Yes, and I'd just like to add: I love the fact that we'll never know if we know each other because outside of cyberspace, I'm a tough, no-nonsense, deadly serious and intense wannabe authority (on not very much at all). I wouldn't describe myself as seahorse though - more a sea urchin.

Hmm... i dont know, I do feel I want to meet you guys sometime, in the offline world, like real people... I get the logic of anonymity, but I am convinced that I'd really love meeting all or some of you! but forum meets somehow never work out here I see..for the anon reason...

Not quite the same, but I once spotted someone who posted on here, posting on a different forum. I messaged them to ask if they were the same person...and they were...I don't know them at all, but the posts on the two forums (under different names) were similar in style and content.

I found this quite spooky - I wasn't actively stalking but made the connection. It made me wary of my own non-anonymity.

If anyone fancies actually finding out about people there are people search engines like pipl or spock that can find people according to usernames/actual names/e-mail addresses. I've managed to find quite a lot of information about people I don't like (following the Jedi code, I only use my powers for good.)


Try searching for yourself....then feel more paranoid!

======= Date Modified 20 Dec 2009 09:29:33 =======
Well thanks a fliipping bunch Slizor! I really doubt I'd post on hear if I weren't annonymous and you have just bloody well blown it, and potentially got a lot of people into trouble. Thanks for ruining things for people. How selfish!!!! Mods, please delete the stalkers' support group post below. Keep your stalker's tricks to yourself Slizor.

Slizor: if people want you to know who they are, they wil f*****g well tell you; have some respect for other people's privacy!!!

Jeebus Christ, I wasn't recommending people go searching for people on the forum, but that they search for themselves. You'd be surprised at what you can find and what trails you've left across the internet. If you want to keep your anonymity then I suggest you look yourself up and see what you've left behind and what you can clean up. Did you even bother to have a look?

They are also, as I originally said, good for finding out about people you don't like. I uncovered a shit load of nepotism around a guy who stole my friend's work for a publication.

And it's hardly a secret. Spock is quite famous.

I had a go with those two search engines, and found less than I find via Google. *shrugs*

I certainly don't know any of you PhD losers.

Takes one to know one Barny. (sprout)

Me too.

With the exception of one of my email addresses which threw up an old Amazon account I never use.

I just tried looking for myself with this (not out of vanity!) and there's nothing on me out there on the internet. Like has already been stated - Google is much more effective for stalkers. In fact when I Google my real name, Malcome Bradbury Weinerhausenschmuck (close but not that close to my real name), I get a list of all the research that I'm doing and a conference I attended too. This could, I suppose, put me in a dangerous position if there are any highbrow and dangerous stalkers out there.(gift)

There is not one thing about me on the internet. When I type my name, username, email address etc nothing comes up. However, when I google image myself, a photograph of a balding female wrestler/body builder comes up. :(

haha, Maria1! Have you ever done a vanity search on Google images, which basically involves inputting your name and then hitting enter to see how attractive other people that share your name are? I know it's sad and weird, but an it can make an interesting form a procrastination. The first page of my Google images search has a lot of men on with bald heads and double chins...an unfortunate condition of the men who share my name and a sign of things to come? I hope not!

Hmm, maybe I've just wasted more time on the internet than other people. It's also a lot easier to find people who are deluded narcissitic self-publicists (obvoiusly.) I've googled myself, apparently an 1970s Italian b-movie director adopted my name because he thought it sounded American.

when I Google myself I get, apart from stuff about a committee I'm on, a picture of an Irish setter in the Czech Republic who has won several competitions. No lie.