Is honesty always the best policy?

Like Zim said

re: Are there aspects of our RL selves that will creep in, even if we don’t intend them to?

i read once that people who are keeping it real will always hide something about themselves and gameplayers will always reveal some truth

I don't think the A / S / L question as the 2nd line after "Hello" deserves any honesty.

Certainly romantic relationships must be built on honesty though, even if they're to be strictly virtual. As I've stated elsewhere, you wouldn't want to accidentally get into a relationship with your aunt.

i don't have a problem about being honest about my rl with people i know in sl..
if we get to an area i don't wish to go into i just say i don't wish to go there..
if i get hounded more about it i go silent and end of conversation..simple as that hehehehe

What if she is only an aunt by marriage and she is hawt?

safety first.

if you care for someone and want to have a relationship that expands beyond SL, then honesty is best. and how will you know you want to 'be more' until after you've gotten to know them... and if you are RP and not yourself then they might feel tricked.

i say be yourself. but don't divulge RL info that could get you hurt.

Not that aunt - the other one that looks like Howard Stern with too much make up.

Ah, you mean the Uncle we never talked about....

Unca Hard is the uncle no one ever talks about, but I don't look like Howard Stern.

Honesty may be the best policy, but sometimes ignorance is bliss.

tbh, anyone not being honest about them self (expect RP but that`s the frigging point of RP) when it comes to RL can drop trough the ground for all i care

there are hardly any points to be ashamed of to lie to people you call friends and once you`ve started lying, you have to keep it up or people will notice your lying

be your self & fuck the world, they do the same...
if you people who don`t take you as you are, find new friends heh

Speaking as someone who is very honest, sometimes way to open even I have my limits.
I am not going to tell you what my mother's maiden name is, my password, my social security card number or give you my credit card number and for majority what is under my clothes and details about my sex life is none of else's business unless I want to discuss this with the person for whatever reason.
Yet at same time I don't consider telling stories and pretending to be someone else as dishonest in role play or make believe place, but personally I am not capable of doing that myself.
Sometimes truthfully I wish I was better at not sharing personal things, more of private person, and able to keep rl and my online life separate but it's not separate thing.
Personally I don't go to bars, I sure in heck have no interest in being on face book or having real life details about myself on my space either.
Sometimes certain degree of openness has harmed me, but usually with those I am closest too they tend to use it hurtful ways when they are feeling like lashing out at it me
Majority unless they are just really big gossips and snoops don't really care they got their own lives.
The truth is I think most people don't really care unless their is some expectation i.e money you're a millionaire, I want you to marry and support type of thing or it makes them question their own sexuality if they found out that 18 year cutie they are hot for is really 400 pound 50 something person of wrong gender, even the person they found appealing had little to do with pixels or the story i.e I am 18 and such and such that made them attractive wasn't their pixels but personality behind the pixels? Or perhaps people are they really that shallow and its all about pixels?
Do people really care about that much what the person is and if so why?
Why are those believes so important to you?

I am pretty much honest and everyone who knows me, knows I have a mouth and not afraid to use it. I am blunt. If you ask me a question I will tell you the truth. Not to say that I don't have a soft side. Just that if someone asks me a question you may or may not like the answer. At times it may not be nice but in the end they always know who to come to when they want an honest answer.

I prefer to be honest about RL, how much I reveal depends on the relationship, but what I choose to share is honest and real. Ok - so, I did change the last 4 digits of my SS no. *grin*

Something tells me that Hard will stop posting for a while... look at the post count. lol.

Like most things, "it depends."

I don't know if it really matters because many people won't believe you no matter how honest you are. You say you are a female and sure enough some people will say you are a male and vice versa. I have always been honest about who I am in FL and if someone can't accept that then I say they can go to heck. I really don't care.

When someone asks for pictures or official verification I just mute them.

I just don't understand that Susie. I mean, what does it matter, unless you're talking about a rl meeting.

I know...to some people it's important. But I just don't get that viewpoint.

Jerboa what I am saying is that if people can't accept me for what I say I am then I have no interest in talking to them. Maybe my post wasn't clear. I am not in SL to arrange FL meetings.

IMO: Honestly, YES!!

For what its worth, I'm pretty damned honest in SL about RL for me.

short answer: yes

long answer: yes, but you don't need to give people every piece of info... and not just big stuff... sometimes it's just overloking minor things, like exactly how hideous your friends new skin looks ('it just doesn't seem like your personality' as opposed to 'omfg did a blind monkey on crack make that?!?!') ... unless of course that was what they were going for......

I totally agree

There's a degree of dishonesty in my av... I don't look much like that iRL but that's hardly unusual in SL. I have my photo, age and the country I live in on my 1st Life tab. Other details people find out as they get to know me. A handful of people have my MSN addy. One person I've known for 18 months+ knows my name and phone number, because we arranged to meet in RL recently.

I tend to answer most questions I'm asked honestly, unless I think someone's getting intrusive. Then I'll usually ask the person to back off, spin them a lie, or just TP away, depending on who they are and how much respect I have for them.

I'd prefer it if everyone was as honest, but I'm not so naive as to expect it. I usually take folks on SL at 'avatar value' and treat them as they choose to appear. Anything they tell me about their RL I take with a silo of salt.

Honesty is a good policy, but staying safe by being careful about your personal life is probably the *best* policy.

SL places no obligation to either disclose or hide one's RL identity. My policy is to say very little about my RL. The one occasion when I did start telling someone, I could see where it might end, with him buying plane tickets to fly across Europe and turn up on my doorstep. At least I didn't get as far as saying where that is!
(Stone slabs, 1metre x 0.5metre, possibly 90 years old)

PS, the description of the doorstep might or might not be 100% accurate!

Age? Old enough to know better and young enough not to care
Sex? Yes please
Location? Sitting in front of my computer

Pep (When I tell the truth no-one believes me; when I lie everyone does)

I imagine that if either party has any intention to move the SL correspondence out into RL, then dishonesty causes problems. That aside, if you're guaranteed to keep SL in SL only, then I guess it doesn't matter, does it?