Kings School, a fake headmaster, and The Other Cheek.

From the Editor of the Other Cheek.

I got conned. I admit it. A Facebook commentator on a story about the King’s School use of a non-disclosure agreement, in the case of the former head Tony George, took the name of George’s predecessor, Timothy Hawkes.

But it wasn’t Timothy Hawkes. It was a fake name of someone who wanted to comment without revealing who he was.

The fake TH wrote three comments, one of which he self-deleted, because it revealed his identity. That comment was picked up and screenshotted by people who are following the King’s story closely. I missed it, and only found out about it later.

Instead, I took the fake TH comments seriously and even replied to them at length.

The real Tim Hawkes has justifiably complained. I hid the fake authors’ comments and added a note about what had happened. But I place on the record again that comments on the John Sandeman Facebook page purporting to be from Tim Hawkes were not from him. He – the real Tim Hawkes – does not have a Facebook account.

I regret that those fake comments were run on my page. I apologise for the distress Tim Hawkes incurred because the fake version of him made comments the real Tim Hawkes would never make.

The fake Tim Hawkes has since adopted the sobriquet “Gowna Brae,” which is an obvious fake name as it is the name of a building at King’s School. Can I ask readers what I should do with him? I could say stop posting – but he could simply adopt another name.

For those who don’t know, Facebook does not require real names for their accounts. There are a number of people who use other than their usual names. it is common for people to use their given names, such as “John Mark.” I know this sometimes occurs because people have lost access to their original Facebook account – it happens.
Sometimes, LQBTQIA people want to talk about their sexuality without revealing their names, and in one instance, I warned someone they had outed themselves because I thought it was an accident, and they were grateful I could delete the comment.

If I could impose my desire on Facebook, I would insist on real names. But I can’t.

When Tim Hawkes was impersonated, it went way over the line – it was dishonest, sneaky. That sort of abuse has caused more than one comment forum to close. Be warned.

It also made a fool out of me. I can take that. Regular readers will already know how thick I am.