Why Does a Hoaxer Hoax?

So I was sitting around the other day surfing ATS going over old and new threads, occasionally posting and annoying people, and I started thinking. Why do hoaxers, well, hoax? Everyone here must have come across a thread with someone claiming to know something important that everyone else doesn't? These people usually fall into a few categories and to me the most common seem to be;


1. I am\used to be a government employee on secret high level stuff.

This has a few variations.

These people usually come up with some story that is very entertaining. Some don't give it much thought and others give it loads with other things to back it up. The infamous John Titor and Serpo stories are great ones for examples.

2. I found out something I shouldn't

I absolutely love these ones. I mean they are so great. Again sometimes they are thought out and other times they are a quick story. The advantage with these is that people tend to give you more credit right away. Why would people do this? Well if you claim you are going to be killed because you are telling everyone then many people instantly give you some respect. It's a silly thing to do but everyone is susceptible to it.

The other advantages with these ones are that you have some great get out clauses built right in. You don't have to post often because you can say "I'm on the run and don't have regular access to a computer" and if you get bored and 'go missing' then everyone who believed you can stand up saying "Hey they got him! It must be true!”

Now the point of this thread is about what motivates a hoaxer. So I will give my views on it.

1 People who call in fake police reports get a kick out of it often because of the 'power' it gives them. It seems to me that hoaxers on ATS have this same need to control and influence. They seem to get great enjoyment out of people discussing there stuff even when they are not part of the discussion. Maybe it is the same mentality as a cult leader.

2. Some people often say it's because they find it funny. Well first off this shows a rather moronic sense of humour on the hoaxer’s part but also it doesn't explain it. The reason for the humour would I think be either that they believe they are far more intelligent than other people, this may or may not be true but it seems to show a grandiose sense of self. If this isn't the reason then I go back to the idea of power, they find it funny they can control people.

3. They dislike the conspiracy field. Now I don't go in for conspiracy theories, I go in for theories with evidence behind them. If a theory has evidence which can be supported with repeatable experiments or physical evidence in the form of DNA, undoctored photos\videos, official reports from respectable bodies etc, then I will take a good look at it. The media tends to link conspiracy theory with anything that goes against the status quo.

Maybe some of these hoaxers find anyone looking into an alternate way of things happening as trouble makers. Maybe they consider conspiracy theorists to be stupid for questioning the government and media. This I think would be a good enough reason for some people to try and discredit the whole idea of an alternate view. They post a thread with some story and when someone believes it they can say "Ha look they are all nutters".

Well these are the ones I have come up with so far. If anyone wants to comment and add some more I would be grateful. Even if you want to post and say I am completely wrong.


If this is in the wrong forum then someone move it, thanks.

These hoaxers love to cause a hype. That's all I think there is too it. They love to read and watch people talk about what they've said, to see what other people think of them or that fake them.

Occasionally, one guy might do it just out of spite of a certain subject, but very rarely.

Take that 'I've been in the system for 15 years' or whatever it's called thread. If you've been reading that, I have debunked that poster a few times. Currently, the thread is on about 21 pages, all because this guy said he had secret clearance, and people believed him and asked all these questions. That person got exactly the reaction he was seeking. All he wanted to do was suck people in, perhaps to give him a feeling of superiority or something. 'I'm better than these dweebs, because look what I did! I tricked them!' It's those kind of thing that really annoy me.

I hardly know anything about Slerpo, but I understand that it was massive when it was still believed. That Netchicken guy was behind it, I think. Does anyone know why he did it? Purely to trick the online conspiracy community? Seems a bit of a weak reason in that case, as the hoax was a huge one.

But yeah, there is a lot of fake info out there, but I suppose that's what 'Deny Ignorance' means; not letting yourself get sucked into things purely because of the presented information.

My 2 cents worth. Now I must now go and do one of the most dangerous tasks known to mankind to date.

edit: theres a difference between teh E and R keys?


[edit on 26/4/2006 by watch_the_rocks]

[edit on 4-26-2006 by Springer]

I think they hoax for the same basic reason's anyone does something they enjoy doing. I think it is as simple as that.

I think it's definitely the Number 1 reason you listed: the feeling of power. Here on ATS, we have a pretty open minded community and debate and discussion is encouraged and there are disagreements on just about every thread. Therefore, it's difficult for the typical "internet troll" to ruin a thread just by disagreeing. That's why they have to post hoaxes, to get the same rush of knowing something they did had an affect on someone else.

These people lack social interactions with others and often have low-self-esteem, so they need that ego boost of "ha ha, you believed something I made up."