I just came back from seeing a potential apartment, and after I got the tour, the guy says "I googled your name... You used to....."
My past is pretty (extremely) non-mainstream. Most conservative people would probably die if they found out fully what I did in my past life/career. Nothing illegal, just... at odds with what most people would find acceptable.
Anyway, I think this is going to be happening more and more as employers google potential employees, or banks investigate borrowers, etc.
Is this a common thing already? Once it gets on the internet, there's no taking it back!
I'm glad that I surf professionally in Australia and am supported by names like Billabong.
but my real identity is slowly moving up there.. should I be afraid?
I'm guilty of doing this though, especially for apartment searches. It's always nice to know who you're going to live with, or who lived in the place before you..
Mine gives a couple shopping options for bathroom fixtures then straight to LinkedIn. Frankly I'm surprised my Archinect profile is only the fourth hit.
Related: I just googled the first name (an odd spelling of a common first name) only of someone who is pissing me off on a local tax blog along with the name of an art event in which she was involved. Found her immediately: she's a professional dominatrix!
Well, I get to be a voice over actress (even made wikipedia!), a massage therapist, a history prof, and a graphic designer. Even happened to design the website for Omni Plan Architects. Hows that for a full circle?
I thought at one time, I was a porn star as well, oh wait, if you do google image search with my name, there I am. I'm an English porn star. Awesome!
my alterego gets imdb and a bunch of derivative movie credit sites, then linkedin, then archinect 4th down. but the image search gets all the stuff I've posted to archinect.
Hmmm, I'm the only one with my name. And even with that you can only find my Facebook account, my flicker account and a link to my high school (forgive me if I throw up a little in my mouth). Other than that I'm only found on Cameron's Facebook page (HI CAMERON). Oh how I heart my anonymity.
I had a semi-brief go at music before getting seriously into architecture, so my self-googling results in mostly arch-related hits (me), a few of music (usually me) and the rest genealogy sites from any century (never me). Apparently though there's another guy with the same name, a musician, who is nicknamed something like "the Brazilian Beast" and whose band seems to sound and behave "accordingly"..:) Entrys about him and his band are usually intertwined quite invisibly with mine in the google list, certainly not clearly enough separated for an employer, estate agent or whatever to spot the difference. Hope they like hc metal and lots of tattoos!
I guess the whole thing becomes much more narrow mainly because my name isn't out of any anglosaxon tradition (or any big language at all). I do hear though that over here (UK) the google search before any type of financial commitment is standard procedure already since some time.
hehehe, suckers!
I guess this is where having an unpronouncable east euro name/surname comes in handy. Everything on me is in a foreign language, so all my past misdeeds are kept silent...SILENT I SAY. The only parts an english speaker would understand are related to archinect, a public policy blog and facebook.
God how I love the english language, it screws other people in sooo many ways.
PS. Having a nickname that can be written in a variety of ways helps to maintain anonimity too.
i have an alter-ego who teaches architecture in the usa. which is funny.
i used to be google-able more, but have been too quiet lately i guess and don't come up so much no more.
on other hand if you type in my old japanese office name you are (or were anyway) likely to get a link to some story on my good self, in which they appear just as part of my bio...which is somehow perversely satisfying.
I am either Britney Spears' brother (which would have made me a 'sexiest bachelor' a couple years back, a poet, an assistant manager at an art gallery, a lawyer, a bald guy looking for jobs on monster.com,...
Admitted self-googler (<-deliciously dirty)... A more fun game is using the "(your first name) looks like" search. You have to use the quotes and it will only turn up exact matches followed by something you look like... favorites of my own:
Joel looks like the love child of Dave Barry and Bill Gates
Joel looks like the both came out of the dump and were sniffing cocaine for the past few days like mad
Joel looks like a visitor from another planet, but one unaware of this fact
It's not unusual for employers to google employees and potential employees. I've done it. I can't say it's affected any hiring decisions one way or another, but it's been enlightening and sometimes amusing.
I have a good friend who is an attorney by day and musician by night. To avoid the googling problem with the perceptual conflicts of the two personas he uses an assumed name on stage. He's even done something-er-other to incorporate his alter ego so that he can accept checks written to that name and such.
There's only one other person in the world with my name - a 60-something research scientist who pretty much stays out of trouble except for the occasional poorly-reviewed article in an obscure science journal. I'd say I'm probably a bigger google threat to the other guy with my name than vice versa.
that's an interesting point bloopox...what if you are actually the one screwing up your namesake-s' track records rather than the other way around? maybe "the brazilian beast" is actually right now cursing his bad luck of keep being mistaken for that geeky architect..
Searching for myself online always feels a little creepy. Fortunately myself and all of my dopplegangers - I'm up to 5 on Facebook now* - seem to be pretty upstanding ladies. I account for about 3 or 4 of the first 20 links on Google. Also, my first name is pretty much the most popular baby girl's name every year since the 80's so most of the "MEs" that I find are younger.
*Yes, I make friends with all of the other girls on Facebook with my name. I just think we should all be friends!
Aparently I was a bishop in colonial america. Was later burnt at the stake for heracy, and while being burnt, hit myself with my arm... 'till it fell off.
Googling your name
I just came back from seeing a potential apartment, and after I got the tour, the guy says "I googled your name... You used to....."
My past is pretty (extremely) non-mainstream. Most conservative people would probably die if they found out fully what I did in my past life/career. Nothing illegal, just... at odds with what most people would find acceptable.
Anyway, I think this is going to be happening more and more as employers google potential employees, or banks investigate borrowers, etc.
Is this a common thing already? Once it gets on the internet, there's no taking it back!
I'm glad that I surf professionally in Australia and am supported by names like Billabong.
but my real identity is slowly moving up there.. should I be afraid?
I'm guilty of doing this though, especially for apartment searches. It's always nice to know who you're going to live with, or who lived in the place before you..
fortunately i share a name with someone more famous than me, so i'm pretty much google-proof.
alright, i'll bite....i bet you used to have sex in pools of animal blood with fat people
there's lots of my name. i can pose as doctor, golf course designer, professor....
Ha, Steven, you're right about you!
Mine gives a couple shopping options for bathroom fixtures then straight to LinkedIn. Frankly I'm surprised my Archinect profile is only the fourth hit.
Related: I just googled the first name (an odd spelling of a common first name) only of someone who is pissing me off on a local tax blog along with the name of an art event in which she was involved. Found her immediately: she's a professional dominatrix!
Hahaha I love Google!
Well, I get to be a voice over actress (even made wikipedia!), a massage therapist, a history prof, and a graphic designer. Even happened to design the website for Omni Plan Architects. Hows that for a full circle?
I thought at one time, I was a porn star as well, oh wait, if you do google image search with my name, there I am. I'm an English porn star. Awesome!
Eww. I shouldve read the second wikipedia entry further. To each, their own.
my sister in law has a doppelganger who is a German porn star.
my alterego gets imdb and a bunch of derivative movie credit sites, then linkedin, then archinect 4th down. but the image search gets all the stuff I've posted to archinect.
I've seen several articles about employers looking up potential hires on MySpace or Google. Wouldn't you?
My name is rather unique so I come right up but it's nothing bad, thankfully.
tk shows up from my few attempts to be a wikipedian, and the following image is #1:
Hmmm, I'm the only one with my name. And even with that you can only find my Facebook account, my flicker account and a link to my high school (forgive me if I throw up a little in my mouth). Other than that I'm only found on Cameron's Facebook page (HI CAMERON). Oh how I heart my anonymity.
i have two notable namesakes that both reside in germany...
one makes schmittsohne which is gaining some popularity here in the states... the other does erotic illustration...
so i'm in fine company
Google me and first hit (www.myname.com) is:
sculpture, painting, erotic art, gay art, first nations, native.
Also, I'm married, enjoy boxing, have a profile on bebo and can give a tutorial on resizing images.
PsyArch, which used to be mainly me now gets 760 hits due to an internet gamer and someone on myspace. Not me.
I had a semi-brief go at music before getting seriously into architecture, so my self-googling results in mostly arch-related hits (me), a few of music (usually me) and the rest genealogy sites from any century (never me). Apparently though there's another guy with the same name, a musician, who is nicknamed something like "the Brazilian Beast" and whose band seems to sound and behave "accordingly"..:) Entrys about him and his band are usually intertwined quite invisibly with mine in the google list, certainly not clearly enough separated for an employer, estate agent or whatever to spot the difference. Hope they like hc metal and lots of tattoos!
I guess the whole thing becomes much more narrow mainly because my name isn't out of any anglosaxon tradition (or any big language at all). I do hear though that over here (UK) the google search before any type of financial commitment is standard procedure already since some time.
I guess I am a professional wrestler by googles estimation.
hehehe, suckers!
I guess this is where having an unpronouncable east euro name/surname comes in handy. Everything on me is in a foreign language, so all my past misdeeds are kept silent...SILENT I SAY. The only parts an english speaker would understand are related to archinect, a public policy blog and facebook.
God how I love the english language, it screws other people in sooo many ways.
PS. Having a nickname that can be written in a variety of ways helps to maintain anonimity too.
i have an alter-ego who teaches architecture in the usa. which is funny.
i used to be google-able more, but have been too quiet lately i guess and don't come up so much no more.
on other hand if you type in my old japanese office name you are (or were anyway) likely to get a link to some story on my good self, in which they appear just as part of my bio...which is somehow perversely satisfying.
there are about 2.5 billion people with my name...
my name is so common (first and last) that i cant even find myself when i google...
I can find my name pretty quickly, but not till after the profile of an 1840's Pioneer in Nova Scotia.
I am either Britney Spears' brother (which would have made me a 'sexiest bachelor' a couple years back, a poet, an assistant manager at an art gallery, a lawyer, a bald guy looking for jobs on monster.com,...
Admitted self-googler (<-deliciously dirty)... A more fun game is using the "(your first name) looks like" search. You have to use the quotes and it will only turn up exact matches followed by something you look like... favorites of my own:
Joel looks like the love child of Dave Barry and Bill Gates
Joel looks like the both came out of the dump and were sniffing cocaine for the past few days like mad
Joel looks like a visitor from another planet, but one unaware of this fact
Joel looks like Grimace with AIDS
...and that's just the first two pages!
It's not unusual for employers to google employees and potential employees. I've done it. I can't say it's affected any hiring decisions one way or another, but it's been enlightening and sometimes amusing.
I have a good friend who is an attorney by day and musician by night. To avoid the googling problem with the perceptual conflicts of the two personas he uses an assumed name on stage. He's even done something-er-other to incorporate his alter ego so that he can accept checks written to that name and such.
There's only one other person in the world with my name - a 60-something research scientist who pretty much stays out of trouble except for the occasional poorly-reviewed article in an obscure science journal. I'd say I'm probably a bigger google threat to the other guy with my name than vice versa.
that's an interesting point bloopox...what if you are actually the one screwing up your namesake-s' track records rather than the other way around? maybe "the brazilian beast" is actually right now cursing his bad luck of keep being mistaken for that geeky architect..
@ psyarch
...Does that mean your real name is Thom Barker?
(crawls back into cave...)
google says I'm endangered
My name = 127 hits.
Of the 127, I'd say about 6 of them are for me.
I am a child with cerebral palsy.
6820 Hits
Of the first 20 hits, 11 are directly related to me.
As far as I can tell, there is no one with my combination of names.
RoodGrood,
you use the google, but you use it without curiosity or judgement. Guess again, but keep the answer to yourself...
Searching for myself online always feels a little creepy. Fortunately myself and all of my dopplegangers - I'm up to 5 on Facebook now* - seem to be pretty upstanding ladies. I account for about 3 or 4 of the first 20 links on Google. Also, my first name is pretty much the most popular baby girl's name every year since the 80's so most of the "MEs" that I find are younger.
*Yes, I make friends with all of the other girls on Facebook with my name. I just think we should all be friends!
Aparently I was a bishop in colonial america. Was later burnt at the stake for heracy, and while being burnt, hit myself with my arm... 'till it fell off.
Maybe that's why my shoulder has been sore lately
oops, check that, bishop in england in the early 1500's
hooper, thats really odd, and very funny. Thank you.
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