If you're an online bully, here's a new way to terrorize your victim for decades

[Le Jacquelope]

Read this article and then ponder the word "impersonation".

http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/jobseeker/tools/ept/printallept.html?post=35&eptTemplete=contributingauthor

The Savvy Networker
Liz Ryan, Yahoo! HotJobs

Pretty much everyone in the developed world has an online presence. It makes it easier for us to find long-lost schoolmates and summer-camp friends, among other uses. But a little public image goes a long way.

You're on Display

A majority of employers now routinely check their job candidates' MySpace, Linkedin and Facebook profiles for any impropriety, prior to making an offer. Can you blame them? It's not so much that your prospective employer worries about your keg parties or those photos of you with your favorite bong. It's that they worry, with reason, about your judgment in throwing these items online for anyone to see.

If you're so free with the shadier aspects of your private life, what might you say to the employer's biggest customer?

If you're job-hunting, clean up your online act, pronto. That means sanitizing your online profiles and cutting loose from Facebook friends whose profiles might tarnish yours. If you've written things on online forums that you'd rather not see the light of day any longer, write to the forum administrators. Ask them to remove those posts. The past can't be changed, but it can be spruced up a bit.

Review Your Blog Activity

Do you think your blog is a secret place to share your most private thoughts? Don't kid yourself. Anyone with an ounce of Internet-sleuthing ability can put your name to your blog without much trouble.

Not only can employees be fired for blog posts that their employers don't appreciate, but entrepreneurs can lose business via thoughtless blogging. If their blog entries aren't synched with their clients' views, clients will vote with their feet.

Blogs are great, but they're prone to rants and not-always-ready-for-prime-time editorial content. If you really want to preserve your innermost thoughts, you might need an old-fashioned paper journal.

Search for Yourself

Your driving tickets, your fines for barking dogs, your awe-inspiring or guffaw-inspiring finish times in the last couple of road races you ran -- all these things are available online. To see what others can find out about you with a click, do a search on your own name via Google, Yahoo!, or any other search engine.

If you're active in one or more Yahoo! groups for online discussion, pay close attention to your postings. Spam bloggers known as "sploggers" have taken to grabbing whole chunks of Yahoo! groups discussion and adding it to their blogs in order to earn money by sticking related ads next to the posts. That means that your wholesome posting recommending literature for middle-school girls might show up next to a bunch of splog ads proclaiming "Girls! Girls! Girls!"

If you run into that problem, you may have to write to the blogger's administrator to get the blog shut down. That's a pain, but it works.

As long as you're not Paris Hilton or one of her ilk, you're in charge of your own public image. Use your "screen time" wisely!

Liz Ryan is a 25-year HR veteran, former Fortune 500 VP and an internationally recognized expert on careers and the new millennium workplace. She is the author of "Happy About Online Networking," a popular speaker on workplace and work/life topics, and the leader of the global Ask Liz Ryan online community. Contact Liz at liz@asklizryan.com.

 

[Trinique_Fire]

You actually post here?

 

[Le Jacquelope]

You actually post here?

Yeah, I do. Occasionally. I'm getting my feet wet.

 

[Trinique_Fire]

Yeah, I do. Occasionally. I'm getting my feet wet.

This is kind of surreal.

 

[Le Jacquelope]

This is kind of surreal.

How so?

 

[Trinique_Fire]

How so?

Because I rarely, if ever see you over here. People on the GB seem allergic to the AH and vice versa.

I knew I liked you for some reason or other.

 

[Le Jacquelope]

Because I rarely, if ever see you over here. People on the GB seem allergic to the AH and vice versa.

I knew I liked you for some reason or other.

I can understand why. The GB is insane (for the most part).

 

[Trinique_Fire]

I can understand why. The GB is insane (for the most part).

So's the AH...sometimes.

 

[Le Jacquelope]

So's the AH...sometimes.

Amicus, for all his death threats and dodging of arguments, has better cognitive skills than 90% of the people on the GB. I can say something that someone disagrees with here and not get called a racial slur or be threatened (except by Amicus, lol).

It all looks good to me.

 

[Trinique_Fire]

Amicus, for all his death threats and dodging of arguments, has better cognitive skills than 90% of the people on the GB. I can say something that someone disagrees with here and not get called a racial slur or be threatened (except by Amicus, lol).

It all looks good to me.

Amicus? Christ. I've had him on iggy since forever...I totally forgot about him! Yeah, you can probably say almost anything on here, but then again, if you offend people on the AH, I can say with 99.99% surety that you won't get all rattled and haughty. Probably you'd have a well thought out response to go with it, too.

 

[Le Jacquelope]

Amicus? Christ. I've had him on iggy since forever...I totally forgot about him! Yeah, you can probably say almost anything on here, but then again, if you offend people on the AH, I can say with 99.99% surety that you won't get all rattled and haughty. Probably you'd have a well thought out response to go with it, too.

Yeah well I did get slapped around a bit talking about managers vs employees. But that was because I overextended myself.

So how long have you been here?

 

[Trinique_Fire]

Yeah well I did get slapped around a bit talking about managers vs employees. But that was because I overextended myself.

So how long have you been here?

Longer than my info says. I have another Lit handle that doesn't get used all that much. '03 or something like that.

 

[Le Jacquelope]

Longer than my info says. I have another Lit handle that doesn't get used all that much. '03 or something like that.

Another one, eh? I'm thinking of making another handle, but I don't want to deal with the "LT is trying to escape his nickname" bs.

"LovingTongue" was what I was using to look for fuckbuddies.

 

[rgraham666]

Sigh. Yet another limitation on our freedom of speech.

Now every time we post something the question will be 'How will this affect my chances of getting a job?' With the answer, 'Probably badly. So I'd better shut up.'

Sigh.

 

[Le Jacquelope]

Sigh. Yet another limitation on our freedom of speech.

Now every time we post something the question will be 'How will this affect my chances of getting a job?' With the answer, 'Probably badly. So I'd better shut up.'

Sigh.

They don't use Government troops to silence free speech in America. They use stuff like this.

But this is not the worst threat of all.

Impersonation is the thing you should be most worried about.

 

[BlackShanglan]

I recently read a law professor's brief article on the topic of expungement in which she pointed out that whether one legally expunged a past conviction or not, in an Internet age, it would very likely remain in various online records indefinitely. While one is not legally required to reveal expunged offenses to an employer who asks about one's criminal record, she's now advising people that it may be better to reveal them, as the employer is still likely to find them in a background check. Better at least to have the credit for honesty.

My feelings on that are mixed. I've always had ambiguous feelings about expungement, so I suppose that that keeps me on the fence.

 

[jomar]

You're fired for your GB behavior!

Actually, you'd think it would be common sense not to put "damaging" stuff online, but I recall seeing some guy's online resume with a bunch links to porn. And he was actively looking for work.

 

[Liar]

This is why people use nicknames.

What so many fail to realize is that the internet is a giant publishing media. if you write an article or op-ed for a magazine, use your real name and get it printed, it's not going to go away either.

 

[BlackShanglan]

*nods to Liar*

Indeed. In its own way, it's the ultimate in free speech - people are actually listening. One does, however, need to remember which venues are private and which are public.

 

[Trinique_Fire]

Another one, eh? I'm thinking of making another handle, but I don't want to deal with the "LT is trying to escape his nickname" bs.

"LovingTongue" was what I was using to look for fuckbuddies.

Fuck the "LT is trying to escape his nickname" people.

 

[Le Jacquelope]

I recently read a law professor's brief article on the topic of expungement in which she pointed out that whether one legally expunged a past conviction or not, in an Internet age, it would very likely remain in various online records indefinitely. While one is not legally required to reveal expunged offenses to an employer who asks about one's criminal record, she's now advising people that it may be better to reveal them, as the employer is still likely to find them in a background check. Better at least to have the credit for honesty.

My feelings on that are mixed. I've always had ambiguous feelings about expungement, so I suppose that that keeps me on the fence.

Plenty of people do a lot of damage to themselves.

But nowadays people can film you (without your consent) picking your nose or other things that, under the right conditions, can have the whole world laughing at you. (1) Plenty of employers - human beings that they are - are petty enough that they would not hire you. And in today's supertight job market, such a move can cost you weeks or even months or years of pay. (2)

And then there's the KillSwitch effect: you give your name to someone in private and they out you and your name gets tied to some superduper unsavory (and in his case highly racist) comments you've made. (3) See (2) for what happens next.

Now granted, I'm not so worried about (3). But (1) bothers me, due to the pettiness.

But it's (4) that you should be quaking in your boots about.

(4) is when some fellow high schooler who doesn't like the "class nerd", gets with his buddies and makes a MySpace page with the class nerd's face and name and starts posting insane rants under his name. Stuff that won't get you put in jail, but which will scare an employer. Stuff like "hahahah that dood shot up a Wal Mart hahahah take that mister boss man!" Fortunately it's easy to trace because most young online bullies do not know how to log into a Russian anonymizing proxy server and launch their war of defamation by impersonation from there. But the knowledge is filtering down. Bullies that didn't know of the web 10 years ago will know of Russian anonymizing proxy servers 5 years from now.

Angry and jilted coworkers (maybe one that you got FIRED), especially ones who are older and more net savvy, are in a position today to go with scenario (4) and, with their in depth knowledge of where you worked, do some career ending damage to you. They would know about the slim chance of being traced and caught, and start out using Russian proxy servers. Without a person to convict or sue, your reputation remains ruined because no one has seen or caught the perp. It's like going to your auto insurance company saying someone did a hit and run on you; your rates go up because that one's on you.

This scenario (4) is already happening right now, in an infancy sort of way:
http://www.dontdatehimgirl.com/index2.html (case in point)

 

[Ulaven_Demorte]

This scenario (4) is already happening right now, in an infancy sort of way:
http://www.dontdatehimgirl.com/index2.html (case in point)

Those poor poor scumbag men.

Don't those women know that you're not supposed to warn others about people who routinely use and abuse women emotionally, financially, and at times physically? They're supposed to take their lumps and be damned glad of them, right? To hell with that.

It's easy.
If you, (by "you" I mean any man, before LT gets his knickers in a twist and thinks I'm accusing him of something. ) don't want to be splashed all over the pages of a site like Don't date him girl then treat the women you date like people instead of objects, treat them like you actually have an ounce of respect for them instead of thinking they're stupid enough to fall for your smooth line while you're running around behind their back.

Personally I think it's a good thing to track potential cheaters, and people looking for "fuckbuddies" without their significant other's consent. Sure there is room for abuse like anything else, but I'll wager the men wrongly accused are few and far between.

As for being held accountable for your online activities..

Well, you reap what you sow as far as I'm concerned. Any employer is welcome to read my Blog, if they can actually put my real name to my Blog, which I seriously doubt. Same goes for any forum posts I have made. Have at it, I don't have anything to hide at all. I can understand why some may not want the activities of their "alter egos" to be brought into real life, I'm just not one of those people. I have nothing to be ashamed of and nothing to hide from anyone.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Just to put in a word for "alter egos" and those more concerned with privacy - a desire for privacy isn't necessarily born of dishonesty or a feeling of shame about one's actions. Until I recently left my place of employment, I worked in an industry that is traditionally quite conservative and I managed a large group of subordinates. I simply didn't care to have said subordinates passing around my porn and snickering rather than doing their jobs, or to have a superior begin to ask searching questions about my personal activities.

 

[Recidiva]

Just to put in a word for "alter egos" and those more concerned with privacy - a desire for privacy isn't necessarily born of dishonesty or a feeling of shame about one's actions. Until I recently left my place of employment, I worked in an industry that is traditionally quite conservative and I managed a large group of subordinates. I simply didn't care to have said subordinates passing around my porn and snickering rather than doing their jobs, or to have a superior begin to ask searching questions about my personal activities.

I find it an intense shame that you'd feel the need to conceal a single word you've written for any reason, but I understand.

 

[Le Jacquelope]

Those poor poor scumbag men.

Don't those women know that you're not supposed to warn others about people who routinely use and abuse women emotionally, financially, and at times physically? They're supposed to take their lumps and be damned glad of them, right? To hell with that.

It's easy.
If you, (by "you" I mean any man, before LT gets his knickers in a twist and thinks I'm accusing him of something. ) don't want to be splashed all over the pages of a site like Don't date him girl then treat the women you date like people instead of objects, treat them like you actually have an ounce of respect for them instead of thinking they're stupid enough to fall for your smooth line while you're running around behind their back.

Personally I think it's a good thing to track potential cheaters, and people looking for "fuckbuddies" without their significant other's consent. Sure there is room for abuse like anything else, but I'll wager the men wrongly accused are few and far between.

As for being held accountable for your online activities..

Well, you reap what you sow as far as I'm concerned. Any employer is welcome to read my Blog, if they can actually put my real name to my Blog, which I seriously doubt. Same goes for any forum posts I have made. Have at it, I don't have anything to hide at all. I can understand why some may not want the activities of their "alter egos" to be brought into real life, I'm just not one of those people. I have nothing to be ashamed of and nothing to hide from anyone.

You genuinely do not believe a woman can LIE about her ex-boyfriend in order to smear his reputation permanently?

You're a fool if you think men who are wrongly accused are few and far between.