Of the FReeper encounter stories you read on DU,

[Beware the Beast Man]

Poll question: Of the FReeper encounter stories you read on DU,

how many do you believe?

[Magrittes Pipe]

1. I never believed a single one, until I read your tale of terror.

:scared:

[Misunderestimator]

2. I believe them if I know the person posting...

and believe the poster... :)

[Midlodemocrat]

3. I believe some, but I base that on who is posting the story.

Some people I have more faith in. :shrug:

[Richardo]

4. One less than I used to...

:)

[Beware the Beast Man]

5. Sorry!

I couldn't resist. I didn't think it sounded believable enough. :D

[Susang]

6. One out of every thousand

If it's posted on the third Tuesday of the month, the month has to end in "Y", and I just happen to be ovulating.

A gal's got to have her standards, right? :crazy:

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Beware the Beast Man]

8. Ummm...yes, that's exactly it.

:eyes:

[Wat_Tyler]

10. Yeah, just like that. Clearly.

He made a good point - question what you're being told.
Surely you would agree with that point?

[Susang]

18. Missed the point entirely, did you?

Back to the drawing board. :eyes:

[arwalden]

19. DenverDem, I Think It's A Way To Encourage People To Think Logically...

... and to examine things rather than just accept everything at face falue.

[Bluebear]

9. What are we, lab rats?

:hi:

[Beware the Beast Man]

11. Not as cute & fuzzy.

:evilgrin:

[Misunderestimator]

16. Yeah... we are apparently :)

I've told a few "freeper encounter stories" and haven't exaggerated a one, people can take my word or not... dooesn't matter to me. It does however take a while for someone to build my trust enough to believe their stories. :)

:hi:

[pres2032]

12. some people just want attention

or they exaggerate the details, espeically what they supposedly said to the freeper to make them seem like a good democrat or whatnot.

[Modem Butterfly]

13. A freeper killed my dog

That's how I found DU, actually.

Our lawn guy left the back gate open five years ago last summer. My partner was home and didn't realize it, and he let our two Chows outside. I pulled up just in time to see my male Chow running into the street. Someone who owned a rental property in our neighborhood hit him. I remember the color, make and model of the truck, but what really stood out to me at the time was the Bush/Cheney 2004 bumpersticker and the Freerepublic.com bumpersticker. I looked up FR and started lurking there, hoping to find the bastad at some Atlanta-area function. I did find the guy when his rental came on the market and followed him to his house. I got revenge. It wasn't all it was cracked up to be, though. But on the plus side, if it hadn't been for the time I spent lurking on FR I wouldn't have found DU.

Anyway, it would be easy to make up all kinds of details with this story, except that it seems kind of sick to use my poor, dead dog to bring some sort of fleeting internet fame. I figure that others who don't have a motivation not to probably blow up their stories into bigger events than they were originally though, or make them up entirely.

[arwalden]

14. Fool Me Once, Shame On....Shame On....

It depends on who is telling it and whether or not it reads like a fantasy script of someone's afterthoughts and what someone "wishes-that-they-had-said-at-the-time"... or of someone who's read too many hoax emails (and believed them) so they pattern their story-telling style on that type of chain-letter-email.

It also depends on if the person has a history of telling fantastic and exciting stories stories with conflicting or illogical details that just don't make sense when examined closely.

[JAbuchan08]

15. I believe most of them, unless they're talking about a troll on the

internet. As far as real life stories they're almost likely especially if you live in a red state. I had, if not a freeper encounter, an encounter with an extreme conservative who insisted I say "Merry Christmas" instead of happy holidays - and this was before Bush even got elected - I think. I occassionally encounter people who talk about who they would like to "shoot" - so its hard to keep track of when the really outrageous incidents occurred - maybe the "Merry Christmas" incident happened twice and I conflated. If I have *ever* heard a liberal confide that they wish someone was dead they were never so bold as to propose to do it themselves.
So yeah, I believe most of them.
Plus their greater tendency to act out against "liberals" and precieved liberal threat would increase the chances of running into them - I would think.

Edited for only slightly greater clarity.

[terrya]

17. You mean...people would LIE about these things?? On the internets??!!

NO!! People wouldn't make things up!! No, dammit!!! NO!! I won't believe that!!

You're mean. :-)