@Sha: don’t you then have the same problem with clients?
@HAWK: wow, just googled your name, and the competition is indeed quite steep!
Indeed. Sarah Hawk Taylor narrows it down somewhat!
Given that my name(s) are pretty much completely made up by me, I enjoy a fairly nice exposure on the search engines. However, it does make me wonder just what to do about all the crazy content attached to my name, surname especially.
Also, my name is crazy enough to use online because many people don’t expect it to be my real name.
The only thing that ever distubed me was that “Laneth” is a chemical or something used in cosmetics or shampoos or something…
Hm, I’ve googled myself occasionally to find that
with my maiden name, there’s lots about a girl who sings very loudly and off-key in a high-school choir (I’ve never sung in a choir, ever), a girl in Seattle who love hello kitty way too much (slightly disturbing) and one other person… and my name’s not so common, but I guess more common than I thought.
Under my married name, there is some researcher-dentist chick, lawlz. And Google has connected that to my website, even with the robots.txt on it (bleh).
My nickname brings up a lot, but also some that aren’t me (habbo, some other social-thingie-sites, and someone in Spain on LinkdIn who does artsy-stuff).
So, the problem for those with more common names is this: You go in to a potential employer for your interview, and they start asking you about bizarre stuff you know nothing about… turns out they’ve googled your name and found 15 other people and think it’s you.
I am very dominant in the search results for my alias (Sir Emeth, or Sir Emeth Mimetes) and my real name (Jay Lauser). I use both for almost everything, so I don’t mind them not being separate.
I am very open in what I put on the internet. I do not believe in living a secret life of things that would embarrass you if they were discovered. If I was worried about someone finding out about something that I did, I should stop doing it.
Thought I’d join the forum-- here’s what I think. If your profession calls for being seen by people, being searched on Google is a good thing. You could just tell your clients to give you a run on Google so they’ll see your work and track record. Just make sure you haven’t posted anything insulting to anyone or anything that could destroy your reputation. If you’re a lawyer, for example, you could refer your clients to run your name on Google and press releases or articles about you could come up. It could help, right?
I’d only be concerned if someone found out about my online ‘adult entertainment’ interests; but in self-defence, you can’t honestly tell me that those goats weren’t enjoying it.
@stomme - I think that’s really interesting, mistaken identity! That would be so weird within an interview setting if your potential employer referred to something they saw on the web/google about what they thought was “you” - or even if they never said anything but just assumed the worst and in turn you just didn’t get the job!
Wow, even more reason to really watch what you say or how you present yourself online whether by association through forums, blogs, social networking etc… I have to say I’m glad i’ve been paranoid over the years when it comes to my personal online presence 
@being self employed - I think it’s easy to say that you don’t need to ever worry about what you post/publish on the web or what is associated with you as you are your own boss… you always have to expect the unexpected, what if you needed to earn an extra income and took on a second job working for someone or indeed contract work - even being self employed, people are going to do a background check! And as what was mentioned earlier, from a client angle - this should be paramount, how you are presented online etc… - I believe it’s very naive to not think twice about what you post on the web :agree:
I looked for myself … after wading through several hundred results I got bored of reading about a salmon farm-owning flute player from an old folk/rock band, and various university professors. 
If I enter my name and then my town, I have the #1 result … my CV.
Mines not too bad, my only real presence (barring a domain for mail, dns etc…) is my Twitter account.
So given that, a Google.com search and a [URL=“http://www.google.co.uk/#q=Anthony+Sterling&fp=0”]Google.co.uk search, both bring up my domain and Twitter account in the first 3 results.
I have repeatedly been told to Blog, but to be honest, I lose interest after a paragraph or so, hence my preference for Twitter.
All that being said, sometimes I am quite mindful of what I ‘tweet’.
Why is this such an issue… if an employer discriminates against you because they “think” you did something (mistakenly) or because they poorly researched your history and decided to refuse hiring you on the basis of something you did 10 years ago… why on earth would you want to work for them? It’s as moronic as refusing to hire someone on the basis of their gender, skin color or genetics. Discrimination is discrimination and I wouldn’t want to work for anyone who’s so “mentally unstable” that they would genuinely think that spying on someone to gain an idea of what their like as a person on the web in anyway reflects on their professionalism to carry out a job. That kind of “selective” hiring is deliberate bigotry, nothing else. 
Interesting thread and I experience a pretty severe incident. My professor posted student’s name along with full ssn for grade posting. So, the first result of my name is my SSN that’s in bold. He’s a IT Database Professor… hard to believe eh? Just to be on the safe side, I google my name few times a year.
s’okay, people in US states such as Arizona are famous for having SSNs as drivers’ license numbers… really, it’s silly to think SSN is in any way private, and it’s even more silly for places like banks etc to think it should be used for anything other than determining if the person is part of the Social Security system. It’s not a Personal Super-Secret Safe Number. Financial institutions etc need to stop using it like that.
I feel that while I may tone down some ideas that are political or religious in nature, I mostly speak my mind online, but at the same time feel prepared to answer any questions that would arise that relate to my online presence which is pretty strong.
Boom–I cant ever upload my personal information for employer. its a horrible mistake if some one do…
Well siteguru, dare I say “Mr Anderson” You are indeed a brave man to have your CV out there, the idea of having mine on display for the world to see makes me sweat! lol not that there is anything worth looking out, just the whole Google world keeping it forever freaks me out!
Alex, deep breaths! 
Breathe… - Some people I guess don’t have the luxury of choosing which or what employer to work for, when you need the money you’ll work for anyone if you’re desperate enough - considering one is a web designer/developer I’m sure SEO comes into the equation at some point and if a potential employer/client is checking up on your portfolio and your own domain and all your tweets, forum posts or what you blogged about having for dinner pops up on the listings well its a free for all really isn’t it? What if you were giving out about star trek and she/he was a die-hard fan…then that’s war really isn’t it? 
Sg707 - That was very reckless of your professor! I too would be checking now and again for myself on Google too!
There’s about five people with the exact same name as me that I know of in the world. I trounce them on everything search engine wise.
I also figure if there’s tidal wave of info. about me on the net, via stuff that I’ve posted, then the occasional slip up here and there is likely to get lost in that big fat wave of information overload. Or at least that’s the theory
Before I started in web dev. work, there was a website which was setup purely as an attack on another person with the exact same name as me. It posted their financial details, their business interests (which were very XXX rated) and generally scandalised my name in a quite serious way. Thankfully the site is gone now, but even if it was, it would be a reasonably long way down the search engine rankings simply because I’d have drowned them out.
So in some ways, I believe having lots of information about you online can be a beneficial thing as long as it’s almost all good stuff.
Sorry, but what does SSN stand for?
Social Security Number. In the US, it’s how the tax service identifies you as a taxpayer (though you can also have a separate tax id as well), but mostly is used to match your earnings with how much social security money you are to receive when you stop working. It is clearly stated somewhere (forgot now where) that it is NOT to be used for any other kind of identification. But people do.
In the Netherlands, it’s called a BSN (burger service nummer) though that’s recent… used to be a So-fi (sociaal-fiscaal) Nummer (same thing, social security number used by the tax service and the government regarding money you’ve earned and money you are entitled to receive).
burger service nummer
Talk about amusing translations, what’s your healthcare system called? McDonald’s with fries? 