What's the most interesting thing you found Googling yourself?

jst1ofknd thought this was worth mentioning said Thu, Aug 30th 2018 at 11:42pm ET

I found out that I was a published photographer. This was very interesting because 1) it was actually me (not just someone with the same name) and 2) I am not a photographer.

I had uploaded a couple of photos on one of those sites that pay you if some picks your picture and forgot about it. A few years later I was ego surfing and found I was credited for a photo on an online magazine. It looked vaguely familiar, I logged into this site again and it was indeed my picture.

12 comments, 6 replies
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Kidsandliz said Thu, Aug 30th 2018 at 11:57pm ET:

Someone with my name runs a major foundation. Hope when people google me in conjunction with job applications they think that person is me. Another “me” is an accountant. Another an elementary school teacher…

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therealjrn said Thu, Aug 30th 2018 at 11:58pm ET:

I found a few imposters with my name, but I’m the only real one.

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- @therealjrn Slim Shady, is that you?
  
  lichme said Fri, Aug 31st 2018 at 11:19am ET
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lseeber said Fri, Aug 31st 2018 at 9:37am ET:

Dominatrix

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Targaryen said Fri, Aug 31st 2018 at 10:11am ET:

My name was created at Ellis Island and very few have it, so most anything I find is put there by me.

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walarney said Fri, Aug 31st 2018 at 10:14am ET:

I have a fairly uncommon name, but there is a real estate agent in Canada who is trying their best to plaster it across the entire internet.

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Moose said Fri, Aug 31st 2018 at 10:42am ET:

Well @jst1ofknd, did you get paid?

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- @Moose
  
  I did not. The EULA specifically stated that you have to sell a certain number of pictures before they pay you. I had no problem with that because it was just a whim to upload what I did.
  
  My payment has come in the form of telling this story several times over the years.
  
  jst1ofknd said Fri, Aug 31st 2018 at 10:49am ET
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lisaviolet said Fri, Aug 31st 2018 at 10:52am ET:

This is the most interesting thing I’ve found as of this morning.

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- @lisaviolet
  
  And you found that by Googling yourself?
  
  jst1ofknd said Fri, Aug 31st 2018 at 10:53am ET
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- @jst1ofknd Hands on keyboard Googling. lol
  
  lisaviolet said Fri, Aug 31st 2018 at 11:12am ET
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RiotDemon said Fri, Aug 31st 2018 at 11:21am ET:

There’s only two people with my name. My last name is not spelled correctly. In Norway there is extra letters that don’t exist in English.

I haven’t looked in years. Scary. I want to be oblivious.

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- @RiotDemon
  We seem to be in the same boat!
  I, too have a Nordic spelling of a German name. 1of1. It is awful.
  
  lysdexia said Fri, Aug 31st 2018 at 11:57am ET
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lysdexia said Fri, Aug 31st 2018 at 11:48am ET:

I have a very rare name, as in maybe 1 of 1.
Knowing this, I take special care of this name on Google. It all leads back to me!

For that very reason you will find no evidence of me via Facebook, only business related forum posts, and of course a very well written LinkedIn profile.

Zero and I do mean that, zero pictures that uniquely identify me. If I come across one on Facebook for example, I request the person remove it. Friend or not, no friend would publish my identity for the world to see.

Maybe it bothers me more than it should.

Gmail on the other hand is a whole different story. My last name connected with the first consonant of my first name will give you a number of results.
Not the right kind of results, either. The kind that use MY Gmail address as their own. And not just as their spam address, we’re talking anything from online stores, real estate brokers, to airline / trip sites. And while this can lead to fun in the case of being able to click a link, visit an airline site and change, for just an example, the add-ons or for another example, requesting wheel chair access from entrance of the building to their gate, and while I’m not opposed to receiving interesting confidential materials, I’m not keen on the spammy places this group of people sign up for.

What’s worse is there really is no way to inform these people of what they are doing. I mean sure I could spend time googling, but I feel like if they’re doing this on a daily basis the odds that they are tech inclined are minimal.

I had someone just yesterday signing up for a random site, let’s call it Redbox, and I unsubscribed only to receive a second email where they requested their password reset, due to their account being closed in the process of my unsubscription. Things like this happen on a daily basis and if anyone has a solution outside of days spent researching contact information of the 8 -10 people doing this on my good name, or changing my legal name and starting fresh please advise.

My mom, bless her, told me to just register a new account. While logical I suppose, I feel like I earned this account, having been in the initial 1000 user beta program. I do not want name1236321@gmail.com.

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Shrdlu said Fri, Aug 31st 2018 at 5:47pm ET:

I got vaguely curious, and went off to google just to see what would come up. This one was just flat spooky.

Please note, It’s A Spoof. That means it’s not for real…but some of those details were still spooky. Lucky for me, I’m not male.

https://www.thespoof.com/spoof-news/us/130716/why-wont-trump-revoke-shrdlus-security-clearance

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- @Shrdlu First we get Alex Jones, and now President Trump is trying to influence the meh forums? That dude is all up in everybody’s business!
  
  therealjrn said Fri, Aug 31st 2018 at 6:16pm ET
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mike808 said Sat, Sep 1st 2018 at 1:42am ET:

What’s the most interesting thing you found Googling yourself?

My Yahoo.

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ruouttaurmind said Sat, Sep 1st 2018 at 7:27pm ET:

That I do not exist.

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