There are way too many of these, and you can often spot them a mile away. Still, plenty of awesome real people on here, so I try not to let it put me off.
Don't bother me one way or the other. I respond to the way people post on the forum not their gender/race/ethnicity/age or anything else. Am I real? Of course! Who else would pretend to be a 51 year old male with a penchant for dressing up.
I think there is a difference between an 'improved' version of yourself that you can choose to present to people, and an outright lie. But that's pretty subjective, and everyone will have their own sense of where the line is. And it's more important to some than others how much they can trust who they are talking to.