’t I can be pleasantly surprised.
Plus isn’t it obvious when it goes a little something like this:
“[name]Hi[/name] yall! Like OMG, this day has been a long time coming. My names [name]Mackenzie[/name], I’m 16 and expecting quintuplets with my handsome boyfriend, [name]Porter[/name]. [name]Porter[/name] is 27, but the age difference just bonds us together more since neither his or my family supports our love. Like [name]Romeo[/name] and [name]Juliet[/name]! We’ve been going through a real heck of a time trying to come up with names for our little ones. So if you were me, what would you name our three little ones? [name]TIA[/name]!”
“URGENT UPDATE: OMG my water just broke. This is officially a naming emergency!!!”
I was going to tell you that I was very proud of my HP roleplaying forum back in the day…then I googled this woman and I can’t even deny it she is the epitome of the stereotypical fanfiction nerd, it is quite terrifying. >_<
So I have come to the conclusion that perhaps Sims could be a legit form of therapy for these people?
I was doing the same thing, [name]Flick[/name]. Ooh! [name]Shiny[/name]! If you do ever play GW2 and you’re interesting in grouping, let me know. I’m on [name]Fort[/name] Aspenwood. I’m not convinced it’s as amazing as I was told it was, yet. It’s just so different from other games I’ve played, so I need a few weeks to figure it out before I can make an honest evaluation of it. From what I understand, GW2 can also turn into a money sink. You can purchase additional character slots, name changes, gear, etc. I lucked out with DnD. My SO and his buddies grew up playing but stopped years ago. Some of the girlfriends expressed an interest in learning to play, winter got long, and we started a campaign! Unfortunately, I got majorly into painting minis and have spent way too much on them. Oops.
I actually laughed out loud at this! Yes!
As for CC looks, haha. Well. I have to admit when I first saw a picture of her I smirked and thought, “that’s what you get for being a thief.” It’s nice when the outside matches the inside. I know plenty of physically unattractive people who are so wonderful on the inside I soon think of them as beautiful. Not so with CC!
Oh, the painting of the mini’s really is addicting and very fun! I didn’t want to invest a ton on pewter ones (though I admit to buying my fair share - we used them to make our own Dragonstrike campaigns) so when I found a bunch of the plastic mini’s from this Mage [name]Knight[/name] game that never got popular for .50 each, I bought a bunch and have been spending time repainting those. I also have these ideas about building and painting terrain…that could get obsessive, lol. I’ll have to look into GW2 this week sometime!
I was thinking the same thing - I am not judgmental on looks at all, I know I am not exactly the epitome of sex appeal myself, but just knowing how she got to where she is, it kind of made me feel better, lol.
Wow. This is so interesting! I was meant to go to bed two hours ago and instead I’m still reading, lol. And it was all going on when my HP website was just a baby.
Yeah, I had to laugh a little when the search results came up. Then I found out why she was so famous, and I laughed even more.
Although I don’t feel smart enough or knowledgeable enough (even remotely!) to post in this thread, I’m going to risk it because you all have always been nothing but nice to me. 
I am shocked that there are so many fake postings on here that it brought you to this!! (Though, I have to say, it is very impressive investigative work (and math!), blade!) I am so naive!!! Honestly, it never even occurred to me that people would post fake baby names in the announcements section. That’s just stupid and mean. [name]Do[/name] you know if those are somehow removed when they make the lists of names from the announcements?
Trolls, or fakers, I have always assumed are doing it because they enjoy watching us scurry to reply and discuss a scenario they have created and that only they know is fake. That drives me crazy, but I am terrible at spotting them because my instinct is to just believe people. It definitely makes me mad. And I’m wondering how it happens that these people get outed – is it in the thread; does someone confront them there? Or is their thread just shut down? I just hate to think I’m putting so much thought into helping other people when they’re not real, but at the same time, I don’t want to start doubting everyone. UGH! [name]Just[/name] the fact that they are making me doubt people makes me so angry.
Ha! I love playing the Sims. It’s so mindless and they always leave their babies crying on the floor while their passed out on the sidewalk.
Wow, very interesting. Thanks for sharing, [name]Blade[/name]!
For any other math people out there (and to answer your question, [name]Blade[/name]), I decided to run a few independent samples t-tests, grouping data from before the fourth quarter of 2012 (so, 1/12, 2/12, and 3/12) and after (4/12 &1/13). Using [name]Blade[/name]'s calculations, I analyzed whether there was a statistically significant difference in the proportion of girls to boys, proportion of multiples to singletons, excess girls (observed/predicted), and excess twins (observed/predicted). I didn’t really expect to find much since our sample size is so small, but there was a statistically significant difference in the amount of excess girls (t(3)=-5.45, p<.05)!!! Specifically there was a smaller proportion of observed/expected girls in and after the fourth quarter of 2012 (M=1.30, SD=.02) than before (M=1.44, SD=.03). So…good work team sleuths!! Maybe as our sample size grows we’ll find more statistical differences!!
I was also wondering whether there is a difference in the prevalence of multiples based on socioeconomic status (SES)? I’m thinking that those with higher SES might be more likely to use fertility medication which, as stated in the original post, lead to higher rates of multiple births…right? I can also imagine that the mean SES of nameberry members is a bit higher than US national average as well. If these two assumptions are correct, it may not be fair to compare nameberry to the general US population (which is where we’re getting our stat of 3.31% twins). Of course, my assumptions could be incorrect and this would have no baring on the excess report of female births.
I think that it’s interesting you took the time to come up with these statistics. I think a lot of the time people think that making up white lies like say another baby on top of the one they’re really carrying, will make them seem more special or maybe get better choices. Frankly, I don’t think I would disclose how many children I were carrying on a forum. I mainly look up old forums about names I’m crushing on and lurk on the new ones.
I have to agree with oliviasarah; the trolls usually entertain me. But I have seen a few of those horrific fake death and rape stories, and to lie about something like that is just sick. I also felt the need to reply to a few people, so sorry if this is so long!
I’m not gonna lie…I have been obsessed with names ever since I can remember, and kept baby name lists probably since I was in Elementary school. So I don’t find it odd for a girl of any age over about twelve to be a member of this site. That being said, I’ve never made up a fake family online (that was why my best friend and I played “babies” when we were little!) but then again, I didn’t have internet access until I was fifteen. And by that age, I was mature enough not to mess with people I didn’t know.
Sidenote: I should definitely join that forum! Haha Anyway, about your 65 year-old-man comment, that totally creeped me out and made me laugh at the same time because my dad is 65! I just pictured him typing up his response to someone’s request for help in naming (which he obviously wouldn’t do, but it was a funny image).
Oh, and to be even more off topic, since I noticed your comment about serial killers…do you watch [name]Dexter[/name]?!?
Have you ever watched Catfish on MTV (the TV show or the movie)? It’s so interesting and creepy to find out why the people on that show make up the lies that they do!
I never heard about this! I’ve also never read her books. Who did she plagiarize from???
Okay, that’s the end of my ridiculously long comment!
Hmmmm…or can it be the ULTIMATE FAKER who presumes to have a two year old, but STILL has the time to “[name]Do[/name] the [name]MATH[/name]” and at the same time also LOVES these [name]PATS[/name] on the BACK from all of these posters???
As everyone knows, all people with two year olds lose their ability to do math. It’s those darn pregnancy hormones.
I’m pretty sure blade’s son just turned one. [name]Just[/name] so everyone’s facts are straight.
As for the rest of the thread, I’m no good with numbers so I’ll just agree with everyone else, basically. The overly dramatic fakers (the ones claiming death, illness, rape, abuse etc) sicken me, the ones who are clearly pre-teens pretending to be a 28 year old with 8 kids 3 of which were adopted, just amuse me. You can usually tell. It doesn’t really bother me unless they’re actively disrupting the community, otherwise I don’t judge a website based on how many fakers, perceived or real, there are.