the joys of having a unique name

[baratron]

omfg. Type my real, full name into Google in quotes - and EVERY SINGLE ONE of the hits is me.

The freaky part? Some of those are links to my page FROM PEOPLE I DON'T KNOW.

*hyperventilates*

Comments

[barakta]

Same for my name. Actually before I changed my forename, Jules found a 15yr old picture of me on my hearing aid company's website. The bastards had uploaded it with my fullname, and an incorrect medical history advertising their product.

I sent them a very snappy email asking them to remove the picture and my fullname. I explained that I had agreed for that to be published in a print magazine which would only be around audiological place - not the sodding Internet three years later. I pointed out that legally they were in the dubious position, and that I hadn't appreciated that much personal information linked to my real name. At that point I was using the name natalya_d and while being open about my surname being that of a large computer company, I didn't really want people to be able to google me.

Eventually we compromised by replacing the photo with a more recent one and correcting the medical history. The 18yr old me + still incorrect history is not on Entific's website (locked behind a registration) but it has migrated to another BAHA site which gakked Entific's content at some point.

I really ought to contact the webmaster of the other site and get them to at least modify the detail so they are correct. I hate incorrect info online more than I hate the info being there. I made the decision to be honest about my deafness on my job applications, cos my history looks wrong/odd without it. I can't explain my increasingly fragmented educational experience and lack of career without it.

Maybe the links are friends of friends... Still scary though...

[baratron.livejournal.com]

Nah, I went to these people's web sites, and they don't list other people in common. COMPLETELY FREAKED OUT, HERE!

I need to spam Google to get some of my hits off the front page, as well.
Who the hell wants to be reminded of student union politics from 1998? Ugh.
And my PhD (failed) is up there as well. Joy!

At least I am no longer the first hit for baratron! MKS (the makers of the Baratron (R)) must have done some serious spammage to knock me off! Either that, or my fragmented posting history has done it.

Still hyperventilating!

[barakta]

Meep! That's kind of creepy. Good luck with Google, I hope they respect your wishes. Student Union politics exists to haunt us I am sure *shudder*.

[xlerb.livejournal.com]

There was some FSVO-controversy at one point about how weblog-like things were getting (it was alleged) artificially inflated rankings on Google and such, due to how things wounds up linked to each other. I've forgotten what little of the details I knew, but some things were done to fix that, and so that might be one reason why you've declined compared to the original Baratron®.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_nicolai_/]

Well, change your name to Bruce then.

[epi-lj.livejournal.com]

You can get the same effect by typing my first name only, which is, as far as I know, globally unique. Whee!

On the other hand, most of what you get is me commenting to web forums. I don't think anyone links to me or anything.