Chit Chat

S/O Do you google people you encounter online?

So this catfish discussion has me wondering just how common it is to try to find the "real" version of people you encounter online. I think we're all naturally curious, and want to know more about people. But how far do you go?

I met my H through an online dating site. We chatted online for a couple of weeks and then on our first "official" date, I became aware that he knew my last name and where I worked because of Google. I had told him my first name, and I had used my middle name (which is very unusual) as part of my dating profile username. This totally freaked me out at first because I had always been intensely private, but he just said "Oh, I Google all my dates". I guess he learned that I was legit and didn't have any associations with sketchy websites, and it all had a happy ending. (But to this day I still joke around with him and call him a "stalker").

Re: S/O Do you google people you encounter online?

  • At my old job I looked people up on LinkedIn when we got the new hire notice. At my current job, we are interviewing and I've looked them up on LinkedIn; and one when he didn't have a LinkedIn profile, I looked him up on Facebook.
  • At my old job I looked people up on LinkedIn when we got the new hire notice. At my current job, we are interviewing and I've looked them up on LinkedIn; and one when he didn't have a LinkedIn profile, I looked him up on Facebook.
    Yep, I've done this ^^. Anything else, I'm not really that interested. Unless you're looking after my kid. Then maybe I'll use any connection that I have legal or otherwise to make sure that you are who you say you are as well as demanding a vulnerable sector check.
  • lyndausvilyndausvi mod
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    edited July 2015
     I've tired to find a few knotties over the years.   I've been on here for a long time. I can say I've only tried to find less than an handful of users.   For the most part I just don't care.  However, there have been a few that have peaked my interest.  MI was one of those people recently.   

    Spring123 (or something like that) is one I looked up.   S/he has some weird thing when it comes to tipping servers.  She popped on here once ranting about tips. I recognized the style of writing from other site.   I did a quick google and sure enough she was on a lot of different sites ranting about tipping servers and ranting over something about extra ranch dressing.


    ETA - I also google members from time-to-time.  I'm curious where they get their money.     I googled one member who can be an ass.  Come to find out he had been disbarred for a few years for sleeping with a client.  Now I think he is even more of an ass.      I don't understand why his wife is still with him either.






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  • I don't Google people I meet on social boards.  I use LinkedIn weekly as a recruiting tool.
  • Nope.  I just don't care enough.

  • I personally don't google people I encounter online.  I'm not in the profession of needing to check Linked In profiles and such.
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  • I've googled a few people from here when their screen name is obviously their name. I've never done anything malicious and I've always told them how easy they were to find and to change their name. 

    I also did try to find magicink. And that girl who posted way too much info on her husband's car accident. 
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  • For work/hiring, yes. I used LinkedIn, Facebook, Google in general...

    For kicks on a place like TK, not very often at all. I've found a few knotties IRL, but I don't do anything with the information other than satisfy my own curiosity, so it's kind of a waste of time for me.
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  • I've never looked anyone up from TK. I feel like a total fool and super naive because I just assume people tell the truth about who they are, and it has never occurred to me to try to look up details or whatever. 

    The farthest I've gone was when I interviewed someone and her resume had some obvious lies. She claimed to have several prestigious memberships but when I checked the membership sites, she was definitely not a member of any of them. 
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  • KatWAGKatWAG member
    First Anniversary First Answer First Comment 5 Love Its
    edited July 2015
    The only time I did was when some idiot asked for help to create a wedding hashtag. she posted her and her fi's full names. I told her she should remove the information quickly because internet security is real. She said she didn't care. So I googled her and posted the her job title to prove a point.
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  • scribe95 said:
    I'm a reporter so I google/look into pretty much everyone :)

    Back when I had roommates the joke was I would immediately check their criminal records etc. I mean I really did it, though. 

    Only ever did it one time on here - MI.
    I used to work at the courthouse so I looked up everyone I could ever think of. Found some interesting shit. 
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  • scribe95 said:
    I'm a reporter so I google/look into pretty much everyone :)

    Back when I had roommates the joke was I would immediately check their criminal records etc. I mean I really did it, though. 

    Only ever did it one time on here - MI.
    I used to work at the courthouse so I looked up everyone I could ever think of. Found some interesting shit. 
    When I did customer service at a casino resort, I looked up everyone I knew in the casino's system to see their gambling records. Never told anyone, cuz obviously it's really private information, but there were some surprises for sure. 
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  • I haven't googled anyone from TK. I also feel like I don't follow one individual members posts close enough to connect a bunch of details in order to try to google them. For example, with MI, I knew that she was a tattoo artist, but didn't really know she owned a shop (I prob didn't read when she wrote that, or forgot). And I kept thinking she lived in California. I vaguely remember the turkey baster story, but don't think I read her pregnancy post (and if I did, I don't remember it well enough). 

    I've met a few knottie's IRL, and I only googled one after the fact, but it was Lacquered, after she posted that she was featured on tv or something.  I was trying to find her segment. 
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  • FH and I met online.  He looked up my facebook profile, and myspace, and friendster.  He said our first few dates were nerve wracking for him because he had to remember what he knew because I told him and what he knew from my various profiles.
  • I've googled a few people from here when their screen name is obviously their name. I've never done anything malicious and I've always told them how easy they were to find and to change their name. 


    I also did try to find magicink. And that girl who posted way too much info on her husband's car accident. 
    Those are my two as well!

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  • Nope. Even sometimes when a newbie will fuck up and post their wedding website or full invitation I honestly don't bother because what does it do for me? Nothing.

    But I will admit that since I've been house hunting my new obsession is going on the city registry of deeds website and looking up how much people paid for their houses.

                                                                     

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  • jenna8984 said:

    Nope. Even sometimes when a newbie will fuck up and post their wedding website or full invitation I honestly don't bother because what does it do for me? Nothing.

    But I will admit that since I've been house hunting my new obsession is going on the city registry of deeds website and looking up how much people paid for their houses.


    I haven't looked up deeds but I did go through this year's county property assessment rolls to prove to H that our neighbors across the street only rent the house they live in, not own it. We have very strong suspicions that shady things are going on at their house (specifically selling drugs) and I wanted to verify that they are only renters and, fingers crossed, won't be there forever. 
  • I have never looked up a member of TK, mostly because I just don't care enough to do any background searching. 

    I do Google people who email me at work, though. Usually it's because I want to understand why someone is being a moron.
  • edited July 2015
    When I was online dating, yes, I'd look men up. 

    But other than that? Nope. We're here more or less anonymously by choice. I've posted a few pictures from my wedding since this is a wedding site. Since I want to remain pretty much anonymous, I respect that anonymity for others as well. 

    ETA: How could I forget? I've googled exes to see what they're up to. One guy has no social media footprint and appears to be a lawyer in California. Glad he's living his dream. My best friend googles exes from our high school years and one of hers has been in jail for years. Ooopsies. 
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  • I look up people I come across at work all the time on LinkedIn, mainly to put a face with a name and to see what their job history looks like. I have never looked up anyone on TK, mainly because my googling/sleuth skills are sadly lacking or I don't care enough (like when someone makes it painfully easy by using their first and last name as a username, for instance). 
  • Does Jashley count?  Definitely googled her.  Other than that not on here, I guess because I can't imagine someone would want to catfish on a wedding planning site.  I google the everloving hell out of people for work though, when someone files a new lawsuit.  It's amazing what people post publicly online.
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  • Nope.  I really can't be bothered.  I do occasionally Google me, to find what there is and what I can make more private.  Or friends and family for similar reasons.  

  • No, I usually don't. Occasionally, I have when people in here use their full names as usernames. I'm a reporter, so I know how to look people up pretty easily, particularly criminal records. I purposefully avoid doing that to people I meet. I probably wouldn't do that if I wasn't a reporter, so I'm not doing it just because I am. I don't usually meet people online. Usually it's through mutual friends, relatives, a real life group or my church. I did meet a few people through a forum that I am now friends with. It was crazy, because it turned out two of my IRL friends were on the site. It was a tiny site (started out with 30 or so people and is down to maybe 10 posters) and I friended them only after a year and then only allowed them on my restricted list for at least a year after that. I also knew several of the posters knew the others IRL. I still have never thought to google any of them.
  • Google is my BFF - i love research stuff online. Yes, I look up people on occasion. Depends how curious I am - which isn't too often on TK.

    As for online dating, you can bet your sweet ass I did. I even checked the court websites and told all my friends to do the same. It saved one friend from going out with a registered sex offender caught with child porn - she has 2 young boys.
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  • kvrunskvruns member
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its First Answer
    I did when online dating and a couple times found out the guy was lying and I stopped it there. I will search for people we are interviewing sometimes but not random Knotties or anything like that.
  • Rarely.

    Online forum?  Almost never.  Just don't care.  There were two times that I did, but it was a forum where people organized a lot of holiday swaps or purchased products from each other and we had two very persistent members that would always turn up under different user names and try to cheat people out of money or products (one even faked a story about her husband dying to get sympathy and people to donate to her - this was before gofundme).

    Dating (online or otherwise unless I know you through a friend)?  Pretty good chance I'll at least do an initial search just to make sure nothing unsavory turns up and some basic details check out, but nothing too involved.

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