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Kaycee Nicole Rests in Pieces Posted Tue May 22 16:56:09 2001 by sbaldwin By Chris Stamper Kaycee Nicole Swenson is one of the most controversial women on the Net right now - and she's not even a real person. Several people swear they exchanged e-mails, phone calls and IMs with someone claiming to be a dying 19-year-old girl. Various Web pages popped up in her honor. A crowd of readers opened her online diary every day to learn more about her valiant struggle with leukemia - or so they thought. "My life's been really good," she wrote one online friend. "I'm pretty happy with how it turned out...wish there was more but we don't get to direct that part of it. I just wanted you to know... I love you and I hope life gives you everything you're hoping for. You've got a great start. I know you've walked with happiness but if you need a little nudge...just check the stars...I'll be winking at you." She seemed so warm, so sweet, and so innocent. Someone this nice didn't deserve to have a horrible disease. Even in her condition, she found time to Netslave away at the keyboard, writing essays and chatting. It was like something from a movie - or a "Touched By An Angel" rerun. Last week, Kaycee Nicole's death announcement was posted to her Living Colors Weblog. Immediately, condolences appeared on blog after blog from people who said they were touched by her inspirational life. After a few days of mourning, some tough questions were raised. A webmaster named Saundra Walters said the unthinkable: that the Kaycee Nicole story was faked. A huge swarm of questions followed: was there really a dying girl? If the story was fake, why was it so elaborate - and who9 was posting all those messages? Some Kaycee-lovers defended her veracity toward the end. Others took the postmodern approach, saying that even if she didn't exist, her posts were good because the inspired people. Within hours, the truth started trickling out. Randall van der Woning, a guy in Hong Kong who posted the Kaycee blog, announced that he'd been had. "Living Colors" was ripped off the net and exists now only in the purgatory of the Google cache. "I will not be putting those pages back up, ever again," van der Woning announced. "I refuse to support this horrible lie a moment longer. Like many, I have the same questions. Who did I speak with on the phone? Who did I chat with in AIM? Where did my gifts go? Whose handwriting is on the letter I received?" The message boards at the Slashdot-esque Metafilter buzzed and buzzed over the news. Posters started playing amateur detective, looking for clues to the hoax. Scripting News columnist Dave Winer compared the whole thing to the Orson Welles' 1938 panic broadcast. Except that old radio show wasn't trying to be real life. It was a scheduled show that was announced as part of the "Mercury Therater," a dramatic anthology. On the other hand, somebody was trying to pass off "Kaycee Nicole" as a real person. So what can we learn from Kaycee? An old lesson comes to mind: Don't believe everything you read on the Internet. Somebody wanted attention and found it by portraying a sick girl. What makes her unique is that she got through all the usual verification schemes: phone calls, the mail, whatever. Also, this is a reality check for the self-important world of webloggers-- excuse me, 'bloggers. This exhibitionist subculture that believes journal entries are fodder for mass distribution. Except in the Kaycee incident, the exhibitionism went and took a bizarre turn. Truth is, people should have caught on to the fiction. The writings of "Kaycee" are just too cutesy, too pious, and too stoic to mesh with reality. Digging through her Weblog, you half expect her to put on her Tiny Tim costume and shout "God bless us, every one!" And I'm amazed that some people believe a variant on the security-through-obscurity idea: that because you're communicating through a new technology, it's somehow pure and unpolluted by the Bad People Out There. Sorry, but not even the best Linux hackers can make something that bypasses human nature. Let Kaycee Nicole serve a lesson to us all: on the Net, a little paranoia goes a long way. You never really know the person on the other side of the screen. Virtual community is fine and all that, but real human interaction is far more satisfying. If you want to reach out to a hurting person, you don't need a modem - there are plenty of hard cases in your own neighborhood. Disclaimer: I make no claim to know the backstory behind the Kaycee Nicole incident, nor do I have time to conduct an investigation. I have tried to cite here only the most obvious events in the timeline and leave speculation to others Chris Stamper has been through more dot-coms than a rabid venture capitalist. He runs a webcast is Oldies109.com. Copyright (c) 2001 Chris Stamper, used by permission.   Posted Comments: post a comment! Name: Email: Comment: Name: TGCM Email: Date: Mon Jun 4 14:50:40 2001 Comment: Kim, Excellent point. It's odd how so many sensitive, caring people only have compassion for those who can't make demands on their time. Helping at a hospice, or hospital, or shelter? well, what if you have to fight traffic to get there, or it's raining that day? The other day, I was at lunch with a friend who spent the whole lunch in a self-righteous frenzy raving about mistreatment of workers. And then she tried to abuse the busboy for not bringing cream refill fast enough.? when I stopped her, she blamed her current meds and current doctor. Name: Kim Email: Date: Fri Jun 1 16:20:53 2001 Comment: It's too bad that those people who involved themselves in Kaycee Nicole's dying didn't devote their time, money, and energy instead to volunteering at a local hospice. There they've could've met and comforted real people who are trying to live out their remaining days with dignity. Name: Email: Date: Fri Jun 1 08:48:24 2001 Comment: the stick? you a sheep herder Name: Email: Date: Fri Jun 1 02:37:25 2001 Comment: > Story made the NY Times today. Yeah, nine days late! A little asleep at the stick, don't ya think? Name: JoeCalico Email: Date: Thu May 31 10:46:41 2001 Comment: Story made the NY Times today. Name: Molly Campbell Email: m011y@yahoo.com Date: Tue May 29 22:56:18 2001 Comment: I glimpsed at her site briefly a year ago, via a link from someone's website (some person who had won the "webbie" award recently). I knew after a couple of paragraphs it was a joke. It came off very manipulative -- attempting to make would-be-believers feel good about themselves, like do-gooders, even. yech I noticed that the believers were coming off high on themselves, like they were doing some great service. That sent off the "red alert" for me. Not to be harsh, but if you bought into it, there's a deep reason for it, and you should probably take a moment to think about that. It was a well-written soap opera that's all. Some ppl just don't know when to pull back from the entertainment in their lives. It's truly sad. Ppl have to learn to tell the shit from the shinola -- hopefully this is a step in that direction...not a step into becoming cynical, but a step into become wiser, less tool-like. Name: Saundra Mitchell Walters Email: headspace@anywherebeyond.com Date: Sun May 27 12:56:36 2001 Comment: Don't be too hard on Chris. :) My married name is Walters, Mitchell is my maiden name- it's what I tend to use online and professionally, but he wasn't inaccurate by calling me Saundra Walters. Name: S. Jensen Email: lietgardis@reed.edu Date: Thu May 24 19:21:06 2001 Comment: I'm reminded of the Everquest suicide hoax of last year (to refresh your memory, see the initial rumors, the sentimental horseshit it inspired, and the end of the story revealing the hoax). Put up a picture of a troubled, attractive young woman and bask in the sympathy put up a picture of a troubled, ugly young man and watch the ridicule come in. The "Kaycee" and "Sheyla" cases are one and the same in effect -- ones where stupid people are taken in by a pretty picture, where if that picture would have been of a man of any level of beauty, NOBODY WOULD HAVE CARED. It's disgusting. It makes me feel dirty that I share the web with people that behave that way. Name: Email: Date: Thu May 24 15:27:55 2001 Comment: Whomever the girl is in the photographs, she is cute... Name: Pig Liver Pate Email: Date: Thu May 24 12:03:59 2001 Comment: Whe something similar happened to Pierre Salinger, it was funny. All of the kewl warez kids and Dyson wanna bes had a field day, touting the importance of due dilligence. Then the self proclaimed discover that a little cancer victim had no clothes and they were just as sad and pathetic as Salinger. These idiots make me sick. Their distrust of the real world coupled with a need for some sort of emtional release, be it empathy or whatever, leads to this two dimensional version of a life. And they expect us to be up in arms over this. Sure. I imagine that if they looked they could find a little girl/boy on their block or within a mile who is in a similar situation. Or they could join Big Brother/Sister or a similar organization. But then, that would mean they would have to actually talk and physically interact with someone as opposed to typing or talking. Name: Kelsey Townsend Email: Lexie43@hotmail.com Date: Wed May 23 15:43:02 2001 Comment: The name of the person who uncovered this hoax was Saundra MITCHELL, not Walters... it is posted in several of the stories already. Just wanted you to know! :) Name: MasterPo Email: Date: Wed May 23 09:33:59 2001 Comment: People love to send gifts and money. It's not illegal to ask for someone to send you gifts/money, so long as you don't promise anything in return. Next time you're on line at the supermarket take a look at the classifieds in the Star or Enquirer. They always have the usual ads "I want to go to college. I'd be the first in my family to go, but my parents can't afford it. Please help!" Please send money to those all the time! In fact, years later people are still sending money! Name: vonbek Email: Date: Wed May 23 05:53:07 2001 Comment: splat - There is nothing to deal with...I guess each 'personality' is taken on its merits Name: are_easily_parted Email: Date: Wed May 23 05:21:37 2001 Comment: >>Although, mocking the rich and silly and posting a fake dying girl page is two different things<< Someone 'talkin to me'? True Story: I used to live next door to someone who pissed on their own doorstep, we're talking flies down, nob out, stream of steaming yella stuff. He was spotted. Before long we were all pissing on his doorstep (the whole street was on water meters so it saved on our bills) - since it was obvious he didn't care. Soon the whole street stank. Luckily I was renting the property at the time ..... Depends on what you hope to achieve during your time on the Web. Cry Wolf! Everyone gzipped into the same archive (tarred with the same brush)? that would be a shame, huh? Name: Splat Email: splat@netslaves.com Date: Wed May 23 03:58:29 2001 Comment: I'm fake - deal with it. Name: 10931 Email: vonbek Date: Wed May 23 03:42:14 2001 Comment: the community of the 'web' is nothing but a collection of personalities be they fake or real. As such one must be aware that there are some rather unsavoury characters out there and that if they can make a buck they will do....even if it means prison.... http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/19066.html Name: K. Fabe Email: Date: Tue May 22 21:02:18 2001 Comment: Some fools never learn. You guys miss the fascinating thing about the Kaycee Nicole work. The marks weren't AOL lamers, but Webloggers, people who spend 60 hours a week surfing the net and think they know everything. Stamper is correct that people think because they're net-savvy that they are immune from common sense. T'aint so. If somebody was hanging out on IM, posting a diary entry every day and taking phone calls, it must have been quite an effort. WHAT KIND OF PERSON HAS THAT MUCH TIME??? Do we know _who_ the hoaxer was and why he/she was so dilligent at working the crowd? Name: eudas Email: Date: Tue May 22 20:30:26 2001 Comment: asking for postcards would've been amusing... they could take one from each location and make a huge posterbook of them, and sell it on EBay. hee! Name: steve gilliard Email: sgilliard@netslaves.com Date: Tue May 22 20:22:15 2001 Comment: The real press gets fooled every day. People have gone to the cops, faked losing luggage, got thousands in sympathy cash, a NY speciality. So don't be shocked someone thought this was a great mind fuck. Although, mocking the rich and silly and posting a fake dying girl page is two different things. Just be glad she didn't ask for any postcards.:-) Name: A_fool_and_their_money Email: Date: Tue May 22 19:30:41 2001 Comment: >>So what can we learn from Kaycee? An old lesson comes to mind: Don't believe everything you read on the Internet.<< Needs stating more strongly: Don't believe ANYTHING you READ on the Internet It's a shame, but the 'stupid who use technology' (thanks, blank - good one) are always the 'last to know'. It's a shame this kind of stuff is generally only questioned, exposed and reported (to those who really need to know) after the fact. Oh well :-) The 'scumbags' pulled another 'good' one over. (Of course we all know that one of our beloved Netslaves writers has perpetrated similar 'crimes' [eh Steve :P]. Still the fuckedcompany fuckers are all fucked in the head anyway (?), so what's the harm). Peeps rule of thumb and forefinger:- DO NOT TAKE THE WORLD WIDE WEB SERIOUSLY, most of it is just there for our entertainment/amusement, pure and simple, despite what the designers/owners would like. Take a holiday (roll on Friday!) Name: The Plot Thickens Email: Date: Tue May 22 17:55:01 2001 Comment: MSNBC ran a story on this: http://msnbc.com/news/576899.asp?cp1=1 Name: Email: Date: Tue May 22 17:33:21 2001 Comment: What's so new about this? I've seen this sort of thing pulled all the time. The only difference is that it's usually for-profit (see Oliver Twist and the fake-crippled beggars..), whereas this was done just for fun. The Internet: Connecting stupidity with technology.