Chasing Wattpad

Illusions: Adventures of a Reluctant Wattpadder

I like Wattpad. I like it because it is a great site and it is a valuable service to people who want to write and share their writing with others. I also like it because it is transparent. It is a computer program. Just software.  Nothing else. There is no magic to it. It does what it is programmed to do. Sure there are some people online to help and promote but for the most part they don't bother you. 

Wattpaders. Now they are different. They are a mystery.  Who are they? Are they who they say they are? And if they are not, why not? Here is the one truth to online communications of this sort you may never surpass. You may never know who you are talking to. Ever. Unless you meet them or know them personally already you just will never know. That is a fact. You can't get around that one. So what do you do? Well, most of you ignore it. 

Let's take me for instance. I have a picture up and a name. It's the picture of a real person and what looks like a real name. It looks real (it is, lol).  But will you ever know? Do you care? How about those people that don't have a picture or a real name. What the hell am I supposed to think of SkaterChick452 with a picture of a cloud on her profile? What about Jennie420 with a picture of  a cat?   All her information could be false (one would hope). For all I know she is a 90 year old male Vietnam vet from Florida who likes cats.  I won't ever know and neither will you. 

What about all those people you message? Who are they? Are they real? Maybe everything about them is an illusion. It's all made up. When I was a detective (or was I? lol). I had 3 different fake Facebook profiles. One was of a gorgeous female named Melissa. She was about 20 and smoking hot (is that still a thing?). I had a bunch of sexy pics of her and within 2 weeks I had almost 5,000 friends of all kinds. I used that account a lot. If I ever wanted to catch a suspect (a guy) who was real good at hiding  I would friend him on Facebook and chat with him. After a few days of messaging I would set up to meet him some where and arrest him.

Don't laugh girls because you are worse. I set up an account and all I had on it was a name and picture of a set of abs. Nothing else. Never even posted another personal picture of the guy again. Again I had thousands of friends and could get any girl to give me some kind of information. With nothing but a six pack of abs!  Not that I had many female suspects but if the guys wouldn't bite I would friend their girlfriends through this account and find out where she was and sure enough that was where the guy was. 

So therein lies the illusion of Wattpad and many other sites online. I wrote about this in one of my other writings about Facebook (Wackadoodles I have known). It's a strange world to be only an online presence. To never know the people you may be becoming friends with. Not that I can't. I still have friends who work online crimes that could probably find anybody for me if I wanted that. But I don't.

I think I prefer for the most part to remain a bit skeptical about all of you. It saves me the trouble of having to have you taken out later (and no I don't mean out for dinner and drinks). Relax, I'm kidding. 

But, and this is a big but, lol, this is a writing site. It is for writing. I don't care who you are as long as you  try to write well, and with passion and purpose. Honestly, what if you loved one of my pieces and later found out I was a convicted murderer? Would you like it less? You might I guess, but if you do I would argue that there is something wrong with you. Expression is for everybody. Writing doesn't discriminate. All kinds of people can touch you with their words. I dare say that if more people were allowed (or allowed themselves) to express themselves more this world would have less problems.

Though I am a reluctant Wattpader it really doesn't matter. My stories, for what they are worth, are for everybody. They are free. They cost you nothing but your time. Feel free to cancel your subscription any time you want. Just walk away. After all, it could all be an illusion. 

**Thanks for your time. Next time I will talk about stalkers, and the girls that love them. lol