Several years ago, I ran across a term called “Vanity Googling.” You enter your name (in quotes) into Google to see how many pages your name appears on. There are numerous online tests associated with it, mostly revolving around your Internet Presence. Higher scores are given if more than 90% of the hits are actually about you (and not someone with the same name) and if 75% of the hits represent the image that you want to convey. Points are typically lost if most of the postings show you as a screaming, drooling forum troll, but points are given back if that’s actually what you want to be.
So I came across a page today that uses a Google vanity search to determine your Corporate Image. People are not always aware that what they post on the Internet is permanent, so if you want to land that dream job, don’t do anything that you wouldn’t want your prospective employer to find in a search. Once I completed the test (7.8 out of 10, wheee) I went in and actually looked at some of the less obvious hits. For example, the top hit is a link to my “bio” page on a site called Mobygames. They cataloged a bunch of information about games, game development, etc, back when I worked for Software Creations, and have me listed as “tester” for various Apogee games. The site is out of date and inaccurate in some spots, but it’s still the #1 hit. There are tons of pages with references back to my days as Sysop of SWC, including one posted on a website dedicated to making levels for DOOM. (I had to kick an immature moron off SWC because he didn’t know how to follow rules. In retaliation, he edited a ton of e-mails in order to defame me and several other members of SWC and posted it to his own BBS and several public DOOM editing forums. Names are spelled incorrectly in many cases, proving the forgery. Meh, I suppose if that’s what it takes to make him feel good about himself, it doesn’t bother me any. The people who matter know what really went on.)
I wrote many game walkthroughs back in the 90’s, but the only one that shows up in web searches is the one I did for Leisure Suit Larry 7. (Those that still have my name attached at least. I caught at least four web sites stealing my work and claiming it as their own.) Although, now that I think about it, most of the walkthroughs I did used an alias. Searching under that alias is pointless, as a lot of people use that name now (as opposed to maybe 12 years ago when stuff related to me was 7 out of the top ten hits.) God only knows why I chose to change that policy with a game like LSL7…
I have also been “taglined.” When SWC was still the place to be, many of us would make up taglines about each other. Some were related to current games, I had many related to my position as Sysop, and there were a few obscure ones that really would mean nothing to someone outside that group. (One friend would occasionally post a ton of replies at once, earning him nicknames like “The Mailin’ Machine,” along with several taglines.) I came across a tagline site that featured me in three of them, which again would mean nothing to someone who was not a member of SWC at that time.
I found my name on a web site in Scotland, as part of a list of quotations. The one that had my name attached to it was something I posted to a humor newsgroup a long time ago – “Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he’ll get nailed by a US nuclear submarine.” Internet permanency is a double edged sword at times – sure it will be floating around forever, but it was only relevant for about 4 weeks. Still, to have my name travel as far away as Scotland…
The rest are mostly archives and mirrors of postings I made to newsgroups about various topics ranging from Tundra trucks to Doctor Demento. Postings I made on various product web sites like Motorola and Jabra. Software support sites for software I haven’t used in years. At least I didn’t come across anything I would be ashamed of if my mother saw it (which is a good thing, since my mother is computer literate.) 🙂