(no subject)

[msmemory_archive]

A man who tries to friend me on FB and claims his school was Wellesley College is doomed from the start.

Comments

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

I know they had a few exchange students.... but yeah. Chances are he's lying on purpose, or doesn't know how to spell "Wesleyan." Either way, bzzzzt!

[elizabear.livejournal.com]

Did he try to claim you went to college together?

Pretty icky.

Although, weren't there some guys who were allowed to take classes there?

[herooftheage.livejournal.com]

Yes, folks from M.I.T. could take classes at Wellesley. There's a shuttle bus, even. But not only would a Massachusetts Tool & Die grad remember that small detail, he'd never let you forget it.

[ilaine-dcmrn.livejournal.com]

nor the very rude name it was called :lol:

[mollyrazor.livejournal.com]

Yes. Wellesley is also part of the 12 College Exchange, and while I was there we had a man from another college going to Wellesley, living on campus and everything, as part of that program. But still.

[jtdiii.livejournal.com]

There is the small chance he was a she...

Just plucking at rare and random straws... :)

[mollyrazor.livejournal.com]

Yep, there is that small chance. There is one person I went to Wellesley with who is now a he.

[jenwrites.livejournal.com]

Yep. But I suspect that anyone wanting to reconnect after such a major change would say so in their friend request note.

[mollyrazor.livejournal.com]

Oh yes indeed. Certainly seems like sort of thing you might want to mention. :)

[hfcougar.livejournal.com]

Yes, this is the first conclusion the Grinnellian in me came to. :)

[be-well-lowell.livejournal.com]

Or faculty.

[One of my current neighbors teaches there now.]

[yakshaver.livejournal.com]

I know around a dozen people who are no longer the gender they were when we met. It's facebook, and from all I've heard, creep is a reasonable default assumption there. But don't dismiss the other possibilities out of hand.

[herooftheage.livejournal.com]

So, if I knew someone back in the day, and changed gender in the meantime, and then tried to get in touch with old pals out of the blue, I'd probably mention something like "Oh, and you knew me as Jane Doe, back in the day. A lot's happened since then..."

[dagonell.livejournal.com]

There's the episode of WKRP where Herb (the self-proclaimed make-out man) meets a woman who remembers him from college and he doesn't remember her. When he finally gets her into bed, she casually mentions that she used to be a he and Herb freaks. The episode is hysterical if you know the characters.
-- Dagonell

[herooftheage.livejournal.com]

I saw that episode, and it was hilarious.

I was mostly commenting, in an oblique sort of way, on the warnings to Jane that the guy might of been legit. I think it's 100%-epsilon that he's not, in that Jane would have had a clue and looked more carefully if he might have been.

One gets this sort of thing a lot. These days, it takes the form "you can't believe what you read on the internet." The point is that people are really good at telling what's real and what's not, and generally don't need the cautionary tales. For every person taken in by a Nigerian bank president, there are a gazillion who laugh and point.

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

I don't think that most of the commentators were "warnings" -- I think they were sympathetic and/or academic discussions and piling-ons, for the most part. These sorts of things often go for the long-shot devil's advocate positions.

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

True - I know several transgendered people. But if this individual were faculty or alumna, he would be able to spell....

[yakshaver.livejournal.com]

Now that's a dead giveaway.

[ariannawyn.livejournal.com]

Not to be rude or validate the presumed-creep, but the assumption that a Wellesley graduate would automatically be able to spell is a trap one should not fall into.

Spelling ability/inability does not automatically correlate with intelligence or education. I've known many brilliant people who are terrible spellers, most notably my late husband, Johan.

I'm a pretty good speller myself (typos aside), so it took me a long time to learn that lesson.

[bubbette.livejournal.com]

(laughing) D-oh! Caught by reality.