Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Yes, I google and facebook people all the time. I am curious. I believe you can find out a lot about a person, their religious beliefs, the political attitudes, if they cherish life, if they have verbal diarrhea, etc......
I don't believe you see the true person in one or two meetings.
I am all over the net, I'm like an open book. My business is primarily in the net. I like to know who I am dealing with, if they are trustworthy, moral, etc......
Right now I am moving into a new community where I know not one soul. I have met some families who are building along side with me. They have friended me on facebook. I look at their pages. Some I can see right off the bat if we will get along. Others I can see are nosey, gossipers, opinionated.......I will stay clear of the later.
I actually was in the model home discussing some details of my home with the builder when a woman came in and asked about our lot, brought up my name (not knowing I was sitting right there) and wanted to verify my credentials. It was funny.
When I told her "you are talking about me" she proceeded to tell me she wanted to make sure I was legit and not some hobo. She also told me she did a full search on me. She basically knew everything about me but she didn't recognize me, which she should have. This is a woman who is an HOA nosey body. But it doesn't really bother me.
I think in this day and age, more people do searches but don't want to own up to it. Either way, it doesn't matter. Do what feels right.
Why else would people do this. I'm the most guarded person I know and i would never google (or whatever) someone I was about to let into my personal life.
If I am the least bit suspicious I back off. My instinct has never failed me.
I'm just curious, for those of you that said yes. When you see the person a second time, would you be willing to say, "I saw on google that you..." whatever. Or would you feel weird owning up to it?
It totally depends on what sort of person they are and how well acquainted I am with them.
I think it's a bit silly that people are so paranoid and guarded about this. In today's day and age, much of what we consider our "sacred rights to personal privacy" are false security. See, even in my financial affairs, I do not assume that my information is secure. It's more a question of "when (not if) a breach occurs, how does my institution of choice deal with it? How difficult is it for me, working with them, to resolve?" So basic facts about what I do for a living, where I've lived, where I went to school, what my hobbies are...I give that up. I don't care. If I had much to hide, I would never post anything online, would have no profile here or anywhere, and would not carry a smart phone.
Watching as much cop drama as I do on TV, I feel like it's only a matter of time before we are on camera almost everywhere and our DNA is stored in a facility and searchable. Big brother...is big. Heck, people are installing these cable home security systems, putting cameras in and around their houses, and buying and installing the newest game consoles with always-on, always-connected webcams...not to mention the cameras on laptops, and the cameras and mic's on phones which you've given permission for a dozen apps to access at any time, probably without even reading what you were agreeing to. Remember when everyone wigged out about FB Messenger app? "It wants permission to access everything! omg!!" Guess what? The regular FB app that everyone already had, also requires those permissions. Privacy...it's a joke.
Back to the quoted thing though. The guy I mentioned a few pages upthread who was a chef and seemed to be making mucho bucks at it...when I searched him, I found a weird (REALLY weird) failed restaurant enterprise with a dubious celebrity from years ago, where the head of the restaurant end had the same name as this fellow. I actually messaged him later in the middle of another conversation and asked if that was him. Or rather said something to the effect of "that wasn't you, was it???" He said it wasn't. He was not offended that I'd looked.
I think that intent plays a big part in whether this kind of net snooping is creepy or not. If I look someone up, or try to, it simply means that I find them interesting and want to hear more of the story of their life. And yes, I could ask them, but sometimes it's not practical or convenient, or I feel I'd have to explain how I'm not up to anything, I'm just curious. But, as goes to show by this thread, people too often assume that there is some motive behind things beyond simple curiosity and desire to share the human experience. I get that a lot when I befriend males, there are always those who assume something is "up" because we could have sex if we wanted to. It's irritating. Sometimes...ya really just want to share your own story and hear someone else's. Sometimes, ya really just want a friend. It does not have to be more complicated than that. When I research someone, I don't want anything from them. I'm just interested in their story. That's it.
I do check Facebook and LinkedIn, not out of stalking but out of genuine interest in them. Since most of the time, you meet someone through a friend you already have, if the new person is on Facebook, they'll already be a "friend of a Friend" and will pop up at the top of the list. LinkedIn is interesting just to see what someone does for work, maybe where they went to school and what they studied, etc. You don't always ask all of these questions when you first meet someone, and I'm genuinely interested in such things. Would never hold it against them in a judgmental sense, but it tells you something about them you might not otherwise know. Of course, sometimes you have to be careful not to reveal knowing something about them that makes you seem like a stalker!
I think that intent plays a big part in whether this kind of net snooping is creepy or not. If I look someone up, or try to, it simply means that I find them interesting and want to hear more of the story of their life. And yes, I could ask them, but sometimes it's not practical or convenient, or I feel I'd have to explain how I'm not up to anything, I'm just curious. But, as goes to show by this thread, people too often assume that there is some motive behind things beyond simple curiosity and desire to share the human experience. I get that a lot when I befriend males, there are always those who assume something is "up" because we could have sex if we wanted to. It's irritating. Sometimes...ya really just want to share your own story and hear someone else's. Sometimes, ya really just want a friend. It does not have to be more complicated than that. When I research someone, I don't want anything from them. I'm just interested in their story. That's it.
I couldn't have said it better myself! Even before the internet, our "private" business wasn't really private. Anyone who wanted to could look up practically anything, it just involved a lot more legwork. We've been leaving a paper trail ever since record keeping was invented, it's just become a cyber trail now.
I wouldn't want to talk to a person and say "hey, I googled you and came up with this!"
Well of course you have to be discreet about it...if I see something on LinkedIn on someone at work, I will say "I happened to see your LinkedIn page, and it says you have a degree in ____? I find that really interesting".
If you got it from Facebook, you might be able to work that into a conversation, or else you can just manage to find a way to bring up the topic in question (innocently) and they will then tell you themselves that they have a fascination with it, etc.
Obviously, you don't go up to someone you've only met once and say "Hey, I see that you dressed as Princess Leia for Halloween 5 years ago" that you know from stalking 100 facebook photos!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
