New Scaratings

A number of my Facebook friends and I from St. Charles, IL went to junior high and high school with a guy named Robert C. Smith. Bob was my 9th grade biology lab partner, and when he told me how much he enjoyed music (we were both in band together), I encouraged him to try out for choir. After graduation, Bob went off to pursue a music degree, and everyone lost touch with him;he never came back to any of the reunions.

Then Facebook comes along, and lo and behold, one of my friends has a "Robert Charles Smith," whom she says is our Bob. I had my doubts because even accounting for the years, this guy didn't look anything like the Bob I remembered, and after he accepted my friend invitation, I realized his birthday differed as well. When I expressed my concerns to one of my friends, including that I recalled the middle initial "C" in "our Bob's" name not standing for Charles, I was assured that she had been communicating with Robert Charles Smith and that she could confirm he was the right one.

I still had my doubts, as well as disappointment because Robert Charles Smith didn't seem particularly interested in us, but I had other things to do. However, yesterday I discovered that another of my friends had found the real Bob Smith, who friended me today not long after I unfriended the fake one.

So I have no idea what Robert Charles Smith was doing or what he got out of it. In all he had only ten friends, of which seven fell into the group of my St. Charles friends and me, so whatever he was doing was on a very small scale. And he never asked anything from us, so it wasn't a con job. I just find it all bizarre.

The good news is that the real Bob Smith has had a wonderful career as a music professor and performer. His trying out for choir has led to his singing in festivals and concerts all over the world. In fact without knowing it, I've heard him perform in his groups that make regular appearances on "Prairie Home Companion." So I feel kind of proud that I recruited him for choir--and very happy that my friends and I finally found him.

Brooke/AARDVK

Bob Smiths are everywhere. For kicks I just Googled "Robert C. Smith" and came up with a mere 533,000,000 hits. (Not joking).

It's strange that a person would pretend to be the real Bob Smith from your junior high and high school years. You've got me wondering what this guy was doing. Perhaps it was a scam that had not yet unfolded, or maybe he was just lonely with only ten Facebook friends.

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................................................... "Hi, I'm Bob Smith, and I would like to be your friend on Facebook."

p.s. I am not on Facebook, and I don't plan to ever be. I don't want all the people I owe money to finding out where I'm hiding.

p.p.s. There is a book titled "The Bob Book" (1991) by David Rensin. It makes a great gift for all of the Bobs you know. You can pick it up on Amazon.com these days for $1.99.

_________________
"The game is afoot."

Two parts:

1. I joined Facebook only to promote the WVBTOs after the BT forum shut down. Most of the people I have 'friended' are people I knew twenty years ago (or longer) and folks who play trivia. I don't go on FB very often and I don't really understand all of the functions (Patti/GMEBRK had to put my avatar on the page for me and I don't know how to change it). And if you have sent a friend request and are still waiting on approval...don't hold your breath. I probably won't deal with it...sorry.

So I was shocked to find that someone in Illinois had hacked my FB account, according to FB. I initially was going to blame FRANK, but I guess I will now blame Robert C. Smith. I guess that Bobby now knows a bunch of my ex-girlfriends are now divorced with children, and it was a good year for steelhead in the Erie tribs, and SPIEGS is my lawyer...allegedly.

2. I own the Bob book. I think my first set of ex-in-laws paid retail for it. Merry X-mas to me.