I am Evie Teale

[luv2laugh]

I almost also a bit skeptical after the whole Razing Ruth and Burris incidents.

[Pretzel]

Wouldn't be surprised by an impending flounce.

[Ms Jess]

I don't know you - not surprising, either, as I have not been here consistently for the last few years - but best of luck to you. And congratulations! I know from my own experience how difficult it can be to get out of a marriage with those kinds of behaviors. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

Anyone want to point me in the direction of a Burris or RR thread? I'm guessing they are fakes but I know nothing about them. Thanks!

[NakedKnees]

For now, I'll err on the side of compassion and say congratulations! I am looking forward to hearing your story, if you would like to tell it.

Burrisgate (which I was in peak lurkdom for) is a significantly more interesting rabbit hole than Razing Ruth, imo. Sorry if that's shitty to read for anyone who was more invested in either of those things, but that's what my outside-ish opinion on them is.

[VooDooChild]

12 minutes ago, NakedKnees said:

For now, I'll err on the side of compassion and say congratulations! I am looking forward to hearing your story, if you would like to tell it.

Burrisgate (which I was in peak lurkdom for) is a significantly more interesting rabbit hole than Razing Ruth, imo. Sorry if that's shitty to read for anyone who was more invested in either of those things, but that's what my outside-ish opinion on them is.

Yup.  Burris was...uh...outlandish, to say the least.  Kind of amusing now, but at the time I was a tad miffed, at myself more than anything, because I didn't catch that Burris was a troll.

[K'Z'K]

Burris' thread in which she claimed to be leaving FJ because she was a war criminal who had to testify at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, which "kind of sucks" (the testifying part, not the being a war criminal part. Apparently that was just spiffy). I could not make this up:

 I didn't follow the Razing Ruth saga, I just know it was a many-year, many-platform long con. This appears to be the thread where it went to hell:

The outing begins here:

...and there were several threads discussing it after that, but I didn't read them so don't know what they said.

 

Take these. You'll need them:

[Ms Jess]

Oh. Man. Razing Ruth. That was a big one. I first heard about her from a facebook friend who was trying to leave Mormonism. She really related to a lot of what Ruth wrote on her blog. I started following the blog and then when it all unraveled I came here to pick up threads. And now that I'm thinking about it, that might be what got me to register here. I was just trying to remember the other day why I signed up. 

[RosyDaisy]

Burris caught me by surprise. She seemed like like most of the regular FJ posters. Then suddenly she flipped that shit. Maybe I missed something, but oh well.

[Fascinated]

I hate it when people go down the Burris rabbit hole because I was one of those congratulating her for coming forward and taking responsibility. We are to this day criticized around the internet for this (see: GOMI) (fucking GOMIers).

I was on an amazing trip to Italy with limited FJ access and didn't read along during the outing of Burris. Consequently, I still have a difficult time accepting that she made it all up. I just can't fathom why someone would create such a horrific story. 

[formergothardite]

Just now, Fascinated said:

I hate it when people go down the Burris rabbit hole because I was one of those congratulating her for coming forward and taking responsibility. We are to this day criticized around the internet for this (see: GOMI) (fucking GOMIers).

So was I. I really thought that this was a situation where someone had the opportunity to get away with doing something terrible, but chose to take responsibility for their actions even if that means losing everything.  It does take a level of bravery to do something like that. The idea someone would make that up just never entered my mind. Plus, I wasn't super educated on the subject like others were so I didn't catch all the clues that she was lying. Once I read more about it, it is clear she made it all up. 

That is the weirdest thing I have ever seen anyone make up on the internet, though. People fake all sorts of things, but concentration camp guard? That is unexpected. 

[Palimpsest]

21 hours ago, VooDooChild said:

Yup.  Burris was...uh...outlandish, to say the least.  Kind of amusing now, but at the time I was a tad miffed, at myself more than anything, because I didn't catch that Burris was a troll.

Burris was the ultimate long con and one of the biggest pieces of WTF I've ever seen on the internet.  I still can't find claiming to be a war criminal funny though.  That was twisted.

[Lurky]

The weird thing about Burrisgate (reading it later, so of course hindsight etc) is that her stories were so easy to check out - the fact the International Criminal Tribunal was winding up, and all cases were listed on their website - and claiming she'd seriously injured the brother of the activist, in a way that was easily proved wrong...  And the whole thing about being transferred to fight on the front line, even though no women did etc etc.  I never understood why she didn't seem to have done just a little bit more googling before she went with it.   

I kept expecting her to come out with a "mea culpa - I just wanted to raise awareness of the atrocities in the Yugloslav war", but that doesn't even work, as she obviously hadn't done that much research.

I do have sympathy for people who believed her, because why on earth would someone fake being a war criminal?  It was just the weirdest thing. 

[ladyamylynn]

27 minutes ago, Lurky said:

The weird thing about Burrisgate (reading it later, so of course hindsight etc) is that her stories were so easy to check out - the fact the International Criminal Tribunal was winding up, and all cases were listed on their website - and claiming she'd seriously injured the brother of the activist, in a way that was easily proved wrong...  And the whole thing about being transferred to fight on the front line, even though no women did etc etc.  I never understood why she didn't seem to have done just a little bit more googling before she went with it.   

I kept expecting her to come out with a "mea culpa - I just wanted to raise awareness of the atrocities in the Yugloslav war", but that doesn't even work, as she obviously hadn't done that much research.

I do have sympathy for people who believed her, because why on earth would someone fake being a war criminal?  It was just the weirdest thing. 

Burris was always so thoroughly convinced she was the smartest person on the board, so it wasn't entirely surprising to me that she assumed we would buy her outlandishly dumb lie.

[Palimpsest]

40 minutes ago, Lurky said:

The weird thing about Burrisgate (reading it later, so of course hindsight etc) is that her stories were so easy to check out

When you think about it, her stories were debunked quite fast.  I'm sure a lot of us were googling like mad.  She'd dropped hints about something dire in her past for months.  I was sick of the hints so fell for the con for a few minutes..

I have one regret about Burris.  When that thread popped up I PMed HA (Curious was out sick and I didn't know the other HMs that well then) to say WT ever-loving F instead of hitting report.  HA was off-duty so it took a few hours until she read it.  I don't know if others reported it but I don't think so.

I have one reason to be thankful to Burris.  She probably gave me my best line ever on FJ.  It was something like: "I've often wished Burris would shit or get off the pot.  Well she just had diarrhea!"

What a load of crap though.  Really sick.

[EmainMacha]

The mention of Burris upsets me. I find what she did despicable. Anything to do with the war in the former Yugoslavia is disturbing to me and for someone to have made it part of their odd fantasy is horrible. 

Burrisgate should come with a trigger warning. 

[Palimpsest]

10 minutes ago, EmainMacha said:

Burrisgate should come with a trigger warning. 

I agree.  It is really tough content.

[theologygeek]

On 11/28/2016 at 5:07 PM, Coconut Flan said:

This is just a general comment more related to Burris and RR but we have currently a couple more people who are likely not what they claim as well as some vampires who are taking a ton more emotional energy than they are giving back. Lying and exaggerating on the internet are all too common as is whining and attention mongering.

Ha!  I could name one but I'm keeping my mouth shut.  Don't want to start arguments.

I'm not around that much any more, and had no idea that Burris was a troll.  Although I never liked him/her and had some go arounds with them.

I knew RR was faking but no one would listen to me lol

Don't remember Evie, but am going to look back and see what that was all about.  If she's on the up and up, congratulations on this new path in your life. 

[frumper-rump]

Evie, I'm so happy you are moving forward with your life. I do remember your name but the details of your situation are hazy. I have mostly lurked on FJ over the years. I had a baby 4 years ago and just didn't have the time to stay as active for awhile. Hope you hang around and share when/if you feel ready!

 

I missed Burris-gate but was here for the whole RR saga. That (Burris) is a rabbit hole I am about to jump down. Someone leave me a rope?

[bal maiden]

Burris's posts were so long long, tedious, and faux-intellectual, that I used to scroll past most of them, so never even picked up on her hints, let alone felt compelled to google to fact check. 

 

I have seen seen that kind of internet lying before, and it often seems to be something that is not planned or strategised by the poster, but more a story that emerges in their own head so gradually that they almost believe their own story, as they get so wrapped up in it along the way. I don't think it is (by intent) malicious or for personal (financial) gain; more like some kind of compulsive lying psychological thing, that filled some void in her own life for excitement or attention or an identity or whatever (I'm a sociologist not a psychologist, so this is all armchair psychology without the appropriate knowledge and vocabulary, lol). Essentially, I don't think that she sat down one day and thought "I'm going to spend a few years posting on this forum, and convince people that I was a concentration camp guard, what a fun con, lololol!!!1!eleventy", more that she started out as a normal poster with straightforward intentions, and at some point got slightly off the rails, then the story grew and grew in her head... 

tl;dr I don't think Burris was an evil con strategist, just a peculiar person who somehow got addled online and then got carried away with it. Doesn't make it any less disturbing though. 

[Coconut Flan]

As soon as she began claiming she was Serbian Orthodox bells went off.  She didn't sound like that at all in any of her writings.  She sounded as if she'd never been within 500 feet of any orthodox church.

[desertvixen]

Burrisgate is an easier catch-up read, tbh.  It all goes down pretty quickly (and insanely) - I will never forgive myself for missing that IRL.  Agree with @Coconut Flan re: Serbian Orthodox and flags. 

RR is interesting, but it's so stretched out over multiple threads.

If @Evie Tealeis real, then she has my best wishes.

[calimojo]

so has Evie been back to this thread?  Seems odd to have started it and then never return.

As to Burris,  I read that thread.  Very odd, but it reminded me of having similar experience over 30 years ago, my freshman year of college.  I met a gal on my first day who weaved a long and complex tale over the course of several months about supposedly knowing and sleeping with the lead singer of a well known top 40 Rock band popular in the late 70's and early 80's.   Our whole group fell for it for awhile, because most of the band members were from the  Chicago area and she was also,  so there was just enough truth here and there to be believable.  The Band  was past their prime by this point so it seemed like an odd group to fantasize about, which I think also made it seem more believable in a way. (ALthough they did kind of get popular again in the mid 80's briefly and I think they still play reunion tours).  To this day I think parts may be true.  I think it is possible that her distant cousin was in the band, as she claimed, and she may have met other members.  But she wove a whole tale about being gifted guitars from her lover to having songs written about her. 

 

At some point her crush turned into some very twisted fantasy and reality got blurred.  However,  she clearly knew it was all bullshit because when people finally got wise to her, she did what Burris did.  She first escalated the story line, and then at the peak,  she cut and ran.  She found another social circle to hang with a strong emo vibe.  I can't imagine she continued the story with them as they were type that would not have been the least bit impressed with anything to do with Styx. 

[Bethella]

8 minutes ago, calimojo said:

so has Evie been back to this thread?  Seems odd to have started it and then never return.

She logged in on Friday (December 16) but hasn't posted since that first day she came back- there were two posts on November 23, before that her last post was in April 2012.

[calimojo]

Well if she is really who she says,  hopefully she hasn't been scared away by the skepticism and cynicism.  But,  people on here have been burned before, so hopefully she will understand that, and share her story at some point. 

 

If she is catfishing us,  then hopefully she sees that most of us have gotten wise to that bullshit and she has just moved on.