As you might know by now, I'm a story faker on Reddit, or I was. I haven't even opened Reddit in days and I'm detoxing.
However, I wonder what are your opinions on fake Reddit stories. Some people seem to take them very seriously, but I don't know what a bigger amount of people think about it. Do you care? You don't care? You find them entertaining? Or it makes you upset when you discover a story is fake?
What if you realized a story that deals in heavy topics turns out to be fake? Something that real people might have real trauma about?
I'm kinda beating myself for making so many fake stories and I'm overthinking a lot about what people really think about it, maybe I'm making it a bigger deal in my head than what it really is.
The only issue I currently take with it is when it's presented as real. Otherwise, creative writing is a good thing in general. It's like the set of emotions one uses to approach the content with is different when one thinks it's real vs when one knows it's fake, and people get real sore when they feel like their emotions have been exploited for any reason, even if it's only for internet points that don't matter for anything.
I really hadn't considered the trauma perspective, I seriously don't understand why someone would fake a story about enduring trauma for internet points... But that's my perspective.
Personally, when I find out reddit stories are fake, I usually just feel a little annoyed and roll my eyes, but then I move on. I don't think it's really anything to beat yourself over. Keep writing, just advertise it for what it actually is (just my opinion of what the best path forward is though, this is not a command lol)
In the words of one of my favorite memes that I'm too lazy to learn how to link right now: '"who would do that? Go on the internet and tell lies?"
If it's presented as real with some kind of consequence/resolution.
Faking AITA's? Meh. Faking the science fair project that you are using to make a point about something? That's the wrong direction.
{For the commenter, it's ! [Text] (url)}
I didn't really think much about it until recently, I just wanted to make dramatic stories, but then I remembered people commenting about similar personal stories with some real trauma. It wasn't my intention to make them remember that or trigger anyone.
So the interesting thing about this is that I personally don't think just because you haven't had those experiences doesn't mean you can't write about it (for the most part, I think there are likely exceptions I would draw the line at). However, as someone who hasn't experienced those things, my reasoning goes, it's part of your duty to ensure it's not going to cause harm, and that takes a lot of research into the topic (ideally with people who have experienced what you want to write about) along with a healthy dose of empathy.
I think you've made some mistakes in the past that you're currently feeling growing pains from. Don't feel like you're a bad person just from your past actions, you seem to be growing. You'd be a worse person than you are if you were continuing to do it on purpose despite realizing all of this.