Who are you REALLY!?
The Internet is a fabulous place, when you really think about it. One of its greatest assets is, it would seem, complete anonymity. We are presented with the ability to pretend to be whoever we want to be. A pirate? A spaceman? A bored Cal State cheerleader? All we need is an email address, an AIM name, and a Blog (present Blog site discluded – send your friends!).
And I’m not just talking about those weirdos constantly being shackled on To Catch a Predator. It seems that even the leading businessmen of America are enjoying a bit of "make believe" on the Internet. Today I am pointing my finger at John P. Mackey, the co-founder of Whole Foods Market.
According to today’s New York Times, Mackey has been writing on Yahoo Finance’s bulletin board under the pseudonym "Rahodeb" for the past SEVEN YEARS. Seven years! That requires such dedication! Even bored 13-year-olds wouldn’t devote that much of their lives to pretending to be college undergrads in hopes of getting in on an online poker website.
But sure enough, "Rahodeb" has been "championing his company’s stock and occasionally blasting a rival, Wild Oats Markets" for as long as my full employment here, and my full college tenure, according to this article.
Now is there anything wrong with this? Not technically. Well, it seems a little crazy. And it’s a bit spooky, too. But he hasn’t broken any laws. No company secrets were revealed. And, apparently, people on the boards have known there was something amiss.
But – The wonders of the Internet! We can be anybody! You can pretend to be a Fortune 500 CEO, and he can pretend to be you!
Talk about Trading Spaces…
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