In a sidebar to an early Seed piece I discussed the issue of fakery and explained why it hadn't been a problem yet.

It still hasn't been a problem. I have had to spend a little time weeding out goofs and fakes. But no one has made a very credible effort to defraud us (I think!). One person in the Fray pretended that 1) he was Steve Jobs of Apple; and that 2) he, Steve Jobs, was the "Entrepreneur" donor I interviewed. I violate no confidences when I say that 1) the Fray poster isn't Steve Jobs; and 2) the Entrepreneur isn't Steve Jobs, either. Another Frayster pretended briefly that he was a child from the repository, but he too was an obvious joker.

How do I know that the donors and parents are legit? In an absolutist, Cartesian way, I don't and I can't. The repository's records are private, and I have no perfect way of verifying the stories I'm told.

But there are several reasons why I'm fairly certain about all my sources so far. Most have sent me papers documenting their connection to the repository: donor catalogs, instructions on sperm donation and insemination, correspondence on repository letterhead. All have described repository staffers in detail and know facts about the staffers that would be very difficult to learn absent personal experience. And, finally, none has any obvious reason to lie: They reap no benefit from telling me their story. They get no publicity (since their identities are kept secret), no money, no nothing. They all hold respectable positions in their community: Faking a connection to the repository would be at best pointless, at worst self-destructive.