document: Explanations for the perpetration of and reactions to deception in a virtual community Cases of identity deception on the Internet are not uncommon . Several cases of a revealed identity deception have been reported in the media . The authors examine a case of deception in an online community composed primarily of information technology professionals . In this case , an established community member -LRB- DF -RRB- invented a character -LRB- Nowheremom -RRB- whom he fell in love with and who was eventually killed in a tragic accident . When other members of the community eventually began to question Nowheremom 's actual identity , DF admitted that he invented her . The discussion board was flooded with reactions to DF 's revelation . The authors propose several explanations for the perpetration of identity deception , including psychiatric illness , identity play , and expressions of true self . They also analyze the reactions of community members and propose three related explanations -LRB- social identity , deviance , and norm violation -RRB- to account for their reactions . It is argued that virtual communities ' reactions to such threatening events provide invaluable clues for the study of group processes on the Internet
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