That's so sad some people act like him on the internet...
What about the other members? Is it possible for them to have any profile on these sites?
Well, they're all administrators on their own site; however, that doesn't mean they all check the boards or choose to interact here. I'm given to understand a few do have social networking profiles, but I'm otherwise unaware of them. I found the fake profiles when I initially became a fan of COB and was researching what else the band had done, but I've never dug to find the real bandmembers. If the bandmembers themselves DO have social networking profiles, it would appear they choose not to advertise their online presence for reasons that should appear fairly obvious. Janne and Henkka used to post here (Janne, now, rarely), but I can't see that it's really in their best interests to get too involved in the online community. It would appear (perhaps, wrongly) they would agree.
A few things to tip people off to fake profiles (and this goes for anyone you're looking for online who may be "in demand"/a celebrity):
(1) Location - Anyone can say that they're from Espoo, Finland if they want to take their ruse THAT far, but some actually leave you a clue by being honest and saying Brazil, Croatia, what-have-you.
(2) Broken English - All of the guys in COB in particular speak and understand English well enough not to make mistakes that look like they Google translated everything, then copied and pasted it to their profiles.
(3) On Facebook, pages where you have the option of "liking" a page or adding yourself as a "fan" - That's usually a dead giveaway. Some people are conscientious enough about what they're doing to plainly advertise the profile as a "tribute" or "fan" page, but not all. Anyone with self-esteem issues that present in deceptive, attention-seeking behavior is going to try to siphon off some of the adulation directed at their "idols;" hence, "LOOK AT ME!/BE MY FAN!/I'M SO GREAT!!"
(4) Profile pictures of press/professional quality - If it looks like something anyone could Google to find, it could be a sign that the profile does not belong to the individual advertised. (This one really only goes for personal, PRIVATE profiles, in which case the person will normally use either an avatar or a candid photo that obscures a good view of their face for their profile picture. Some people have personal profiles they're open to allowing the general public to access, whether to interact with the fans or to further promote their projects, in which case many have professional design and presentation. In other words, this is not a hard-and-fast rule.)
(5) Anybody claiming to be any of the bandmembers themselves or their crew sending YOU an add request - I've found that sometimes, when you add either the band's official page or another fan already linked to a related community, the impersonators will occasionally attempt to add YOU. This is another dead giveaway. I'm guessing the COB guys have too many people coming at them from all directions for them to go looking for random people to add, and that goes for just about any band I can think of.
If any of the board veterans would care to add anything that might help newer/less savvy fans coming here for information stay away from the impersonators, please feel free to jump in.
Hope that helped, Freya.
