So, Sue, from your last post, does that mean you used to write fanfic before you recently returned?
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Well, I know someone in my other fandom, a fanfic writer, who had to delete her LJ, her account on the fanfic archive and other evidence of her presence on the internet because she's job-hunting and all this stuff turned up in a search on her and did her damage.
I think this is awful, too. I bet if this happened in the States, that the applicant could say discrimination had occurred. After all, if the person had published a book - any kind, fiction including naughty fiction, no big deal would have been made out of it. They probably would have thought it was great. The only thing that should have affected her is if she had written truly distasteful fiction (nasty S&M or kiddy porn, etc.). Just because the people hiring didn't like her pasttime doesn't mean they should hold it against her. It's hard to say what that person doing the hiring did as a pasttime. Maybe, someday, if that person's pasttime gets used against them, they will know how stupid they were.

It does give me pause to think that since I'm currently in a job search that I should make sure they know I never lived in the city where that other RN lives.
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Long before the arrival of the net or Google I used to work for an employer who would make the most prejudiced assumptions about people based on the facts in their resume, which were just unbelievable and completely without logic.
Yes, people can be stupid. I list missionary work on my resume, because I learned so much (including another language), and I think it's important part of my background. You'd be surprised how many people have actually asked me what church I did this with (against the law in the States). I have gone both ways - I've refused to answer, and I've given the answer. It all depends on how they ask it.
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And, of course, we all know that women of a certain age can be rejected out of hand because the employer assumes that they will be having kids in the next few years,
Yes, and a lot of women are rejected because they are older, too. I see myself facing that now, and I'm... well, I'm not that old.
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Could someone explain to me why fanfic writing would hurt someones chance to get a job, more the say bonsai gardening? Surely people allowed to have hobbies?
You'd think, wouldn't you? I've had a couple of people's facial expressions totally change when I tell them I'm an artsy type person - as in arts and crafts and music, etc...
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It's the people who don't know me very well (or those who just think they know me) who might make an unfair snap judgment about me.
Exactly. And you're not obsessed, Sue.... Just because your son was out of underwear and socks, doesn't mean you are obsessed. (I'm teasing. If you were really obsessed, you would have quit your job and done nothing more than write fanfic and let your son starve. OH, my god! I've got to find a job.... Really, this hasn't kept me from finding a job... really dizzy )
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All the more reason to use a pen name in your internet life.
Exactly.
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What does LJ mean?
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But if you do the whole thing - writing, reading, reviewing, beta-reading for others, participation in discussions, chats, LJ, etc., you're spending huge amounts of time on it. If an employer knew how much time it took (and some probably have an idea) they might well be suspicious that some of that time might be coming out of the work day.
I must not have worked for the most trusting employers. Believe it or not there are lots of jobs out there where nurses don't have to work in a hospital or doctor's office, etc. I've worked for insurance companies, etc, where I've sat in an office cubicle all day long. Nearly every place I've worked in an office the employer monitored the sites everyone visited. Some didn't even allow internet access - only intranet access. One place I worked had internet access, but I wasn't even allowed to check my Yahoo mail while I was at work. Yahoo mail was blocked. One place I worked, a coworker and I looked at a genealogy site for about two minutes. Two minutes - that's it. It took me a 1/2 hour to explain that I was just getting on long enough to mostly give her the address. Of course, they were mostly upset because they had found out she was gaming (which I didn't know), but then I had to explain my brief access because I was her supervisor. Arggghhhh.....
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But some people can write a novel in practically no time
Yeah, and the people that write them that fast produce 'pulp fiction' (not the movie). The stuff is out of order, lots of stuff is misspelled, the grammar is horrible, and my biggest pet peeve - some people can't be bothered to use capitals when capital letters should be used - or better yet, when they can't be bothered to use any punctuaion. No wonder fanfic gets a bad rap. Would that everyone wrote as well as Wendy.
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Interesting discussion.

~~Even heroes have the right to dream.~~