Dear nations of Talijitu
I know that this is not what you (we) need now in this time of crisis, but I feel the best way to start this region off, so it can achieve all that it can be, is to start off with a clean and honest slate.
What I'm about to tell you is the 100% truth.
While we all know that IP and Cathy have been known to baseless slanders around, his latest accusation thrown my way is indeed true. While I'm 85% confident that he's blowing smoke and has no proof, I can't take the chance that he will tell you all, people I consider my friends. I wanted to tell you all myself.
Rebecca [Lastname] is my cousin. We've grown up together, and we're like brother and sister. The day I signed up on the Lex her family was visiting mine. I had just logged on for the first time, and after posting my "Hi, I'm Inglo-Scotia" thread in the "Welcome to the Lex" forum, I was called down to finish some of my chores. Becca, who was still in the computer/rec room, decided to play on the computer. She made some harmless posts on my account, and then she made a post in a "what gender are you?" thread. She (for whatever reason, she still hasn't told me) posted "I'm a girl." Maybe she was goofing off, maybe she forgot or didn't know the account was mine, I don't know.
When I came back upstairs I saw what she did. I was pretty pissed. This was less then an hour into my stay in what I thought would be my nation's permanent home, and already I'm apparently lying. Not a good way to start off.
Becca told me to calm down, and just ignore it, figuring who would notice or care? At the time I didn't know how in depth the Lex community was, and I decided she was right, so I ignored it. The issue of who I was exactly wasn't brought up for a while, so I figured Becca was right, and I just forgot about it.
Then some some OOC discussion happened, ones that I participated in. People started referring to me as "Becca" or "she." By then it had been a month or so since I joined and I figured it was to late to correct myself. In retrospect I should have. I really should have. But, for whatever reason, I decided I was past the point of no return. So I played along, thinking "hey, it's just a message board, who's going to know, or care. I usually post IC anyway."
Then I found out that in order to become a successful RP member I needed to network with other RPers. But I needed to use my cousin's identity, seeing as I had failed to correct those who were calling me "Becca" or referring to me as "she." I figured if I contacted the players I needed to as myself, a guy, that would cause confusion, and I would have to get into the whole "why didn't you correct yourself when your cousin made the original post?" discussion. I figured that I would never really discuss my personal life with those RPers I contacted, I figured I would just discuss RP and that would be it. So I used a few pics of my cousin I had, and created a Yahoo! account, a MSN account, and an AIM account, all using my cousin's ID as an identity. I did have her permission though, as long as I didn't use it for anything else, just RP networking. Of course I kept that promise.
Again I underestimated the spirit of community that used to exist in the Lex, and now exists here. Before I knew it, I was forming relationships, and becoming friends with those I contacted, at first only for RP purposes.
I wanted to come clean time and time again, but I just told myself "eh, no one will know, it doesn't matter."
Then IP, Cathy, and most of the other founders went crazy. I don't know if IP actually knew my secret, or if he just got lucky throwing around what he thought was a baseless claim.
I thought about it again and again. Finally I'm doing the honorable thing. I'm going to have those I formed relationships with here it from me, not some internet power-hungry cooking tycoon.
What I said, the friendships I made, that was me, not my cousin. She's never even been to nationstates.org.
So that's it. I don't expect anything, I don't expect you to welcome me back.
I know what I did was wrong, and I understand if you want me gone from this community.
I will post my correct contact info in my profile after I post this message. Contact me if you wish.
Best wishes, and good luck with this region. Hopefully I can play a part in it, if you don't want me to, I understand.
Mike [Lastname]
