What I Learned about Myself on Google and Yahoo
@bagarad (14283)
Paso Robles, California
September 23, 2011 4:24pm CST
In the process of trying to see how public my posts on myLot were if I searched under my real name, I discovered a lot I didn't know and much I have forgotten. I own 14 pages of real estate in the Yahoo powered myLot search and so far I am on page 24 of Google real estate I dominate in the search so far. I haven't yet found any myLot posts, but I still have many google pages to look at. I found I have several profiles I had forgotten about on sites I've probably never been back to. I have found three sites which copied my content without my permission or who might have had permission and only credited my name without a live link back to my site. One of these was from a competitor, and I just may report that one.
What surprising things or unknown things have you found when you've done a search for yourself in a search engine? Do any of your myLot posts show in a search using your real name? How many search pages do you "own" -- meaning they are almost entirely linking to something you wrote or posted? Any other observations?
3 people like this
9 responses
@drannhh (15219)
• United States
24 Sep 11
I haven't searched lately, but there are a few social networking sites that I signed up with just to test and then there is no way to erase the tracks. Makes one think. My blogs are covered with spam comments, though, and it is real work going back and deleting all of those. If they are not obnoxious, I sort of leave them there some of the time.
1 person likes this
@bagarad (14283)
• Paso Robles, California
24 Sep 11
You are one smart cookie. Of course, for the background checks, it appears you have to pay.
@peavey (16936)
• United States
24 Sep 11
I used to have thousands under my real name when I was in the public eye a lot more. I have backed off from that a lot over the last two or three years so there isn't very much out there now.
I have found myLot posts, but not under my name. If you look for a topic or an exact quote, sometimes they will come up.
One of the worst things I discovered was a post to a local forum I'd made not long after getting on the internet. It was embarrassing, to say the least, and I hope that if anyone ever comes across it, they'll notice the date!
1 person likes this
@peavey (16936)
• United States
24 Sep 11
It wasn't anything that would hang me, but it was such a newbie thing... 
I think almost anywhere will claim the right to your material forever. Even if it's taken off, it can often be found through the Way Back Machine or referenced in detail by someone else somewhere.
I think almost anywhere will claim the right to your material forever. Even if it's taken off, it can often be found through the Way Back Machine or referenced in detail by someone else somewhere.@bagarad (14283)
• Paso Robles, California
24 Sep 11
That's why we have to be so careful as to what we post on line. There are some things we simply can't remove. If you look at Yahoo's terms of service, it looks like they can keep displaying anything you post on one of their services as long as they want to.
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
24 Sep 11
I do have my lot posts under my my lot name. I did find my name on Facebook, I also found that there are at least three different people with the same name as I. I find if one has a popular name that you are likely to find some that are not yours So far, none of the with my first name and last name are very important, related to royalty, etc. And no one has stolen my articles, my email address and names from my novels at I am writing and that is why I am no longer on a critique group here on the web.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
25 Sep 11
I found some spam email addresses that had the name of my characters. And I found that someone had stolen part of the ideas, and someone had stolen a title. That was on the Fan Fiction Network and I really scolded her for it since it was on the adult section and there are not that many on it. So she should have seen it and she used the same fictional character I did.
You note I did not say my novel, I sad, the names from my novels.
For instance, if I named one character Jack Trestle, then I wold find in one of the spam emails, JackTrestle@spam.com
It did not mean if I wrote, Jack could not believe his eyes,,,, (continue with the whole chapter) then I would find on Triond or one of the writing sties, or in a book at Coles, :"jack could not believe his eyes…." and then the whole book that I was getting critiqued now under some one else's name.
@deodavid (4150)
• Philippines
24 Sep 11
that is just amazing what we can learn about ourselves that we have already forgotten and now suddenly brings up some kind of action into our daily lives, so kudos to you mam for your diligence regarding this matter and as of now i am also looking for any links to my name, take care mam.
@Humbug25 (12540)
•
24 Sep 11
Oh this is true and yes I am very much an Ostrich haha what I don't know won't hurt me right? I have nothing to hide anyway and I don't think there is anything that would come up about me that would cause any problems as since I have been live online I have been a 'responsible' adult haha though others that know me may disagree haha
though others that know me may disagree haha@bagarad (14283)
• Paso Robles, California
24 Sep 11
Hmm! That's a bit like an ostrich with it's head in the sand. That information is out there, whether you see it or not. Better to see what others do, so you have the possibility to remove an old profile somewhere that might be able to do you damage. My nephew took the advice to take his My Space profile down, since he's become a much more responsible person than he was back in his high school days. What was on that My Space profile could have cost him a job if the person who might be interviewing him happened to see it.
1 person likes this
@allknowing (134944)
• India
24 Sep 11
Since I have hardly used my real name in any of my online activities I am kind of safe. I would not be really comfortable finding out about myself through the Internet which would also mean the world would have access to my life.
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
24 Sep 11
hi bagarad oh I spent a number of years doing my family tree so patsie hatley is all over the darned net. it was scary and amusing to see myself all over the place. about our posts when we signed up with mylot in the small print which I never saw til it was pointed out after we all got upset, our discussions belong to nylot as we signed them away by signing up with mylot. so they sell them out to several other sites., I was shocked to see one of mine in a political seminar as I only responded once to a political discussion and got badly insulted by a fellow my
lotter for being gasp a democrat. so I stay away from the political devotes who get rabid with a person, who needs that.oh
yes my real name is on a zillion genealogy sites as that how you do it in those sites.so yes we gave our permission without even knowing it by just signing up for my lot .I might not have signed if I had read that as that's sneaky taking our posts like that but its legal as we agreed with our darned signatures.
1 person likes this
@bagarad (14283)
• Paso Robles, California
29 Sep 11
Funny, I thought I had already responded to this. Maybe it was lost in cyberspace. When you found your post somewhere else, was it under your myLot user name or your own name? I have been much more open here than on sites where I use my real name, so if what I share here may turn up somewhere else under my own name, it would be nice to know it before I get embarrassed. One reason I don't try hard to refer real life friends here unless they know me really well is that I say here things many of them really don't need to know.
@eurekafemme (5877)
• Philippines
24 Sep 11
Hello. That is quite interesting really. 
)
I tried googling my name but I do not find any that is really mine but when I searched in Yahoo there were a couple of info about me.
I'm not sure but my friend who lives in Germany searched for my name and he was able to see alot of info for me, some I no longer recall or must have already forgotten or it could be I signed without really considering it seriously.
Interesting info about yourself, huh.
)
I tried googling my name but I do not find any that is really mine but when I searched in Yahoo there were a couple of info about me.
I'm not sure but my friend who lives in Germany searched for my name and he was able to see alot of info for me, some I no longer recall or must have already forgotten or it could be I signed without really considering it seriously.
Interesting info about yourself, huh.1 person likes this
@Timeout (419)
•
24 Sep 11
It really frightens me how the privacy level goes below 0 on the internet. I am very careful with this, because my surnames are very rare, there are less than 100 persons in the world with my surname (I don't know why, it must be a very recent one) and I know half of them, they are my relatives, and probably those I don't know are my relatives too. I try not to post my real name on the internet, but my sister has, and she has the same surnames as me, so I think it's useless now... it's so easy to track someone that annoys me.
