No foolin'

Author's Note: This is an April Fools' post in which your humble narrator is entirely serious.  Really.


"...the qualities that make Twitter seem inane and half-baked are what makes it so powerful..."
-Jonathan Zittrain
Professor, Internet Law, Harvard Law School

Social media can be a great tool for celebrities/professionals to utilize to interact with their respective fanbases.  I don't necessarily perceive the online world as the Great Leveler which some may claim it to be, but on the other hand in this age of instant electronic entitlement it is a savvy move to establish even an artificial relationship with the masses.  It is rather a populist platform in regards to allowing everyone - famous, infamous and obscure - to act stupid in a variety of ways.  However, one of the pitfalls of said medium is the presence of impostors.

Twitter is - as a social networking service - seemingly incredibly susceptible to the wiles of celebrity impostors and online trolls.  Their own history shows that despite their authentication process they really don't seem to care about preserving identity integrity unless they are exposed for shoddy authentication practices (i.e. the Wendi Deng debaucle).  And I can say this because it's true: there is an example of just this issue in regards to Our Trev.

The "Neato Stuff" listing on this blog is a collection of links pertinent to Trevor and his online presence and one of them is for his official Twitter account, @Rabin_News.  Why this and not @TrevorRabin or some other variant?  Because those have been claimed by impostors, and the one individual who persists in impersonating Trevor still has an account, going by @Trevor_Rabin.  This person is not spoofing Trevor for comedic purposes (as some have been known to do in regards to other celebrities), this person is allowing and even encouraging people to believe that he/she is Trevor.  The account (and the one which preceded it) has been reported for violations of the TOS numerous times and yet Twitter allows it to remain.

In my opinion this has gone on long enough; and so I'm calling it out (as I also did on Yesfans last year), because people are continuing to be fooled by the fake account and the fans have a right to know.

As example I have included two Tweets from the same date, May 9th of last year, the day after the release of Jacaranda.  Both are promotional in nature, but note how the fake Tweet uses a pronoun which makes it obvious that the poster is impersonating the individual in question (and also that the fake account posted after the real one).

This is from the fake account:

This is actually Trevor (and his publicists):

Subsequent postings from the fake account continue to support my claim that this person is impersonating Trevor; nor does the poster ever appear - when receiving Tweets from fans who believe that he/she is Trevor - to correct those assumptions.  However, this person does not post often enough to call obvious attention to the deception.

My message to Rabinites is: don't be fooled, and spread the word in regards to Trevor's real online presence where you can express your support and admiration directly to our favorite musical polymath.  Maybe #IsupporttherealTrevorRabin or #Rabinitesacceptnoimposters as a trending topic?  I'm sure you're wondering, "Hey, Humble Narrator, if you're so annoyed, why don't you do it?"  Well here's the thing: I can't be bothered with microblogging...as my readers are aware, I do go on a bit.  But seriously, Trevor is plugged into the online world now, and it's important to know who you're really talking to.

Now then...anyone else hear about the all-tuba symphony project, or was that just me?