Author Topic: Google+ (Read 194,236 times)

Deozaan · « **Reply #125 on:** July 07, 2011, 11:54 PM »

It's nice to see I'm not the only weirdo who doesn't like letting people online know my real name. A Google search of my real name results in very few valid hits. And that is also by design.

Most of them are from those "people finder" websites that somehow know all about me and my family. But you gotta pay money to get the details.

A Google search for "Deozaan" on the other hand... AFAIK every single one of them is me.

Tuxman · « **Reply #126 on:** July 07, 2011, 11:57 PM »

Which is not always a good idea either.

mahesh2k · « **Reply #127 on:** July 08, 2011, 12:14 AM »

I use my first-name here in profile on DC and for the rest of the internet dozens of pseudo names. Thanks to mousers super DC SEO tweaks, my real name is not linked to this profile. I wish to keep things this way and no google plus is going to change that.

lanux128 · « **Reply #128 on:** July 10, 2011, 02:48 AM »

hmm... it looks like i don't meet google's "Community Standards"..

[attach=#]
• https://www.google.com/support/accounts/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=107107

Renegade · « **Reply #129 on:** July 10, 2011, 04:12 AM »

Yay~! A friend sent me an invite. So I'm finally on now.

It seems ok. Though I expect I really need to add friends for it to be in any way meaningful. I like the circles. Nifty. They'll be useful.

As for my real name... I really don't care. I don't expect any stalkers, so I'm not particularly worried. I'm pretty easy to track down I suppose. Once you figure out that I don't play hockey in the NHL that is...

ecaradec · « **Reply #130 on:** July 10, 2011, 12:23 PM »

If you want to follow me, I'm here. If you want an invitation, I'll send you one.

http://gplus.to/ecaradec

Although I'm not sure about what I'm going to talk publicly. I'd like to talk about tech but all my family would be spammed. I hope they'll do something about it, right now it's difficult to be different public persons.

However I really like the principle of g+. My facebook is filled with stupid games requests and comments from my most chatty friends, not the one I care about the most.

mahesh2k · « **Reply #131 on:** July 10, 2011, 03:02 PM »

Quote from: lanux128 on July 10, 2011, 02:48 AM

hmm... it looks like i don't meet google's "Community Standards"..

(see attachment in previous post)
• https://www.google.com/support/accounts/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=107107

Try - 'Tyler Durdan'. Instacceptance.

Stoic Joker · « **Reply #132 on:** July 10, 2011, 03:11 PM »

Quote from: ecaradec on July 10, 2011, 12:23 PM

If you want to follow me, I'm here. If you want an invitation, I'll send you one.

Don't know if I'll get anywhere but I'll try it.

JavaJones · « **Reply #133 on:** July 10, 2011, 04:07 PM »

Invites are now available officially (I sent out about 10 in the last 24 hours). So if anyone still needs one, PM me your email address.

- Oshyan

Shades · « **Reply #134 on:** July 10, 2011, 06:35 PM »

Thanks Oshyan, got my invite!

iphigenie · « **Reply #135 on:** July 10, 2011, 07:18 PM »

I kept my online totally separate from my real name and details for a very long time - early on because there are weird people out there, then because I dont like being profiled and tagged - but in the end it started hurting my image - large amounts of my online presence including cool things that validate my CV's claims etc. were not linked to my name and therefore invisible.

I should have been more clever with a more split identity from the beginning, but alas I hadnt and now I had to let iphigenie etc. be traced to my real name.

Tuxman · « **Reply #136 on:** July 10, 2011, 07:36 PM »

I decided to create a wholly new "real identity" for everything related to Google. I even created a fake Google Mail real name account. No, it's not "Tyler Durden".

Because some of my subscribed mailing lists are hosted on Google Groups, I had to reconsider boycotting Google completely...

40hz · « **Reply #137 on:** July 10, 2011, 08:08 PM »

Quote from: iphigenie on July 10, 2011, 07:18 PM

I should have been more clever with a more split identity from the beginning...

That's exactly what I did. However, even that's no real guarantee. I've been very open and candid in my participation at DC, so there's enough there that somebody could suss out who I am if they knew a bit about me - and then read some of my posts here. (I tend to be consistent in my beliefs and opinions. And we all have certain favorite verbal expressions and quirks that serve as "markers" for who we are.) Plus there's nothing to prevent somebody from 'outing' me either by accident or design.

I think, in the end, there's really no such thing as complete anonymity if you're going to use the web for anything other than browsing. At least not any more. In my case, I try to minimize my footprint on the Internet to avoid casual prying eyes. But I have no doubts anything I do or say could be traced back to the "real me" if somebody bothered to allocate the small amount of time and resources it would take to do so.

And as iphigenie so aptly pointed out, for many (if not most) people, the drawbacks of such faux privacy often outweigh any of its largely imaginary benefits.

Renegade · « **Reply #138 on:** July 10, 2011, 09:53 PM »

Can I ask why people are hesitant to reveal who they are?

I just don't get it. Really. I don't mean to be an idiot about this. I just don't get it.

Tuxman · « **Reply #139 on:** July 10, 2011, 09:56 PM »

I don't want people I do not know to be able to find out in 2020 what I have been doing when I was young.

wreckedcarzz · « **Reply #140 on:** July 10, 2011, 11:05 PM »

Quote from: Renegade on July 10, 2011, 09:53 PM

Can I ask why people are hesitant to reveal who they are?

I just don't get it. Really. I don't mean to be an idiot about this. I just don't get it.

Quote from: Tuxman on July 10, 2011, 09:56 PM

I don't want people I do not know to be able to find out in 2020 what I have been doing when I was young.

I get the point of privacy and whatnot, but I never tried to keep online and reality separate. I don't put a ton of information out, but if you aggregated information from just a few websites, you could get a pretty good look into my "real" life. Yeah, it's probably not the smartest thing to do, but if someone digs up something years from now about me, I'll defend my viewpoint (even if it changed). And I'm not interesting enough to have to worry about someone sitting outside my door peering in the window in the wee hours of the night

40hz · « **Reply #141 on:** July 10, 2011, 11:27 PM »

Quote from: Renegade on July 10, 2011, 09:53 PM

Can I ask why people are hesitant to reveal who they are?

I just don't get it. Really. I don't mean to be an idiot about this. I just don't get it.

Deal with corporations, or get involved with political issues (in the United States at least), and you'll soon become enlightened as to why you might sometimes want a smaller profile up on the web.

cmpm · « **Reply #142 on:** July 11, 2011, 01:05 AM »

yeah, people want to put you in a box

pun intended, though quite real

cthorpe · « **Reply #143 on:** July 11, 2011, 06:12 AM »

When I was a a middle school teacher, I worked to make sure anything you could find with a full name search was positive. Of course, I was teaching at a school that had a 1:1 laptop program funded by Apple, so I was 100% sure that my students were online.

I didn't avoid giving my real name, as I need to be visible on the web. I just tried to make sure I was in as much control as possible. I think I spent more time doing SEO than most internet marketers.

Deozaan · « **Reply #144 on:** July 11, 2011, 10:20 AM »

Quote from: Renegade on July 10, 2011, 09:53 PM

Can I ask why people are hesitant to reveal who they are?

I can think of a couple. Not that I, myself, am currently worried about these examples:

All it takes is one crazy ex-girlfriend (or something similar) and you probably won't want them to be able to see the latest details of your life publicly displayed online.

People have also been known to have been fired for posting things online that had nothing to do with their employment, but that the employer thought might reflect poorly on the company.

Stoic Joker · « **Reply #145 on:** July 11, 2011, 11:45 AM »

For me file it under layered security practice. The obscurity layer, granted not the best...but still worth using. Just because the information can be put together doesn't mean it needs to be prepackaged, preassembled, and printed on a T-shirt with a freaking bow on top. Make'em work for it.

40hz · « **Reply #146 on:** July 11, 2011, 12:27 PM »

Quote from: Stoic Joker on July 11, 2011, 11:45 AM

For me file it under layered security practice. The obscurity layer, granted not the best...but still worth using. Just because the information can be put together doesn't mean it needs to be prepackaged, preassembled, and printed on a T-shirt with a freaking bow on top. Make'em work for it.

I think that's it exactly.

A lesson learned back in the days of the "counterculture."

Years ago a friend of mine summed it up as follows: "Do the "soft parade," man. Stand up for what you believe in. But no need to paint a bull's eye on your back just to prove your sincerity. It's not you lack for balls. It's just being smart enough not to hang 'em out where they can be kicked by every casual passerby.

My old buddy ('Arv') spoke wisdom.

Renegade · « **Reply #147 on:** July 11, 2011, 12:34 PM »

If someone has a web site, and a link in their signature in a forum, then you've basically got their info. Unless they pay for anonymous registration. So, for a lot of us, we're still pretty easy to find.

40hz · « **Reply #148 on:** July 11, 2011, 12:52 PM »

^quite correct.

Privacy is not something you can get back after the fact. You really need to think about it from Day1 - or forget about it. For most people it's already too late.

Fortunately, for most people, it will never be a problem.

Personally, I don't have a problem with FB or G+ requiring real names or gender info. It's their house, therefor it's their rules. If you don't want to play by them: go elsewhere, build your own, or do without.

That's pretty much the way everything else works in this world, so it's not like anybody's breaking new ground here.

wraith808 · « **Reply #149 on:** July 11, 2011, 02:00 PM »

Quote from: Renegade on July 10, 2011, 09:53 PM

Can I ask why people are hesitant to reveal who they are?

I just don't get it. Really. I don't mean to be an idiot about this. I just don't get it.

I don't want people online to know where I live, and who my relations are. I've seen that go south very easily. People online are *mean*. And that happens a lot sooner than if there are repercussions for doing so.