A Word to my Imposter
So it turns out there’s this Peter Watts page on Facebook, and it reports on the presence of this Peter Watts character who evidently joined Facebook on April 11 2008, and who posted cover art from my books and also posted, I’m guessing, that sepia-tinged photo of me from Readercon.
The thing is, that person is not me.
I did join Facebook briefly, back when I was with On Spec, because that was the only way to access their Facebook page. However, I shut down my account1 once I parted ways with those gutless wonders, and I’m pretty sure I’d remember if I’d set up a self-aggrandizing shrine within the past two months. (After all, I remember setting up this website.)
I’ve no objection to anyone setting up a PW tribute page if they want to (although given the pitiful number of people who’ve signed up, not to mention the negligible level of activity thereof, I might also be inclined to just take a hint and quietly pack the thing up). But I would ask them, please— in fact I would even demand, please— that they use a different name than mine. There are enough real Peter Wattses out there as it is: there’s an astronomer, a wine merchant, a New Zealand Artist, Naomi’s dead dad, and a drummer to name but a few. I’ll go out on a limb and guess that none of us want our names stuck on things we’ve no connection to. In my own case, it makes me look pretty pathetic if people think I’ve had to resort to setting up my own fan site.
So please, whoever you are. Knock yourself out; but do change the name.
1 At least, I shut it down insofar as FB would let me; it still greets me by name when I land on a page in its domain, cheerfully telling me that my account is dormant and explaining how to reactivate it, so they obviously haven’t purged my personals. The fuckers.
Sorry – deleted the comment because I screwed it up. The page is a “business” page – http://www.facebook.com/business/?pages
They’re typically set up by a real writer/artist/whatever to publicize their work, but obviously someone’s decided to be helpful. I decided I’d be helpful too, and reported him/her to FB.
What a ridiculous system.
I wanted to see how easy it was to set up a business page, and within 10 seconds had set up *another* business page for Peter Watts, writer (which I later deleted). Anybody could do it, and put anything they wanted on the page. There’s nothing in the setup that asks, “Who the hell are you, by the way? Are you in fact this person, or do you have his/her permission to post this information?”
But then again, it’s Facebook, eh? What do you expect? Some kind of security?
I’m ashamed to say I’m a member. In my defense, I thought you did set it up. Thankfully, whoever it is seems to be a fan.