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[There's two of us out there]

Well, this sort of thing is kind of fun for me.  When I left a secretarial job back in 1988 I said I was going back to college to become a doctor.  Well, I'm a doctor now (a PhD) and recently discovered that all of my former fellow employees think I'm a famous nuerosurgeon who shows up all over the internet because we both have the same name and we're both "doctors".  Sure do wish I made the same money as my famous namesake!

[my namesakes]

I have three internet namesakes.
One is a judge in Ireland.
One is a police enforcement officer in the USA.
One died in about 1875.

[%sig%]

[I have many me's]

I'm also a sweet potato queen, a champion swimmer, and a woman who has been the president of the Ronald Reagan fan club.

[to: many me's]

Sweet potato queen?  This is priceless.
Kinda scarey, looking up one's alter egos on the internet.

[%sig%]

[rattus domesticus]

I just googled myself (which sounds wrong, doesn't it?)--and found out that people who are investigating me online will not only find my academic articles, but also know:

- I wrote a local newspaper complaining about people who don't clean up after their dog poop (!)
- I wrote a testimonial (anonymously, or so I thought) for a woman-owned adult bookstore.
- I was quoted as recommending a print firm that I once used.
- I wrote an article that appeared in a pet magazine.
- what I look like from a picture of myself and a pet that died nine years ago.
- that I went to Europe with my sister. Yep, there are pictures.
- I wrote a folksy article for a religious magazine.

Depending on what people read, they might think I'm 1) uptight, 2) a kook, 3) an obnoxious American, or 4) shockingly open minded.

Wow, that is weird!! I'm really just a normal gal, I swear.

[%sig%]

[jd]

you've researched them? I had a really good friend in graduate school that I have not spoken to in nearly seven years, due to my then overbearing, jealous girlfriend who did not want me keeping close friendships with women. What a mistake. Anyway,  I would love to catch up with her and I have searched her out online and know where she works. I am relucant to email/call her because I think it will seem kind of stalkerish to admit I got her info from searching online (searching hard, at that).
What do you think? Are people "out" about this activity?

[Prytania]

Cal the woman! Everyone googles everyone! Then go buy the stock.

[Sofia]

ok, my alter egos are a first-grade teacher, a registered nurse and a lawyer.  Sound pretty respectable...

[anon147]

Mine are a nurse and a hacker.

I think it's fine to contact an old friend you've found on the internet. I reconnected that way with a friend I hadn't talked to for about 10 years. She found me through the internet and then emailed me. The weird thing was, I had just searched for her on the internet, literally a few days earlier, and had thought, hmm, maybe I'll email her sometime. (Twilight Zone music here...)

[%sig%]

[namesharing]

I share a name with a number of priests, an author, a film critic, and some kind of s&m person.  I actually find it more worrisome to share a name with people who, like me, write stuff for a living than to share a name with someone who wears weird leather clothes for a living.  There's much more likelihood I'll be confused with the two writers, neither of whom I would want to be confused with...

[mathematician]

unusual name wrote:

> An interesting aspect of all of this is that it makes a huge
> difference whether or not your name is common or unusual.  If
> it's pretty common, you can retain a certain amount of
> anonymity if only because people cannot be sure if you are the
> John Smith they're looking for.  If your name is very unusual
> (as mine us), any search will instantly offer a whole lot of
> you and only you and may turn up odd things you'd just as soon
> not have made so public.  (The issue is comparable to something
> companies face in terms of maintaining an identifiable online
> presence)

That's partly true, but not completely. I have what I thought was a very unusual name, but googling brings up two namesakes of mine. One is in fact a distant relative of mine, and does something quite respectable in my native country. About the other one, let's just say that what he does in the US is not respectable at all. I had never thought about it, but maybe that was the reason I had a hard time moving :-)

[Google-bomb?]

Exactly how does one go about this google-bombing?

[2 More Cents]

It can also be interesting to Search for yourself (or whoever) in Yahoo! and Google Scholar and other search engines as well as Google and compare the results.  For example,  entering my name in Yahoo! returns me in the 11th listing; Google lists me 1st; and Google Scholar has me in 5th place

[Prytania]

I had more entries in Yahoo than Google. Hmmm. Time to swap stocks, I guess.

[anon123]

my alter egos are

a folk/rock singer
a porn star
a big time academic librarian
a chemist
and another  artist