Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Fun with Polls Do you worry about being googled?

Looking at the current posts in the last pole about age, it seems people have been googled or have googled other people. Anyway, it got me wondering.

Many of us write fanfic for a now defunct TV show called Lois and Clark. Do you worry about people finding out you do that by googling you?

One of the reasons I am glad that the nfic is in a locked area of this board and Anne's place is because those stories don't show up when you are googled.

So... do you worry about being googled because you are part of this fandom?

Once you've answered the pole, I'd be interested to know why you chose the answer you did.

Given that I don't use my last name here (or almost anywhere online), I'm not too worried. "Rivka" is a quite common name.

Even given my first and last name, you'll find several pages of hits that are NOT me before any that actually are. All far better known than I!

Regardless, if someone who knows me tracked me down to here (not impossible), I wouldn't care much. I'm not ashamed of my fanfic obsession. Most people who know me even a little know I like SF&F, so this is just one specific type.

Hehe, not only do I not worry, but I actively encourage the people I know in RL to read my fics.

Few do, though

For me, fanfic writing is just a hobby like any other. I find no reason to be ashamed of it. (Then again, I've never written nfic, so perhaps that's why )

See ya,
AnnaBtG.

P.S.: I'm curious, though. I just Googled my name again, and one of the first results that come up is my profile page here on this site. I don't sign with my last name over here; how did they realize it's me?

That's because your profile links to your lj, which does have your last name on it. Google ranks pages largely on their links to other pages.

I haven't tried my pen name, but since it comes straight from the title of a song, I'm guessing you'll find a lot of those before you find me. Or other super inventive people who are using that as their alias on other boards cause they happen to listen to the same obscure kind of music I do. *lol*

Anyway... even if people *did* find me and were bright enough to figure out who's hidden behind the pen name, I sure as heck wouldn't mind. Everyone I know is aware that I hang out here and they've all read the fanfic. Geez, we even have a creator's club at work and all the guys there have read my stuff. *lol* The rest of the world can too, they're welcome to! (especially if it means I'll get feedback. ROFL!)

I chose to use a nick when I joined FoLCdom (which was more or less my first online forum), for a number of reasons, but none of them were because of writing fanfic, that I recall.

Mostly it was because I came from an offline culture where nicks were used for fun, so I was already used to thinking that way, and because of personal security concerns (the less the world out there in the net knows about you the better, I believe).

If none of those other reasons existed and I was using my own name it wouldn't bother me at all if people linked back to my fanfic. Or nfic. Although if I started being bombarded with emails from weirdos as a result of the latter I might have to reconsider. <g>

It clearly does worry a lot of people though. The Archive quite regularly gets requests from writers who've long left the fandom to have their stories removed, or their names changed to an anonymous nick, precisely because they fear this.

LabRat

Omg, I worry about being Googled.

BUT I don't use my full name...

I have such a closet addiction here. It's a wonder I haven't been caught on these websites alone in the past 8 years LOL much less being found out as an author.

(Future conversation: So THAT'S what you've been doing all this time...)
My friends and family would think I'm crazy.

The only thing that would give me away are my email addresses, which are real, but who's going to google my email address?
-and if that's a real worry, let me know because I'll change to a fake LOL-

Jen

I suppose if I used my real name I'd be losing sleep over the thought that someone I knew in real life would google me and find some of the stuff I've written.

No one (except my mom and one of my sisters) knows about my "hobby". I'd freak twice and die if anyone did find out. <shudders>

Loving the double life,

Sue

*cough* Um, well . . .

It's too late, really. You've been using a legit one for ages. Between Google's caching and other non-static and searchable resources, anyone who wants to track you down will easily be able to do so.

Tank is obviously a nick name which I've had since college and chose to use as my online personality.

Anyone who would google my given name (and many know it) they would have to wade through so much other information about a certain slightly more famous musician that they'd never get to me even if there was anything about me that could be googled (which I doubt).

Tank (who doesn't care if anyone knows he writes LC fics or not)

Well, the people who I'd least want to be aware of my actitivies in folcdom are also, happily, the people least likely to google me.

However, I wouldn't want *anyone* I know in real life to find or read my nfic. Thankfully, it's all password-protected, and no-one I know would be interested enough to sign up for access.

So, I guess that's a big hooray for password-protected nfic.

Yvonne

I don't worry about being googled because of my involvement in FoLC-dom.

What I DO worry about is being googled because of my involvement in the BtVS and Harry Potter fandoms--those are kind of embarrassing (BtVS more than HP--I actually LIKE HP, but got tired of it after the 6th book came out--I'll be going back to it temporarily after book 7, but I'll still be here!).

I've used the same nick in all three fandoms, which came about as an inside joke with one of my best friends from high school at lunch during my Junior or Senior year.

The first two letters are my first and last initials, and I use the same nick for my LiveJournal, MySpace, etc. so it's kind of a given that I'm not anonymous anymore.

Not to mention, I tell EVERYBODY that my first name is Darcy--which is not at all a common name, and especially not as a girl's first name (although I do know another girl named Darcie).

Are you serious.

I'm so changing my name down at city records.
<kidding>

*cries in a corner*

I'll lie, I tell you! I don't even know this JenD character!

Ok, I'm done. <g>
JD

Edit: Actually I just Googled my email addresses and nothing came up...

I have only once posted a fanfic using my real first name, and that was because the site where I was posting has a strict policy against pseudonyms. Ironically, I'd been using the same pen name for so long by that time that using my real name gave me anonymity! It was far more like an alias than the pen name would have been.

I started out using a pen name in fandom because I was embarrassed to be writing fan fic. It was only over time that I realized it's really a Very Good Idea for a lot of reasons. I've met some wonderful people in fandom and made some true friends, but I've also encountered some people who were just plain nuts. And the scary thing is that sometimes it's a while before you can really tell which is which.

I will continue to use a pen name when writing fan fiction. I really *don't* want people IRL finding out what I do for a hobby, but even more importantly, I don't want my hobby to put my family at risk. I googled my real name and found absolutely nothing about me, and certainly nothing linking me to fan fiction, so I guess I'm not terribly worried

Caroline

Caroline this both cracked me up and scared me at the same time.

Well, I wasn't really sure how I felt about this topic, so I googled my real name, and then googled my pen name (and a few nics in between) and didn't come up with much. My pen name of course leads here, but it's not connected to my real name... so... I guess I'm not too worried.

But, like Sue - and I quote:

Sue that line had me rotfl - thanks to my little jaunt over to the *n*side, I feel the same way.

-- MR

After having had the Freaks Of the World (FOtW) as my roommates for the past 4.5 years, is there really that much of a difference? It takes me just as much time online as it does in real life to weed out people...

JD

I'm not at all worried about it. I'm very proud of this fandom; both by the respectful praise and debate generated on the discussion boards and the quality of writing displayed here. I have encouraged my students to write fanfic based on tv shows they like in order to improve their writing skills. I have told friends and co-workers about my stories here, and even sent a link to one of my stories to some people (though I highly suspect they never read it). Besides, on the list of "Reasons Why Susan Is A Bit Left Of Center", "She writes Lois and Clark Fanfic" wouldn't even rank in the top 5!

That's because you're using (here, anyway) a relatively recently hatched email address. Try Googling just the first part, without the domain.

Looks like you (same as me) have used that same first part all over the 'Net. Unlike me, your last name is clearly distinguishable in your eddress. (Not that it matters. Your college's email list gives your full name.)

Mind, I didn't find anything too terrible. Some lovely art (very cool), that you liked Major Dad, participate in a campus ministry, participate on some fanfic forum ( ), and the college you attended.

Freaking fandom lol. At least the fics based on challenges only came up for me. I'll have an excuse if I ever have my day in court.

Is igorance bliss?

JD

Personally, I prefer to know things. But I did consider letting you stay blissfully ignorant.

Serious question: Would you rather I had?

Nah. I guess it's better to be prepared! And more time to lie my way out of it LOL.

What's this Lois & Clark you speak of???

JenD? Who? What ARE you talking about?

Omg did someone steal my email?!

-OR-

Yes, I participate in different groups online...
No mom, for the last time, they aren't axe murderers, and they don't even know what city I live in! (Which is true hah. I commute.) I have a better chance of getting shot downtown...

Jen

Wanna bet? I've gotten right into nfic stories without a password. Somebody told me that was because I must have set my computer to remember the password. So I tried it on another computer. Guess what? Same result.
~~~

I don't care that anyone knows that I write fanfic. I've actually been telling people. The nfic would embarrass me, though.

It's interesting, though, that my best friend never knew until recently that I was a huge Superman fan. I didn't think I was hiding it. I just didn't think she was interested. (I was right.)

Well, I'm a fairly new (posted) author, and if I google Classicalla, I find my stories (after I get past the classical references). The first one I found doing that was the nfic.

I found it pretty freaky to google my real name, and I found another RN with the same name (not extremely common.) And she lives about 150 miles from me.

Edit: Interesting. I just googled Classicalla again and was led to feedback (I was the 2nd one on the list.) that I'd left rather than one of my stories. The feedback included Chaabreh's: The Girl's Not Attractive and Lara Moon's: All Weathered Out. How about that one?

Funnily enough, it's just occurred to me that when those authors email the Archive wanting their stories removed, they never mail the Admins here wanting the same. Some of them must have posted their stories here first, before submitting them.

Hmmmmm. Must remember to mention that they might want to change their name here, too, next time I get one of those emails in.

LabRat

I've used my nick for quite some time (1990?), but not too many people in RL would have a clue that that was me...so I've never cared if someone googled that. My RL name, however (which I've never hidden either) is so common that I've never found anything on Google for me.

I did get "busted" at work (during lunch!) Friday while on this site by a gal in my department. She looked a the "Lois & Clark" and laughed at me. But I briefly showed her around the site, explained I'd been around here since shortly after the show started, showed her the archive, even told her I was an editor there. She was suitably impressed by the time I was done (still thought it was a little odd, tho). But I never did tell her I had actually written a story that was on there--so apparently I have some shame!

Julie

It never really bothered me before, though I suppose it should have - until a couple of years ago, I was working at a university and I would have hated either students or colleagues to find my fandom involvement. And, since I do use my real name on the archive, it wouldn't exactly be difficult. Yes, I'm not the only person with that name, and there's a famous British actress with a very similar name, but some of my early stories even have my work email address, because it's the only address I had then and I knew nothing about web mail...

In my other fandom I use a nick - the same nick as here for live-journal stuff and WMR for the archive. I don't use my real name, but some people know it, especially if they've emailed with me.

And, as I said, none of it bothered me especially - until very recently.

I'm moving into the career of employment counsellor and taking a qualification in the area. One thing I discovered recently is that employers will sometimes Google prospective employees to check out their online activities. So things like myspace, Live Journal and other active online stuff can be examined to see if there's anything embarrassing or that the employer disapproves of.

Think that's far-fetched, or that employers wouldn't really care about fandom activity? 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.

So... something to think about.


Wendy

Wendy beat me to my biggest concern. Job-hunt google searches. It happens all the time in my field. Someone applying for a job? Google them. It's almost the first thing they do - sometimes even before they've completely read through the resume/cover letter.

I haven't asked to have any of my stuff pulled or changed, yet. It's a big worry, however.

I never thought about it, but it doesn't bother me. I have a nickname and if someone try to google "Poussin", he'd find so much things before me, that'd make me almost invisible ("Poussin" means "chick" in french - that's the why of my avatar ).

That's awful, poor girl! Scary, thought, definitely. Some of the employers should learn to chill a bit and appreciate the fact that the people they're hiring have some degree of imagination and creativity. It's usually a plus to have, in just about any job I can think of...

When I was hired here, I know they checked out references to me on the web, because it came up in the interview. However, luckily this turned out to be a real advantage, that I did 3D images and that I had my own webpage and what not. Of course, this is a software company, so they do like people who happen to spend their off time doing computer-y stuff. Personnally, if I ever went job hunting and found that an employer thought my online activities were questionnable (which, seriously, they really aren't!) then I don't think I'd be that bothered -- that is not a company I'd want to work for anyway. Too stiff and straight. I have a lot more fun here, where people think outside the box! You'd be surprised at the activities we organize here...
Check this YouTube vid, for instance -- these are all people I work with. The guy who *won* the competition is my *boss*. And half the guys there have read my stories, too, so... hey, life's good for now.

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.

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, whether they intend to or not!

So this doesn't surprise me. I suppose it is convenient for an employer and a cheap, quick and easy way to get a snapshot of potential employees. But it is a shame that people can be so thoroughly pigeonholed in an instant, this way. It's a shame most employers can't see fandom activies for what they are - a sign that the potential employee is creatively minded.

LabRat

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?

To Labrat's point:
One of my last job interviews I was actually point-blank asked if I was planning on leaving the company in the future because I might get pregnant. My jaw about dropped. And regardless that it is an illegal question to ask; you still have to answer the question with good grace or you "fail" the interview anyway. I didn't get a call back to the company even though I was more than qualified. Needless to say I didn't do more than send the obligatory thank you letter with that company.

I just went a whole round of interviews and was amazed at what people asked about and got away with asking!

Julie

Absolutely - but there's an *impression* that the world outside of fanfic have of the people who participate. I admit, I even have that thought about certain fandoms. <insert show name> Really? People write fanfic for that show?

Which is why I don't want people in my RL to know about my hobby but I'm okay with my family and one old friend knowing about it. 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.

Then again, maybe they're right and I am just a tad too obsessed...

Sue:

Obsessed? You? ... Nah.

BTW my inbox is looking empty

<DJ - who is in total denial about her own obsession>

-- MR

I don't worry about being googled. I've never used my full name, just my first and second name because in Brazil we have really long names (I had four before getting married, counting my first name of course I just have three now like everyone else in USA ). If you google Raquel Guimarães you'll find a lot of people with the same name before finding my fanfics, not to mention that most of the pages are in Portuguese anyway I didn't know it was that commom of a name in Brazil until I googled it. I didn't care before and I care even less now that I got married and I got rid of all the other names I wasn't used to sign and added my husband's name. The funny thing is that when I google my "new name" google gives me pages with not only my fanfics but Adam's as well

I did have one guy at college who decided to google my name to find out what kind of fanfics I write because when I was introducing myself to my English class and teacher I said that I wrote fanfics about a TV show but I didn't say which TV show and everyone was curious about it He came to class the next day telling everyone it was Lois & Clark I didn't mind it at all because it kind of made me popular... everyone started calling me Lois Lane, including my English teacher

You'll also get the results of my tests to get in college and the college I went to but that's only if you know all my maiden name And trust me when you get 902 results you will be tired before you even get to me

So all in all I don't care and I'm not ashamed about people finding out that I'm part of the FoLCDom but then again I've never written Nfics

Raquel

I have to admit I do have a problem with people finding out that I am part of the fandom. Like Sue said, I am afraid of snap judgements. How can I not be afraid of them when I still think to *myself* that this hobby is weird? So the fear of being Googled is pretty much the entire reason that I don't use my last name on the boards. (No, Mosley isn't my last name. )

Yes, and if that Google search turns up your name on pregnancy message boards, then they will really be scared away. All the more reason to use a pen name in your internet life.

Funny, they say to hide info about yourself due to all the crazies out there. But despite Caroline's excellent point about sorting out the crazies from the non-crazies, I am not hiding from all of you. I am hiding from the "real world".

I can think of a few possible reasons, most of which I really don't agree with, but they might seem compelling to a potential employer. So, to play devil's advocate a little:

1) "Fan" is derived from "fanatic" - if you're writing fan fiction, you're probably a little fanatical about the thing you're writing about. Many people think this is weird, as Sue pointed out. Personally, I don't see why being a little obsessive about a book or TV show is any weirder than being obsessive about football, but there's no telling my husband that.

2) Full participation in fandom takes lots and lots of time, which is why I'm no longer a full participant in fandom. 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. Not that anyone here would read or write fan fic on company time, of course. I'm just saying...

3) Fan fiction is on the shady side of being legal, and some employers might have problems with it for that reason.

4) Fan fiction, as you have pointed out, has a (largely undeserved) reputation with some people for being synonymous with pornography.

There are probably others, so feel free to add to my list. However, I am here on "company time" at the moment, which means that my children are currently running wild instead of doing their Latin lesson... I should probably do something about that

Caroline

I wonder, to me fanfic have more of the connotation cute rather then weird, how many people even knows what fanfiction IS?

I have difficulty imagining that that level insight would be anything but exceedingly rare. And to those so well oriented would most probably be glad to find a kindred spirit. Unless they are vengeful recovering ex-fanfic writers or something.

Well perhaps, even though synonymous is a little to strong but of course the spicey stuff sticks out. But even though Star Trek erotica may be explicit and badly written it’s not that weird by cable TV standards. Personally I assume everyone has some interest in porn, I’d be more worried about those the that claim they don’t and make me believe them, but that might be my sinful eurocommie ways.

But I can understand people not wanting their prospective employers to read their steamier stories, then again who knows maybe that will land you the job!

I've wondered this, too - like if maybe I have friends who read fan fic but, like me, won't admit to it. Or if they've even heard of it at all, what they think about it. But of course, the only way to find out if my friends know about fanfiction is to pop my head out of the closet and ask, and I'm not willing to do that, so I guess I live on in ignorance.

As for the 'cute' - I've never really thought that, but a lot probably depends on what your first exposure is. I think you could easily, if you just made a random pass through a huge and unedited archive like Fanfiction.net, leave with the idea that it was all very, very bad, unless you just lucked out and hit a good fic on your first try. Or you could hit a site with lots of adult fic and leave with the idea that it was all smut. Or you could happen upon a flame war between people who were arguing passionately about some minute detail of characterization and decide that fans were just weird.

Does it really take tremendous insight to look at a novel-length story - or collection of stories - and determine that the author spent a great deal of time on it? Or a LiveJournal that's updated daily and contains lengthy conversations with a huge f-list? Or a name on a message board with 2000 posts appended to it? You wouldn't really have to know the ins and outs of fandom to be able to tell pretty quickly with a Google search that the person you're considering hiring has a time-consuming online hobby. Again, I'm not saying this is a reason not to hire someone (still just playing devil's advocate). Other people could have equally time-consuming hobbies that might not show up on a Google search, and it shouldn't take much checking of references to determine whether or not the person you're considering hiring has a decent work ethic.

Hee! That gave me a chuckle. I was one of those for a while (well, not vengeful, but the other part was true). I fell off the wagon and landed here.

Caroline

Well, there are still a lot of people out there who simply don't understand the online world. To them, people who socialise online are, quite simply, wackos. And not just wackos, but socially inept wackos who are poor judges of character.

If that's a prospective employer's perspective, then you can understand why they might not want to employ such a person.

Yvonne

Cute as in childish, immature, not weird as in having snakes for pets, or writing newsletters for bsdm groups. Or so I would have thought a year ago.

OK. I concede that is a reasonable assumption, if you look at say Wendy’s portfolio. But some people can write a novel in practically no time and I don’t believe that someone who never tried serious writing can accurately judge the time, and some fanfic novels take years to produce so on a weekly basis, it doesn’t necessarily have to be that time consuming.
And most people have some leisure activity that consume great parts of their free time, like say golfing.

Well there is that. I was just thinking of the stories as such. An depending on the job even those kind of things could have their advantages.
Those job recruiters I know of barely have time to read your resume, unless you have a very sensitive position I doubt many recruiters will score message boards they never heard about, to get an accurate picture of your hobbies.

You and me both. My gosh, I was sober for FIVE years and then I bought the DVD box sets and it just spiralled from there.

Lovin' my insobriety though, I must admit. But, of course, I'll only admit that *here*. Which just makes me love the rest of you all the more.

So, Sue, from your last post, does that mean you used to write fanfic before you recently returned?
~~~

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.
~~

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.
~~

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.
~~

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...
~~

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 )
~~

Exactly.
~~

What does LJ mean?
~~

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.....
~~

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.
~~

Interesting discussion.

Sorry! LJ is LiveJournal. Some fandoms are all but headquartered over there these days, though this one seems not to have moved quite as drastically in that direction.

Caroline

I don't think employers take the time to think any of this through to this degree - in either a positive or negative direction.

Yvonne makes a good point in relation to this. How many times on the news have you seen a positive story linked to people using the internet? Mostly, it's about the weirdos. Be they fanatical fans of something, cheating students, or child molesters.

And how many times have you seen a documentary or news item (convention coverage, for example, on local TV) about fans that showed them in a positive light? They always focus on the creeps and weird fish - the ones that the rest of us are cringing at.

So it's probably not surprising that most people who don't use the net socially or regularly see it as a negative thing to be involved in and are suspicious of those who do.

Employers with a pool of potential employees aren't going to take the time to deeply explore the reasons why one is spending all their time on the net as a hobby when they have others who don't and are probably - in their eyes at least - a safer bet, more responsible, mature and not so flakey. <g>

This, too, makes a good point. Aside from all of the above, I think what most employers associate the net with is all those stories they've seen on the news about employees getting fired for spending their working day sending risque joke emails to one another or browsing porn sites. Again, they're not going to spend time finding out differently if they're not interested in the first place and there are other potential employees to hire who don't use the net at all. Like most of us they'll take the path of least resistence and take the easiest route to hiring.

LabRat

It did happen in the US. And the person concerned is having to stay away from all leisure-based internet activity until her job-hunt is over and she's secure in her job.


Wendy

Why on earth doesn't she simply use a secret identity?

Er . . . I mean a pen name.

I don't know enough about the situation to know how it all came to light. I do know that her LJ username was nothing like her real name (which I also know thanks to email correspondence). Somehow, and I have no idea how, her LJ was linked to her real identity - it's possible that she uses the same nick in different places, as I do - I suppose it wouldn't be difficult at all to put together that Wendymr is the person whose full name is on the Fanfic Archive and who is also applying for X positions, and then is also the person active on Live Journal in other respects. Though, yes, it would require a fair bit of searching. So I can only see it as having happened at a very late stage in a process - perhaps when she was on the point of being offered a job.

As I said, I don't know the details. But, as a general point, employment counsellors and employment agencies in North America are now warning people that online activity may be examined and could harm them in getting a job. Which I think is totally ridiculous in the case of 99% of those active online, but there you go. :rolleyes:


Wendy

Sorry I was too late to reply, Rivka. Thanks.

I'm loving the discussion over here!

See ya,
AnnaBtG.

It really wouldn't. As I explained to Anna, all it takes is ONE LINK connecting her LJ to a site that shows her real name (or one that links to one that links to one, under the right circumstances).

I have a LJ. But I am exceedingly careful to not link it to ANY site remotely connected to any forums I post on. Let alone anywhere with my real name. I also friendslock almost everything (not that I post there all that often!) I never use my real name there (even first), and if a friend does in a comment, I ask them to edit.

This is not paranoia. This is the only way to not have search engines (especially but not exclusively Goggle) make the connection between my LJ and my other web presences.

And it's not foolproof. Someone could figure out who I am based on some of my LJ friends, who do link to fora we post on. Hence the locked posts.

Yes I worry. I don't want to get teased or someone decide to pretend they are me. I know I've said my real name though...

I looked up my e-mail address and only found it twice when I used google. My e-mail got grabbed from one site where I was looking up my family at a town board. I just looked up my e-mail address and it is at some site I don't understand the language or what's going on! I know my address has been grabbed before multiple times, but to see it in a thread at some board is kinda weird.

Yeah, I know I say that and I use a picture of myself in my avatar. A few years old and I'm twisting my face...but my brother would notice and tease me until the day I die. If he did I guess I could just egg his car continually.

That site set off all kinds of warning bells for me. So I asked a friend of mine who speaks German (the site is actually in Flemish/Dutch, but the two are similar) to confirm that it was what I think it is. She agrees that it looks like a spammer/phisher website. (If Saskia is around the forum these days, she could give a more exact translation of what exactly is on the site.)

Who knew they had forums? Although I suppose it makes sense.

Now, your email address is just on a list, not specifically targeted. So it's not that big a deal -- I imagine every person on this board gets tons of spam.

But yeah, that site gives me the willies.

Good grief! People need to join the twentieth century - especially since we are now in the twenty-first century.

I'm not worried about it. My married name is so common, it generated 48,500 hits on Google. And forget my maiden name. It's Johnson. The second most common last name in the US, last I heard. My online nick is extremely common, since it's also a real name (not mine. A variation is reserved for my somedayinthefuture daughter, if I ever have one). A few of my email addresses don't turn up much. Though I just googled my work address, and wonder what I was on about on a newsgroup...

Googling is the least of my problems. Considering I have my own domain whose email address I use, I have a personal website on there. Which links to my LJ, and links to here... hmm, wonder if I have every single work entry locked. And don't forget the picture gallery I have, with family pictures... heh

My husband's been looking for work lately, and the advice he got was, anything you've done for a church should be written down on your resume as "non-profit organization." If they ask you about it in an interview, you can choose how much to reveal, but you won't get it tossed in the trash immediately just because you're a religious nut

I never used to worry about being Googled. I've used my real name in lots of places. When I started looking for work, it did concern me a bit -- but then I figured, I haven't done anything to be ashamed of, and besides, my name's all over everything so it's too late to try to cover it up now

Actually, on my resume, under volunteer, I put organizing the Kerth awards -- which, if you didn't know, are a peer-based award system for an online amateur author's group. It was fun thinking up all the wording.

PJ

Volunteer work is important, whatever type it is. Ever been involved in fundraising? Buying equipment for your kids' school, or your church's social club? Or been on the Archive/MBs fundraising committee? How much was raised? That's all very relevant, and employers are interested.


Wendy

I worry about this. As a teenager I was thrilled to death to have my name on the internet. I knew it was me, because I'm the only person with my full name in the entire world--no joke.

Then I got into a profession that considers this sort of writing to be, if not a complete crime against humanity, definitely not a bonus for the career. I just hope nobody googles me until my professional activities outweigh my fanfiction. I removed my name from several prominent places (like the Archive). No one can actually access my stories anymore, but it's still coming up when other fanfic writers referred to me in their stories OR in sites that are no longer maintained but still exist. Still working on that.

On the plus side, I recently discovered that I have a second cousin who shares my same first and last name (with a different middle name). I am now planning to blame every citation of me that I'm not thrilled about on her. I feel it's somewhat evil, but she's a horse trainer so I doubt the horses care if she wrote fanfic in the past!

This puts a whole new spin on the idea of anxiety of authorship.

Until this thread I'd never been interested in Googling names. But you got me curious. <G> So I Google'd LabRat. My, the things I've done in my life!

Sadly, refining the search to Doc Klein's Labrat only brought up several Fanfic Archive references.

Personally, I just have this thing about people knowing too much about me that they don't need to know. Read government, there. So I just like to use a nick whenever I can, just on basic principle.

LabRat

Some of those things wouldn't involve running around on a little wheel, would they

ML

Hush! /me kicks the wheel under the straw and whistles innocently.

LabRat (trying to kick the habit...)

Well, actually I'm not really concerned about what might be found about me in the net... I do this from time to time but I hardly find anything that could be of any harm... at most, it'd be embarassing

S, googling my real name, my homepage is the first thing.
Then there are some stupid "i'd like to find some guys who I went to school with" pages... these are actually boards where I could delete my traces
It goes on with university stuff, several boards I use (university, autism, the Sims, loosing weight (yikes...speaking of embarassment...)) ... err... a curriculum vitae of me

Well... I'm only a student yet, so the worst that could happen, were tutors googling me of who I wish to have better things to do with their time

Bye,

Jana

Oh dear, the things people could find out about me. Luckily not many people are going to worry about googling my nickname through my work and I don't use my real name on the boards. However, my nick was a college nickname so anyone from college that wanted to find out about me could easily do so.

I'm not so worried though. Everyone at work knows to a certain extent my obsession with the show. It's my other hobbies that they think are weird. ^_~