I watch this show and I have a lot of opinions about it, but really my focus point is that we are all here on the internet doing this whole writing thing. In the beginning, I did wonder if everyone was who they said they were. Most people use the internet to escape by creating personas that are unlike their real selves.

I personally found I could unapoligizingly be myself here. I never felt like telling a lie about my true self because I just couldn't keep up with it. The only thing I ever hesitated about sharing was my race. I kept feeling like I was "coming out black" to people because our default assumption is white. I didn't want to be seen differently for it.

So my question is... do you Google people when they tell you who you are? Do you go through their friend lists and pictures to see if details match? How much searching is too much? Where is the line between confirming and just going overboard, looking a bit stalkerish? What about meeting people? I know a few of us have met up before. What makes you decide you can trust jumping on a plane/train/whatever to stay with this person? What about dating or dating websites? How much research is too much?

I've always been myself online. I've never felt the need to lie or pretend to be someone I'm not because this is the one place I can be myself without worrying. If I'm thinking about meeting someone I research a lot. I Skype/FaceTime/text and I'll check out Facebook etc because i want to know that I'm meeting who I think I'm meeting.

I've met a lot of people off of the Internet. Sometimes travelling across the world to do so and I've never had a bad experience.

I think the only person who I *know* has lied to me is Tom. I thought his name was Scott McAllister (sp?) for the longest time but obviously that worked out and now we live together.

I think I can understand people not wanting to meet up and I can understand people not wanting to give out addresses/phone numbers but I can't trust people who won't give me their real name or tell me anything about themselves. I treat online friendships as real friendships and how can you have a real friendship if you're hiding so much stuff?

Oh how I love Catfish. Nev and Max are regular visitors in our living room.

I actually met my husband online through one of these sites. The board died quite a few years ago but we kept in touch and when I broke up with the person I'd been involved with up to that point, he asked if he could come visit me. Two visits and less than a year later we were engaged and we've been married four years now.

Personally I prefer not to check up on people and I don't usually care if an online persona matches the true details. I will pick up on raging inconsistencies and it's in my nature to point this sort of stuff out, but all in all I don't let it bother me. Sometimes people need an escape from who they really are/what is going on in their life so as long as they don't hurt others with half truths and omissions, I'd likely let it slide.

I've made and maintain a lot of my online friendships through twitter, and some of my friends on there don't even give their names for various reasons, which is something I'm completely okay with. I have one friend in San Francisco who I know a lot about from his family, race, dating history etc. but I don't know his name or what he looks like because he's a teacher. I don't have a problem with that, and I'd probably be comfortable meeting him offline (though I'm not sure I'd cross the Pacific just to meet him).

I don't think I've ever had a bad experience with people I've met online, and I don't necessarily always do my research because we always agree to meet in public spaces. In January, I spent a week hanging out with other Roger Federer fans in Brisbane I'd never met besides online because we all came from different parts of the country, and I didn't really bother to do my research because it was a massive public event. And I've met plenty of other people who either live in Sydney or were visiting for separate reasons without a hitch It isn't really difficult to figure out who's genuine and who isn't, but I don't google people? Haha.

I guess the "craziest" thing I've done was inviting Sandra to come and stay with me for three weeks last year having never met her before, but we've known each other since 2009 and there was never even the smallest doubt in my mind that she wasn't who she said she was. It's not an invitation I would extend to just anyone There are probably only about three or four other online friends I'd be confident making such an offer to, and the shortest amount of time I've known any of them is 18ish months.

My online friendships mean just as much to me (if not more) as friendships offline, so I'd never be purposefully deceitful online. I expect the same amount of transparency from my friends, and I definitely feel that it's mutual.

At first I used to lie about myself when I first started going online and to sites like this, and one of my friends first knew me as Aiden as that was what I was going by for a little while years ago. But in the end I gave up and from then on when I joined new boards I just gave people my real name. I'll sometimes look at people's facebooks.

The first time I met someone online was a few years ago when I went to Bath to see Henry VI Part 1, It was through a Primeval livejournal, and there was about 5 of us. We went to see Ben Mansfield, and while it wasn't the first time I'd been away on my own it was the first time meeting people I'd met online. I was nervous about it, but I had a good experience, and it was a great weekend. And I think it's helped me when meeting Phoebe, Tom, Carly and the others.

If I'm meeting someone I do prefer to know someone's name if they're giving a different one. But so far I've only had good experiences. I've only met people here in the UK, but I have met Shadow and Sarah who aren't British, but my next thing is to go and meet someone in their country. Which I've never done before, but I'd like to do it.

First time I met up with people I'd met online was in July '07 when Aerosmith were playing at Hyde Park Calling in London and people from a Slash forum came from all over to meet up and listen to great music. It was awesome! But I brought a friend with me from home just to be sure.

From the other side of what Rochelle said, people did look at me very strangely when I said I was going to Australia for three weeks to stay with someone I'd never met. But I was just like... why would she be anyone other than the person I've gotten to know really well over the past six years? I'm naive in the way that I assume that people are exactly who they say they are, since I've always told the truth about myself. But yeah, it has always worked out well for me so far. haha

I'm much more cautious about dating apps though. I've been on one for a while, and I met guy from there that I ended up not clicking with, but Idk, the transition from online to offline is weird for me if I haven't had a chance to get to know the person really well online first, like with Rochelle and my friends from the Slash forum. I don't think dating apps are really for me, even though I sometimes think it might be the only way for me to find someone since I'd have to actually leave the house to meet someone new offline. XD