[pirilin]

Yesterday I was trying to get into yet another email address I opened and forgot the password. I typed pirilin and I happen to be in the WWW for everybody to see.
Not only that. I've used several names thru the years and each and everyone has at least one post. Type your username, or mine and check it out.

[boogiesmash]

Yup that's why I use my code name

[bizi]

I just goggled bizi and got nothing but other sites etc. I then goggled my nick name and my last name because I go by that in real life too. and nothing in the first pages comes up.
Good!
bizi

Nothing under my code names. Quite a bit under my real name, including 2 pictures I had no idea were online. I write a lot of letters to the editor, and some articles for newsletters, testify at public meetings, so that's why. I do check my name from time to time. One time, I was s shocked to see a very old newspaper article from when I was "out" about my bipolar. That article was published years and years before the internet even existed! It was never intended to be read in perpetuity. Some mental health organization had put it on their website. So when I googled my name, there I was -- immediately at the top of the page identified as bipolar. I immediately wrote to the organization saying they must take it down, and they did. Whew.

[MtnTime2896]

Yeah, this is the only site where I use this name. I can't have it anywhere else over the web. I don't want someone I know to find me on this.

Might get it tattooed, though. Has a lot of meaning to me.

Only 3 things with my real name. An art sales site, a photo site with pictures of such items (hard to avoid if it's what you sold under....) and one picture, for being in an event organizing committee many years ago. Oh, and probably a fossilized FB from that fiasco of trying to accommodate people. Nothing there. I hate them and very much regret having even ventured there.
That's it.

I run fairly paranoid.

Anywhere else it's screen name and different in each place. Even with my ghostly internet presence, I've run into what you say, pirilin. And it's for here. It's really weird to look something up and see your stuff among the top hits(!) Of all the people in the world(!) Yikes.

It does let you know here that material is available to the search engines. From the FAQ:
"Do search engines index the forums?
Yes, we allow search engines to index our community, to help others find emotional and mental health support online. We explicitly suggest members choose a username upon registration that is not used elsewhere online, to help with your online privacy."

Though I err on the side of caution, I still do get paranoid over it once in awhile, I'm usually pretty ok with my Mystery Level. You may not know WHO I am, but you can rest assured that I'm exactly what I say.

Does anybody know -- if a person googles a question or topic seeking information about a sexual practice, will the poster get a lot of sexual spam mail? Just some curiosity on my part.

[bioChE]

Originally Posted by flowerbells

Does anybody know -- if a person googles a question or topic seeking information about a sexual practice, will the poster get a lot of sexual spam mail? Just some curiosity on my part.

No, googling has nothing to do with your email. Go ahead and search. Use a Private or Incognito search tab if you want.

[Nammu]

Nothing out there but one old address

[Trippin2.0]

I only exist online in ways that don't matter to me

You type in my name, you get my Linked In and a positive review for some writing I did for someone, also there's Google+ link that simply states I haven't shared anything.

My FB is so private it doesn't even pop up.

My PC username brings up a lot of people that aren't me, no PC on the first page of google.

Funny I don't really try to hide, but glad I'm not all over the show.

Originally Posted by bioChE

No, googling has nothing to do with your email. Go ahead and search. Use a Private or Incognito search tab if you want.

This naturally raises the question, what exactly has bioChE been Googling lately?

[bioChE]

Originally Posted by Lefty the Salesman

This naturally raises the question, what exactly has bioChE been Googling lately?

Mainly stuff about small, furry Martians. And wormholes.

My email got filled with spam on how to make the best pan-galactic gargle blasters.

[Moose72]

If I search my user name on Google I come up with snow plows and my profile here

[ByMySide]

My username came from song lyrics, and I don't use it anywhere else.

If I search my real name (and I do, occasionally) a paper and presentation from my undergrad pops up, along with academic awards. However, when I searched it 2-3 years ago, I came across a blog written by one of my ex-friends who had trashed me & put my full name of her blog, along with my location. I notified the host of the blog & they took her entire blog down.