Recently a chum googled herself. Reading her hit results, she became distraught at what she perceived to be public information, all about her. Bits taken from Facebook, LinkedIn, 192 etc all brought together by the computerised profilers. She promptly spent several days removing herself from the Internet. She deleted profiles, removed posts and generally scrubbed her virtual self. But as we know, like elves and gay men, Internet profiles never truly die, they merely diminish and head off into the West. They are still there, in the backwaters, on download servers whose job it is to take a picture of every web page ever. Somewhere, someone has a copy of that photo you thought you had deleted forever. To quote Robin of Sherwood AND Dr Who (and what a pair), "Nothing is ever forgotten".
So many times I have had to remind people that posting on a forum is public. It isn't a chat between you and a couple of mates. It's a message to the whole bloody world (give or take). If you are not prepared for the response of WBW, then don't post. Rule of thumb: Never ever ever post anything ever that you wouldn't want your mum, boss, ex or cat to see in all its glory. Think before you drink before you post!
I use the same nickname, avatar and 'self description/quote' everywhere on the web. If you're looking for me, I'm pretty easy to find. In fact I just googled myself. 5 pages in and it's all about me me me! I'm everywhere! Which does bring up the question "Why aren't more people reading this blog?" Loads of links to Twitter and Twitter associated sites. Apparently I don't have a lot of Klout. I do have lots of piccies of my avatar, though,and an inordinate number of doggy pics.
As for my chum, she has been lured back to the world of Facebook (score one to Mr Zuckerberg) by promises of amusing statuses and hilarious cat photos. However she is using a pseudonym. Just in case.
