Hindsight. Ick.

[mandolin]

Well, after perusing this article that heatherly posted, I need to figure out what to do about this blog. And my website in general, but mostly about this blog, since most of my petty ranting is here.

Too many entries come up when you Google my name, and although I'm pretty secure in my current job, I don't doubt that some employers would shun me based on my fannish tendencies. I don't post any public work-related rants, and I've blocked search engines from referencing my LJ - but that doesn't guarantee anything.

I suppose I'll have to yank the links off my site and create a separate update blog. Problem is, there's still my fan site to consider. I'd have to wipe out all instances of my name on it and then get everyone who refers to it in their links not to reference my name. Which may be pointless given that Google has a very long memory.

*sigh*

Yes, I should have used a handle back in '96.

*goes to start locking up some of my older entries*

Comments

[marielogan.livejournal.com]

I know just what you mean. I don't post anything publicly that I fear could give me grief. Now and again, I like to comically vent at the expense of some anonymous client, but I reckon anyone taking that too seriously would just want to do business with me anyway. LOL!

[kevenn.livejournal.com]

(Googled my name. . .went to Friends-Lock a post. . .)

Thanx. :)

[kimera.livejournal.com]

*googles her own name* Bwah. The only things that come up when I try are genealogy websites, and this.

Yay for friendslock, a hard-to-spell name, and a screenname that also happens to be the name of an anime. A formidable combination!

[jennies.livejournal.com]

I kinda find that sad. I mean, you are who you are, and you shouldn't feel the need to censor yourself just because of what a potential prospective employer might think about your opinion. You've got the right to free speech, and that shouldn't be squealched just because you're using a medium that gets around better than word-of-mouth. I myself wouldn't part with Bob Kiwi or the SisterHood sites/stories for the world, because they are my hobby, and my blog is just so much idle chitchat. Any employer that would hold either against me is not an employer I'd like to continue working for. Thank you, but no, Big Brother.

I can see where companies froth at the sight of an employees true feelings about them/their coworkers/current business practices, but then again, if you abhore working somewhere to the point where you just *need* to tell the world about it on a daily basis, why in the nine hells are you still *working* there in the *first* place? We have *enough* people on anti-depressants already; why add yourself to that statistic.

Additionally, as a government worker, as long as you're not blogging sensitive Top Secret/Secret/Classified tidbits, your blog cannot be held against you. Private companies have a bit more leeway, as they can hire and fire people at will, but not so, gov't employees. (Besides, my present employer came looking for me, and this was *after* I'd been brutally honest in my blog and exit interview about why I was leaving my previous job, part of which was "I'm tired of sitting around doing nothing and being told not to complain that I have nothing to do.")

Take a long, hard minute to think things over. Why are you active in fandoms? Why do you host game walkthroughs, write fanfiction, fiddle with webcomics and creative writing and tai chi and everything else? If you do it because you *enjoy* it, then why stop out of fear for reprisal over what prospective employers might think? Would you completely abandon the hobby, as well, or simply become a lurking shadow with a pseudonymn and an anonymous email account, checking on your closeted interests from a public-access terminal or booth at an Internet cafe' paid for in cash? It just strikes me as silly. Especially when the hobbies we're talking about here are completely legal endeavors. You're *not* part of a hate group, you're *not* doing drugs, and you're *not* teaching impressionable young minds new and interesting ways of bringing the world's computer systems to their knees. So who *cares* what your politics are, what type of music you listen to, whether or not you're a Red Sox fan, and what you'd do if the Department of Transportation was handed over to you?

This country was founded on freedoms, and we're gradually chipping away at that foundation in fear that we might possibly offend somebody, somehow, sometime. But by trying to please everybody, you wind up pleasing nobody - so why not just please yourself? You are, after all, entitled to your own opinion, and at least for the moment, you're free to express it. Because if no one does, if no one takes a stand, then by the time we *need* to, we'll long since have lost the *ability* to. And that's just not a reality I'm prepared to accept.

Just my two cents on the matter. I surrender the soapbox now.

[tptigger.livejournal.com]

Actually, fanfic is a copyright violation, albeit a usually ignored one.

[weirdweb.livejournal.com]

And until they stop ignoring it, I will continue to disclaim that it is not my universe, it is [insert company name here]'s universe, I don't have permission to use them, am making no profit off of them and therefore suing me would be a pointless endeavor.

That, and to be honest, it's probably not worth it to try to clean it up.

I should make sure none of my public posts divulge exactly where to find me. I found my name on an (outdated) fan registry which had my DOB and my (former) hometown, which bugged me a bit. It's probably a good thing I'm moving - I'll make sure that this time, my address is not attached to my phone number in the book.

And maybe locking some of the more vehement rants about Bill Gates would be wise...

[tptigger.livejournal.com]

If you googled my real name, the one I go by (the one on all my TP fanfic) you'd get my site in the first three hits.

If you google the name on my resume, the one employers know me by until I've accepted the job (one prospective PI figured out my nickname prior to that and that's 'cause he heard Mom call me to the phone), you get three pages of not-me. And obviously so.

I should probably get rid of my schooling from my home page, but really? If an employer doesn't like my fannish tendencies, then how long are they going to keep me around when they see me reading Arthur C Clarke and J.K. Rowling (and SFA scheduling secretary and mailing list admin is on my resume as it shows leadership skills).

Also, this is for tenured faculty positions, which are very, very competitive. So it helps narrow the field a lot. (Though I have to wonder what school in the midwest this came from, as it's dinging some bells for some reason...)

Still, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Though if you're really worried about your LJ, disable web crawlers and remove all the links.

[violetbloom.livejournal.com]

Horrified gasp. I just put my name in google thinking that I would find many other people with my name, but nothing with me. I am horrified. Look at this. Scroll down to the group shot of people around a HMMWV.

http://www.jpeocbd.osd.mil/documents/Vol1_Issue2.pdf

[violetbloom.livejournal.com]

It's page 24 to be precise.

[violetbloom.livejournal.com]

My job put me on the internet!