Cred Check

[rowyn]

The little slice of the blogosphere that I watch has been writing about a quiz crafter by Lisa Morton, purporting to sort professional writers from hobbyists. In her commentary, ursulav asked "Do professional accountants get this kind of crap?"

And this made me think about the areas in my life where my credentials have and have not been questioned.

Areas where I've been questioned:
* Am I a real woman?: This never happens in person and hasn't happened much if at all in the last 15+ years. But in the pre-Web days of the Internet, I got this all the time. I remember on one MUD where one particular guy asked every single alt I had, and then threatened that he'd try to get me banned for having alts when I commented on it. (Answer, yes, I am).
* A real geek? I don't even know what this means.
* A real comics fan? I used to be keen on the Marvel mutants, but I stopped buying comic books 16+ years ago. I still buy graphic novels on occasion and I read a number of webcomics. So this depends on what you mean by 'comics'.
* A real cosplayer? No, I just like to dress strangely at any venue with a reasonable tolerance for unusual attire. I don't costume in the sense of mimicking a particular character.
* A real gamer? Yes. I've even been known to drag my boyfriend to gaming events at times, although all of my SOs have also been gamers. Board games and mindless puzzle games are my favorites.
* A real writer? These are real words that I am really writing, so I guess so? I don't get paid for it and I am not a professional, however. This is my hobby.
* Really bisexual? Yes. Really.

Areas where I do not get questioned:
* Am I a real artist? I am not. I am not sure why I see a lot more "real writer" cred-checks than "real artist" ones. I don't know if illustrators (the sort of art and artists I see a lot of) are less hung up on this thing than writers, or if it's just that I'm not diligent about drawing even as a hobby, so no one asks.
* At my actual job. Despite not being qualified for half the stuff I end up doing at the bank (sure, I'll write and maintain your VBA code! why not?), no one at my job ever questions my ability. If I really can't even fake doing something, I always have to tell them because they won't ask. I have no idea why this is.
* A real furry? Technically, I can remember one person saying I wasn't, but he wasn't serious. I've never had a furry try to exclude me. (I am at the periphery of the fandom these days but still a furry).
* Really polyamorous? I don't know why 'poly' gets less doubt than 'bi', but it does. (Yes, I'm poly.)

I'm not sure where I'm going with this, but I thought it was interesting to reflect on what parts of my life inspire sufficient disbelief that some people feel a need to question me about it. I don't even know what the difference is, really; it all seems quite arbitrary. What do you get cred-checked on?

Comments

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

Um... there are things I might have wondered about but I'm not sure I've ever been 'cred checked' by another person on anything at all.

It's possible that it happened and I just didn't care, and so it didn't stick in my memory.

[level-head.livejournal.com]

I spent much of a five-week trial on the witness stand in which I was "cred-checked," under oath, on every conceivable topic from my preferences in films to my memory ability to my programming skills to whether or not I dropped out of high school (I did). Before Twitter, I managed to send out a number of text bits while sitting in that box. ];-)

It occurred to me that it would be very valuable to be able to question all politicians and political appointees like that under oath. But, I suspect, we'd lose most of our politicians that way.

Maybe that's not all bad.

I've been challenged in board meetings, and in dealing with unsavory groups, about aspects of my life.

Hmm... I'm excluding general "Internet debates" (and especially political ones) from the general cred-check issue here, as such challenges to any assertion (or any aspect of the person challenged) are common whether well-founded or not.

But I have been challenged in a particular movie forum, where I was active and moderately popular for my mostly science-oriented writings. Parents of a couple of other (quite young) forum-goers challenged my age, gender, and occupation since I was likely a "suspicious and dangerous" character. That was rather strange.

===|==============/ Level Head

[argonel.livejournal.com]

I'm living life on easy mode, middle class edition (straight white male with engineering degree) so I can't recall being cred checked on anything. Pretty much anything I say or get involved with gets taken at face value.

[alinsa.livejournal.com]

I don't know why 'poly' gets less doubt than 'bi', but it does.

Two guesses:

1) Most people can probably at least *understand* poly, even if it's not for them. I mean, who *hasn't* been attracted to someone other than who they're shacked up with at the time? I suspect that monosexuals, on the other hand, simply don't have any context in which they can understand bisexuality, plus the whole idea that "if you're bi you're just undecided" that seems popular.
2) It's pretty easy to demonstrate that you're "doing" poly... here's my two boyfriends! But unless you're in an active poly relationship with people both genders, it's a lot harder to demonstrate that you're bi... "Sure, I've had this boyfriend for 20 years, and we're exclusive, but I'm actually bi!"


What do you get cred-checked on?

I can actually think of very little I get checked on. I suspect part of that is that my job is ethereal enough and difficult enough to define that most people don't even know what to cred check. With writing, anyone can say "hey, I can write, too, and I definitely read lots of things written by writers, so I should be able to judge!" or similar. Art is likely the same way. But how many people do large-scale web architecture and the like, or have even a vague exposure to it? And my hobbies frequently fall in the same general category as my day job.

I guess I've sort-of gotten challenged on the bi thing, though. Not directly, but there have been people that when they found out I'd had a same-sex partner for 16+ years, basically assumed they'd figured out my sexuality and just completely forgot that I'd told them I was actually bi, and then were shocked/disbelieving when I told them again. Not quite being cred-checked (I never got "are you sure?"), but probably leads to it.

I suppose I occasionally get asked on MUCKs and the like whether or not I'm a real girl, but I don't quite put that in the same class as the kind of challenges you're talking about in general.

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

I've been cred-checked once for being a 'real American'! The old woman complained at me for not even being able to understand the language properly. I explained that I was hard of hearing and she went 'oh' and shut up quickly.

[jorrocks-j.livejournal.com]

I don't...I just...what sort of exchange could that question even be part of?



"Are you really bisexual?"

"Um...yes?"

"Wait--there are really women like you?"

"Ye-es..."

"Oh my God...it's true...it's ALL TRUE..."

"What?"

"WE'VE GOT TO TELL 'EM..."

"Tell who?

"...WE'VE GOT TO TELL 'EM! TELL EVERYBODY..."

"PENTHOUSE LETTERS IS TRUE! PENTHOUSE LETTERS---IS TRUE..."






Because you know like Soylent Green and all that and OK I'll just shut up now...

[telnar.livejournal.com]

Do professional accountants get this kind of crap?

One possibility is that accounting's different economic structure means that there are fewer hobbyists. Most people interested enough in accounting to want to spend a lot of time at it and good enough at it to be mediocre can make a living at it, so wanting to be a professional is very strongly correlated with actually being a professional. Writing doesn't work that way.

[jordangreywolf.livejournal.com]

Let's see.

There comes a time when I think there's a "legitimate" reason to question one's membership in a particular group, if there's any matter of controversy, but sometimes it surprises me what you can get questioned on. I don't think I've ever been "cred-checked" for reasons that I felt were beyond understanding, however.

For instance, consider the phenomenon of when you'll read some news article or watch a TV show, and some talking head will be brought on, claiming to be a representative of {religious or political or ethnic Group X}, and yet he's spending an awful lot of time CRITICIZING {Group X} in general. I can understand why people in {Group X} might want to question his credentials. At least in the case of religion or politics, you can pretty much claim allegiance to whatever flag you want in US society, and then proceed to proclaim it to be flawed in every conceivable way, and there's no law against it ... but color me suspicious about whether or not you really represent members of that group in any meaningful way.

However, I don't get the "real geek" thing. And it's been a pretty long time since someone questioned my "orientation," but then it's not something that generally comes up.

I've been challenged on being an "artist" (back in college, from a teacher who I suppose had a good point that I'm really just an "illustrator"), and also on being "furry" (not a particular label that I feel like trying very hard to defend anyway). Put those together, and there's a good argument that I am NOT a legitimate "furry artist" -- and yet sometimes I've been called that, too, in a pejorative way. There's just no winning, sometimes.

(Hence, when it's applicable I generally describe myself as an ILLUSTRATOR, or a SCULPTOR, or a MINIATURES PAINTER -- i.e., a very specific description of the task and skills involved -- rather than laying claim to the vague term "artist." And, I draw or sculpt or paint or kit-bash whatever I please, whether it be an anthropomorphic animal, a mythic beast, a giant robot, a plain ol' human, or WHATEVER. I'd rather not pigeonhole myself into a particular subject matter anyway.)

Back to the "real geek" thing ... I guess I could imagine it as some sort of reaction to disappointment when trying to associate with like-minded individuals. E.g., "So, are you a fan of Star Wars?" "You bet!" "All right! I'm so excited about the new 'Rebels' series coming out! Aren't you?" "Oh, I don't know...." "BLASPHEMY! I am revoking your Star Wars fan card!" (*YOINK*)

Or something like that. For instance, I have some pretty fond memories of Star Wars, and yet I find an awful lot to harp on in the Star Wars universe. And I don't dislike the prequels NEARLY enough to please the typical "Star Wars fan" I run into. ;)

[jordangreywolf.livejournal.com]

By the way, I just saw this on someone's Facebook update: Handy Flowchart: "Are You a Real Writer?"