Avatars, online personas and suchlike

I was just on Facebook, and got to musing over a few things. Considering that I'm way the hell on the other side of an ocean from all of you (except Duck, and she's still more than 300 miles away!), I don't have any way of adjusting my perceptions by meeting people in person, like some of you have done. All I see is what comes onscreen.

Anyway. It struck me that reading your real names with pictures next to them made you feel dramatically more "real" than just seeing screen names and an avatar. Anyone else have the same experience? And if you're on Facebook - how did you choose the picture to use? A lot of people have biking photos, which isn't surprising, but did you pick a photo that resembles you? Or doesn't resemble you too closely? Shows you doing something you're proud of? One that flatters you? Or did you just pick a photo randomly?

Oops, at work, shouldn't spend more time on this, but if anybody would like to chime in please do.

lph=i understamd what you mean. i'm all alone over here in perth..

i chose my facebook photo because people from canada would have a clue who i am! now that i think about it, it's a bit hard to tell who i am in the photo..:o

i might have ian take a photo of me now, bruises and all :rolleyes:

I'm wary of being too open on the net in terms of identity. That could be from work. I've done research on surveillance issues (once you start looking for them, you see surveillance cameras everywhere! it can get a bit spooky :eek: ) and am now a member of Norway's new select committee on privacy (whoo boy, do we ever have some critical things to say about Facebook!!!). So maybe it's kind of a job-related injury: work making me paranoid about web visibility. Still, I do have a plain passport photo on my university-based web page, and I think now another on the privacy commission web site if it's up and open. So maybe some day I'll change to a real-life image, like when I have a bike-related picture I feel good about, which may be when I've lost another 7kg, or simply been photographed on a ride in something more presentable than a wine red rain jacket and hornet yellow rain pants. Meanwhile, with a bit of detective smarts, you can find out who I am at the Department of Sociology and Political Science, NTNU ... just in case we happen to pass one another on the street in Oslo some day ;) Next Oslo trip, btw, will be Dec. 3-4. Maybe a mini-TE gathering at a coffee shop somewhere?

Gotcha, Duck. Nice photo - in fact you look pretty much EXACTLY the way I'd envisioned you. Nice going ;)

PS. Do you know Nils Petter? He's an old friend of my parents.

Yup - I've wondered sometimes about how "open" one should be on the net. I don't mind having my real name and a clear photo out there, but I won't post my address or specify my job too closely. If I held and voiced strong political or religious opinions I'd probably be a lot more anonymous.

Of course, if anybody *really* wanted to find out who I was, and then read all my posts here, for example, they'd learn more about me than I'd be happy with. But I'm willing to take that chance - figure I'm not really that interesting :D

I'm of the DoW school here but any regular reader of this forum will have seen the real me along the way (see Brandi's post about her German barmaid costume just to name one)

I put up a clear enough foto, but my name is not the legal name i go by in the USA. I have a little paranoia myself.

I'm not the only person with my first name I'm the only one I've met. I'm not the only person with my last name but checked online and found 3 listed in the USofA (me, Mom, former SIL, bro's non published).

There's one person on this board who sometimes addresses me here by name, I kinda bristle at that. :(

But then I used to link my homepage to my user CP till the thought occured.

Y'all know where I am, sometimes by the minute. "I'm off for a ride, running an errand, lunch at 3 ...." there's enough info on my homepage for any of you to show up at my door. Please call first, I'll try to clean up.

There's a biography of my Grandparents with enough family history for someone to buy a car in my name.

As for my views and personality I'm pretty much the same online as off I think. This isn't "Secret Life of Walter Mitty" tapukatapuckatapuckata :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

But having progressive/lefty parents who survived the 50's I'm well aware that views expressed, percieved opinions what one person views as just normal and rational could be seen as extreme by another.

For example I was talking to a manager at work who is getting back into running and riding. Just the sort of conversation we'd have on a ride or at a shop "where do I find info on .... I can't seem to learn how to .... who knows where to ...." and of course I told her "TE!!!!"

Then thought, I'm more myself here than anywhere else. Not different, just more relaxed. So if you're lurking, hi Mushari ;) :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

If I google me I don't get me. But if someone had just the right few kernels of information I could be tracked all over the internet. I found something online that I wrote 12 years ago!

It doesn't scare me. Why would they do it? Why would they pick me? I do have strong opinions and I've expressed them. I have met people in person that I didn't know knew me from online forums. (There were several people whose screen names I'd never heard of, who didn't post, who knew me from online and wanted to meet me when I moved here--specific, small community.)

I do know people who have been stalked. Usually by someone they know or are related to. The people I know who would be most likely to do that would do other things that would tip me off, I think. Then it's a domestic problem. I'm not worried.

Look, now someone's going to start messing with me! lol.

Karen

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Originally Posted by lph

PS. Do you know Nils Petter? He's an old friend of my parents.

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I've met him, but he's only here a couple weeks per semester, and most of that time busy with students and colleagues on the Poli Sci side of the dept. I'm on the Sociology side, so I haven't been to seminars with him or the like. Just the occasional department lunch or Xmas dinner, or commiserating in the copy room when the copier breaks down. ;) Nice guy, it seems. And his grad students practically worship him. :) Say hi and "small world" if you see him.

They just did a story about on-line privacy issues on the bbc the other week. They showed just how easy it is to steal someones personality with the information they found on facebook and then open bank accounts/loans/credit cards. All they needed was name, address, birthdate and in some instances mother's maiden name. All of which they accessed within minutes and were able to open a credit card account on line within seconds. I'm not so worried about people tracking me down for my opinions or stalking me for whatever reson. But I do worry a bit about people stealing my identity to fraudulently rack up debt in my name. Especially after I had my credit card details stolen last year and someone had a nice holiday in Morocco on my card. Luckily the bank believed me that time and the charges were dropped from my account.

i don't put my real birthdate on there. As of yet no one has noticed that I was born in 1914!!

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Originally Posted by mimitabby

I put up a clear enough foto, but my name is not the legal name i go by in the USA. I have a little paranoia myself.

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You mean when I finally get to meet you in person, I'm going to have to learn a third name?? :rolleyes: (And I did notice the 1914 - me personally, I would have made myself younger but hey, to each his own... :D )

If I google myself, I get all my school stuff - my class website etc. Other than that, I'm not too famous. Oh, and I get my dh's ex's links sometimes too because she has the same name. :rolleyes: :D

I have trouble coming up with creative stuff, like names. On the other hand, when I've Googled my name - I could be me, here in the Big Easy, or a wine grower in California (not me). Maybe I could switch places with the other BMcCasland? :D

Kgirl, one thing I really don't want is to get hit on. So This way i can assure myself that the only people that want to talk to me are doing it for platonic reasons.
and THANK YOU for noticing :D :D :D

Also, i have a mother who has lied about her age all of her life.
Since she is only 20 years older than me, even when I was small, it was awkward.
I was 11 telling her new boyfriend i was 9. No kidding. I did that.
Now, I scandalize her just by admitting my age...
(she's younger than I am now)
I have 4 names. legal name, nickname (mimi), maiden name and married name.

Simple!

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Originally Posted by zencentury

any regular reader of this forum will have seen the real me along the way

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You mean that isn't you playing the accordian? I'm crestfallen.

It looks like her though.

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Originally Posted by Duck on Wheels

Next Oslo trip, btw, will be Dec. 3-4. Maybe a mini-TE gathering at a coffee shop somewhere?

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Hey, this could be fun, if we could manage to meet for a coffee. I work at Majorstua, but on the 4th I have a dr.s appointment at Aker Brygge so I'll be biking down there and back around 1-2 pm. Send me a PM if you're anywhere nearby.

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Originally Posted by bmccasland

I have trouble coming up with creative stuff, like names. On the other hand, when I've Googled my name - I could be me, here in the Big Easy, or a wine grower in California (not me). Maybe I could switch places with the other BMcCasland? :D

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I just Googled my first and middle name and came up with my own homepage, the part with family bio, family tree (helloooo vacation in Monaco!! :p ), archived donation pages for rides I've been on, rides I've donated to .... oh well. So much for the anonymity of the internet :)

yeah, but YOU know your middle name, I don't.

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Originally Posted by uk elephant

They just did a story about on-line privacy issues on the bbc the other week. They showed just how easy it is to steal someones personality with the information they found on facebook and then open bank accounts/loans/credit cards. All they needed was name, address, birthdate and in some instances mother's maiden name. All of which they accessed within minutes and were able to open a credit card account on line within seconds. I'm not so worried about people tracking me down for my opinions or stalking me for whatever reson. But I do worry a bit about people stealing my identity to fraudulently rack up debt in my name. Especially after I had my credit card details stolen last year and someone had a nice holiday in Morocco on my card. Luckily the bank believed me that time and the charges were dropped from my account.

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Yikes! And you never told us about this :eek: It happened to me too a few years back. Somebody copied my credit card info, I think when I paid for several people's lunch at the Ritz Carlton in Berlin, of all places. They then used the card info to buy €35,000.- worth of phone cards. I hadn't even seen this on my bill yet when the card company called me and asked whether I'd actually bought all that phone time, since it was something I'd never bought before. The charge never did appear on my bill, but I had to sign a form agreeing to appear as a witness if they ever arrested somebody for the crime. And now I have a credit company doing checks on me on behalf of my publisher because somebody hacked the computer with all their royalties information and could have stolen all their authors' identities and bank information. So yes, this is a real problem, and probably a bigger risk than stalking for most of us.

I tend to be somewhat cautious about my online personas. The main details I always protect are my real name, address, place of employment, location of school and list of classes currently attending, basically any clues that would allow someone to identify my current whereabouts and stalk me in person. Other details that I generally avoid mentioning as a matter of personal taste/preference are things like names of friends, family members, and revealing too much personal opinion. Hey, people have been fired due to employers finding their blogs, you never know! When it comes to this forum, it seems like overkill sometimes. However, another forum I am active on unfortunately tends to draw a fair share of lurking fetishists/perverts so I am very cautious no matter where I am.

My profile picture isn't of me, but it's exactly what I look like nekkid. :D

Speaking of trying to be anonymous on the internet - there's an SESer (Senior Executive Staff) that's currently in our office who used to body build professionally. And for some reason, DKA thought no-one would find the web site! She looks down right freaky, and "of course" all muscle gain was natural, and voice change, what voice change? It's really hard to take her seriously. Fortunately I'm low enough that I don't have to interact with her.

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Originally Posted by mimitabby

yeah, but YOU know your middle name, I don't.

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But if I just Google (and since when is that a verb?) my first name I get links to a German porn star :rolleyes:

My persona is "me"...but I'm still careful with that. If I google "me", I'm all over the internet:

• Full Name: 14 hits including public filings that reveal my income for the world to see :eek:, membership on the board of a national organization, and other bona fides and accomplishments
• Casual Name: Fortunately, there are about five other folks in america with the same casual name...two attorney's, a business owner, a disney imagineer, and a basketball player. So, they have stuff that dilutes the ease of "finding me". But, if you know what you're looking for, you'll easily find residuals of our family website (even though I've taken it offline), the non-profit boards I'm on, non-business press releases that I didn't know I was quoted in :mad:, church committees I served on 10 years ago!:confused:, and directions to our house:eek:

So, by going through this exercise, I'm convinced that privacy is something that requires ACTIVE PROTECTION, since plenty will happen WITHOUT ANY EFFORT.

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Originally Posted by Mr. Silver

My persona is "me"...but I'm still careful with that. If I google "me", I'm all over the internet:

• Full Name: 14 hits including public filings that reveal my income for the world to see :eek:, membership on the board of a national organization, and other bona fides and accomplishments
• Casual Name: Fortunately, there are about five other folks in america with the same casual name...two attorney's, a business owner, a disney imagineer, and a basketball player. So, they have stuff that dilutes the ease of "finding me". But, if you know what you're looking for, you'll easily find residuals of our family website (even though I've taken it offline), the non-profit boards I'm on, non-business press releases that I didn't know I was quoted in :mad:, church committees I served on 10 years ago!:confused:, and directions to our house:eek:

So, by going through this exercise, I'm convinced that privacy is something that requires ACTIVE PROTECTION, since plenty will happen WITHOUT ANY EFFORT.

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I googled "Mr. Silver" and got all kinds of info! :D

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Originally Posted by kelownagirl

I googled "Mr. Silver" and got all kinds of info! :D

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Yeah, but did you google my full name: Mr. Golden Sterling Silver, IV:D

Did you know that Silver's first name is "Hi Yo"...?

I don't have a picture because I hate having my picture taken. Gir likes having his picture taken so I used his.

I don't use my real name because I don't want to. Might be hearing from Bruno about my name sounding like an Irish fish and chips Pub or something.

If I google my name, I get two or three hits that relate to me, all of which relates to some research I did in college and a paper I co-wrote (both are painfully boring).

As far as stealing my identity, the US Government has done more to ensure that happens than anything I can possibly manage. At some point, government carelessness has enabled the theft of records containing my entire military record up to 2006 and my employment info while I was a federal employee. If someone got their hands on that, they could re-create me better than I could.

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Originally Posted by Bruno28

You mean that isn't you playing the accordian? I'm crestfallen.

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Before Surgery, (or BS)

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Originally Posted by Mr. Silver

Yeah, but did you google my full name: Mr. Golden Sterling Silver, IV:D

Did you know that Silver's first name is "Hi Yo"...?

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I thought your real name was Max Power.

When I've googled my name, I didn't find anything about me.:cool: Surprisingly, I'm not the only one with my name in the U.S. though.

Googling my maiden name comes up with a few things about me, mostly academic. Googling my married name comes up with nothing about me in the first 10 pages, all other people with the same name. I had a very unique maiden name, not so unique married name (and it's only two letters off from a very, very, very famous actress, so Google asks "Did you mean blank blank?").

I'm cautious with my real name, address, date of birth, place of employment, for stalking/ ID theft purposes. Personal stuff I'm careful of in terms of prospective employers. Googling potential job candidates is becoming very common, and I don't want anything on the web that could be construed as a negative against me when job searching.