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The Widening Credibility Gap | 
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The Widening Credibility Gap |
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A potentially revealing exchange between Prue and other members has taken place on the Truth Meetings Message (TMB), in a thread entitled "Professing" started on May 28, 2006. When Prue first published her website she did not include a name or any contact information. She spent some time on the TMB using the nickname "Mildly Curious" without disclosing herself as the author of the website. It wasn't until after I asked her, on a hunch, if she was the author that she admitted it and became a registered user on the TMB. Not being familiar with the name "Prue" I initially thought Prue was a "he", especially since she did not specify her gender on her TMB profile. Eventually it was revealed that Prue is indeed a "she". Then some discrepancies were noticed by other TMB members. Prue identified herself in one post as a male, causing Rob O to ask, quite legitimately, for clarification. Another discrepancy was noticed when in one post Prue mentioned being a speed typist, but in another she mentioned that she could only type with two fingers. Prue then decided to reveal that there are, in reality, two different people posting under the registered name "Prue" - Prue herself and her partner "Bert". It was not altogether unexpected that instead of apologizing for causing confusion, Prue began whining about personal attacks and an imagined automatic lack of credibility "'cos I go against the grain of this board". This prompted Rob to respond: No. You're not a martyr. You don't have credibility because you've been caught out playing games. To gain back credibility you need to be scrupulously consistent and clearly state whether it is Prue orIt is certainly a convenient distraction from the real issues to complain about everyone ganging up on you and avoiding your questions as a newcomer. To be fair, anonymity on the Internet is perfectly reasonable. No one expects you to list intensely personal information; however, it is within the bounds of Internet courtesy to be consistent and forthright with your identity. This lends credibility to what you say - credibility that is so important in a forum where there is little else to go by except your own typed words. Time will tell if "Prue/Bert" will be, as Rob so properly put it, "scrupulously consistent" as opposed to the initial confusion caused by lack of appropriate disclosure. I, for one, have nothing to fear from what she/he says - I look forward to actually discussing issues instead of wasting time wondering if Prue/Bert are being honest in what she/he says. Honest and sincere professing members on the TMB are the ones who have more to fear - fear of the kind of witness for the Friends & Workers that repulses and annoys instead of attracts and edifies. |