have you ever been googled?

LGX

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I googled myself. Not sure if others did the same. The problem is that my name is so unique that anything I do online will be revealed. That's why I clean up good and make sure I only post cap with anonymous user ids.
 

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I've tried to be as inconspicuous as possible online. I am really paranoid about privacy. I think EVERYONE Google's but it is impolite to talk about it. We all do it, and we know the other person is probably going to do it, but it's one of those things you just don't talk about unless they want to share the information. It's just rude. It's like looking in someone's closet and reporting the findings. Anytime you put yourself out there on the internet you risk being exposed in some way. It's a little scary.
 

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i don't google people in my personal life. i'll google contractors, folks i'm considering working with.... ya know the consumer report type search. but folks? it's an invasion of privacy. like snooping through someone's living room/bathroom/wallet/purse.

technology and entitlement are a dangerous combo. i refuse to let either fuck with how i approach and get to know someone.
 

concupisys

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"technology and entitlement are a dangerous combo. i refuse to let either fuck with how i approach and get to know someone."

"I think EVERYONE Google's but it is impolite to talk about it. We all do it, and we know the other person is probably going to do it, but it's one of those things you just don't talk about unless they want to share the information. It's just rude."

i couldn't agree more.....
 

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There was someone who was waaaay too enthusiastic about Googling me and then asking me about whatever she found. She kept me on my toes about my digital footprint. It was creepy. I didn't like it.

i don't google people in my personal life.

I don't either, but I have Googled looking for people I haven't seen since high school or who I lost touch with over the years, not to snoop but to try to find them. I even Googled my very first boyfriend from when I was 11! One of those, "Whatever happened to him?" sort of things.
 
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Mr_Ri0t

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I would try to be a little more open minded about being Googled. To me, it only seems a few scales beyond like, asking people around campus or work about someone.

I'm gonna fucking Google you, right now, so you can practice! >:D
 

B_thickjohnny

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Yes I've been Googled and it scared the crap out of me. Just typing in my email address revealed more than I wanted revealed. Never use your regular/personal/work email address in porn sites etc. it can be discovered when Google does its thing. Thankfully my name is the same as someone fairly well known so he always shows up first when my name is Googled.
 

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I guess I see things a little differently to most posting here...

I don't google people on a regular basis. If I happen to be a part of a discussion about internet safety and someone is bragging about how little can be found with just a username or email address, then I can't help myself, I have to dig up everything I can and tell them (in private obviously) If something seems wrong or doesn't add up, I'll google to find out more if I can and if as suspected, I'm being lied to, I'll bring it up with them.

I'm always honest about it though. If I've not found anything negative, then I've no reason to lie and they have the right to know I've been looking things up. If I were to let something slip, I'd look like an asshole and they'd feel even more betrayed. Telling them upfront that I'm doing it/have done it at the very least tells them I'm honest, and if they can't accept that my safety comes above all else, then I don't particularly want them as a friend anyway.

What I would never do however is speak to others about what I've found, that crosses a line in my opinion.
 

someperson

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so last night i was 'winked' by someone on a dating website, and engaged in a brief discussion with this person about how impersonal sending out winks can be and how a lot of people won't respond to them since they are so impersonal.... (i seem to get more 'winks' on this particular site than actual messages, so i figured i would speak up to this person since i had nothing to lose....) the friendly conversation continued for a few messages casually, and suddenly i get a message from this person telling me that he had googled my screen name and started asking me about details of my digital footprint.... needless to say it made an otherwize casual conversation a little uncomfortable, and i was not quiet about that fact with him....

while i understand that EVERYONE googles people for various reasons to gather background information and i have no shame in anything found about me online, the fact that this person i just met actually had the audacity to tell me this and then ask follow-up questions about his findings was rather irking.... the conversation ended with me telling him: 'thanks, but i don't think we should talk anymore', and i figured that was that.... but then this evening i get not one, but 4 LONG messages from this guy telling me that he went to work and spoke with affluent colleagues about me and then told me what THEY thought about me (which were not very nice things), then proceeded to block me from sending a message back.... thank goodness this guy was from iowa and i'm from toronto so i highly doubt we would ever cross paths or have reason for even doing so.... sideways bitch slaps might just have to happen if we ever met in person....

my question to you all is: how would you feel if someone you just met online actually admitted to you that they had googled you? i can totally understand and respect the reasons why people do it (ie: employee background checks, personal background checks, etc....) but i find it creepy when people i just met socially actually admit that they've done it.... i find it stalk-ish and in rather bad form considering we were already having a perfectly normal, open and friendly conversation with no intentions.... i'm even guilty of doing it myself with people i've met online, though i've never actually come out and told anyone that i've done it.... like, that's for me to know and for the other person not to, unless it's something i've been specifically invited by that person to do.... would you find it offensive or do you feel that this is now just something that goes with the territory of being an online presence? would you continue getting to know this person or label them as stalk-ish and block them?

thoughts?

my name (first and last)googled with " "
About 19,600 results


only a handful are of me.
 
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Hoss

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When I google my screen name here I don't find myself immediately. Not sure how long it would take.
My actual name, the first name gives all kinds of strange hits and my last name doesn't locate me either. When I put them together I show up 3 times, another 2 people with the same name but a different middle name/initial show up much more, enough that I am not found until page 4. The entire first and last name combined gives only 6 pages.

Screen name connections won't work since I never use the same name on 2 different sites. The name Hoss appears on other sites but I have no idea who they are.
 

rob_just_rob

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Probably I have been. My screen name here shows up about halfway down the google results page, but I don't use this screen name anywhere else *shrugs*

If someone felt they had to do a background check on me before we even met, and then admitted doing so, I'd be substantially less interested in them.
 

LaFemme

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I never use the same screen name on two difference sites. Googling LaFemme brings up hundreds of hits, and I have no idea of how long it would take to get to me, but I am no where near the top. My real name comes up, of course professionally speaking - but I don't even use my real name on Facebook, so.... As far as pics go, LPSG pics are separate from any other pics I post and any other pics I have online are unique to the places I post to.

I hope I'm cautious enough. I have been 'stalked/threatened' online before, on a forum site, so I hope I absorbed enough healthy fear to keep myself safer than I was before.
 

Hand_Solo

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I used to use my real name as a screen name. Stopped after I got some death threats. I thought to myself, do I really need to go through the hassle of burying some asshole out in the woods after he comes to my house and tries to kill me?
 

EagleCowboy

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A TRUE friend wouldn't ask questions. They would just help you bury the body!! LOL

One can dive deep into Google and other search engines to fix it so that nothing about you shows up. That's what I have done and nothing shows up now. It used to show everything about me including my phone number and what vehicles I drove.

Even now when the laws are trying to demand that you have to put every last incriminating detail about you online, and most websites like Google, Yahoo, AOL, Facebook, etc., are trying their damndest to make you do it AHEAD of the impending laws, one can still maintain anonymity despite them.

When I email someone, it still shows up to the receiver as EagleCowboy only. No real name. When someone emails me, it shows their real name. On yahoo messenger, the only thing others see is EagleCowboy.

If you really want anonymity, you gotta fight for it. It can still be had, you just have to go find it now because it's not automatic anymore.
 

Mumzi

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i can respect if a person googles me, and i actually do expect it, but in this scenario it came off as creepy and lurkish and the things he was asking me about only served to establish that he was not just getting a general impression but some really specific things like posts i've made on forums and stuff.... it completely changed the tone of the conversation and rubbed me the wrong way because of how it was handled....

If there is no reason or no need to know, I'm not sure why they'd do that .
If you just have a casual online relationship with someone ( and often boards like this people have multiple online relationships ,if you even call it that) where most people will never meet or have intention to meet, so why would you.

Then for him to let you know he's done that , and tell you his buddies don't approve, etc. Just odd,really odd.
I'd x him out an put him on ignore as well. Not someone you'd want to even meet.
Next he'd have you to be billy the kid in your former life together.
Then he'll contact wyatt Earp to check ya out. Then there's the duel at ok corral to worry about.

No, he trouble from way back!
 
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My partner use to take up the first three pages of google when you entered her name:)
 

ignatius4446z

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I have a reasonably high profile job, so when you google my real name quite a lot of the results are about me.

Hence, I'm very wary about my online footprint. I use my mother's maiden name as my surname on Facebook, different screen names and different email addresses for different sites, I never post my phone number in online small ads etc

I'm very concerned about the high-handed attitude taken by some organisations towards our privacy. They seem to just assume everyone is happy to share every aspect of themselves with everyone else. And it's not just what we post online that reveals out inner life, it's also what we search for that can give others an insight into the areas of our personality, interests, state of health or emotional problems that perhaps we would rather were not reveal to the world at large, but least of all close friends, colleagues or family.

I'll give you an example. I used a communal computer at work to do some ebaying. It seemed that on a previous occasion, on my computer at home, I had searched eBay for, amongst other things, some things that I'd rather my colleagues didn't know about (it was either large sized condoms or vibrating cock rings). Even though when I searched eBay using the work PC, I'd only looked at innocuous items, the very fact if logging into my account had downloaded cookies onto the communal work PC. The result of this was that the next person who opened up eBay on that computer was presented with a page which not only contained the generic eBay stuff, but also a list of "your (ie: my) recent searches", including the condoms and cock rings, and suggestions for similar items such as generic Viagra and, IIRC, anal lubricant. What. The. Fuck?

So, eBay think they were being "helpful", but I think they were acting like a friend who can't keep a very personal secret.
 
D

deleted3782

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my question to you all is: how would you feel if someone you just met online actually admitted to you that they had googled you?

Before I met a person? Stalkerish.
After I met a person in real life? Sensible.

Googling someone before you even meet is getting the cart before the horse.