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?