Is it uncool not to have my name or e-mail on my profile? October 12, 2001 8:32 PM   Subscribe

How uncool is it to not post your name or e-mail? I did a googe search, found a pic of a lady with the same name but she is not me. So I changed my profile.
posted by redhead to Etiquette/Policy at 8:32 PM (24 comments total)

What on earth are you talking about?
posted by jpoulos at 9:06 PM on October 12, 2001


But I'm confused.....You still don't have your name or email in your profile.

I did a Google search on my name a while ago and the only thing that came up relating to me personally was my Metafilter profile. Even just adding your name to your profile will probably have the same effect for you; Metafilter's a very popular site.
posted by boaz at 9:18 PM on October 12, 2001


Makes sense to me. She doesn't want people googling her, finding this other person and thinking it's her, so she took her name and email out of her profile so this won't happen. Now she worries that she's not being a good community member if she's anonymous. Did I get that right, redhead?

I think it's great that you ask . There's been a lot of discussion here about whether anonymity is a good thing. Many of us believe that it's not, on the whole, though we respect people's need for privacy. But being accessible by email makes it possible to clear up possible problems "offline", without burdening the whole community.

Not posting your name is less of a problem. Lots of people here remain mysterious that way. My personal preference is to know who people are (in some way I can't quite define), but I wouldn't think less of you if you remained just "redhead."
posted by rodii at 9:19 PM on October 12, 2001


She doesn't want people googling her, finding this other person and thinking it's her,

Now I get it; sorry for the misunderstanding. I have a very rare name, so that's not a problem I'd have.
posted by boaz at 9:23 PM on October 12, 2001


maybe i don't realize the negative possibilities, but i don't mind putting my name up at all.. my name is pretty easily googled, having one of those crazy asian last names that came from one specific part of a town.. i only know of one guy who hast the exact same name as me (which was still weird.), and he happens to be a soccer player in south carolina, from what i've seen... lol, i think my site comes up as the first thing though when you search for "dorks named eric."
posted by lotsofno at 9:29 PM on October 12, 2001


I did have my name there, not my e-mail. i googled myself , found a link to a web site by some lady with same name as mine. There it was, a picture of this woman with redhair ( I am not making this up). I wouldn't want you to think she was me or I was her. So I took my name off my profile. It gave us all a good laugh at our house. It did get me wondering if the woman was getting bizarre msgs sent to her. My sister in law has the same name, and this is not her either. Maybe I should leave it up, the FBI can go looking for me there.
posted by redhead at 10:05 PM on October 12, 2001


I don't know, Red. That chick is pretty hot. Nice sweatshirt, too. Bet she made it herself.
posted by ColdChef at 11:24 PM on October 12, 2001


I have the same name as (amongst others) an astronomer in Edinburgh, a scriptwriter for BBC radio, one of the foremost authorities on period costume and the [ex-?]deputy head of the British National Party (the political wing of the Knucklescraping Fascist Bullyboy movement). Sadly the only one I've ever been confused with is the Fascist.

I do tend to think that people should have to give an email to sign up, but it needn't necessarily be shown (it seems that the people complained about on MeTa are email-less moreoften than not). Then at least Matt could mail them and tell them to Go and Boil their Head if they are stepping out of line.

Most people refer to each other by their pseudonyms anyway (kind of like how superheroes do), so the "real" name doesn't matter so much. It's interesting, though.
posted by Grangousier at 12:17 AM on October 13, 2001


I have the same name as a former Chicago Cubs baseball player and Arizona University coach (now retired). When you Google for me, most of the links you find are actually about him.
posted by kindall at 2:32 AM on October 13, 2001


Just so that no one wonders: My last name isn't really "action". It's just a nick-name that was given to me because of the veejay in my home town called "Kathy Action".
posted by Katy Action at 3:47 AM on October 13, 2001


My family name isn't really TheWonderChicken. But life would be a lot cooler if it was, I reckon.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 3:53 AM on October 13, 2001


How uncool is it to not post your name or e-mail?

Unless you are posting inflammatory messages, it probably doesn't matter.

However, it seems like your name is common enough that no one is likely to assume that all Google references are to the same person.
posted by rcade at 5:50 AM on October 13, 2001


(kind of like how superheroes do)

Yes! Exactly!
posted by rodii at 7:46 AM on October 13, 2001


Wow. I read the post for 10 minutes and couldn't make sense of it. Now I get it. Sorry.
posted by jpoulos at 8:16 AM on October 13, 2001


How long before the "other" redhead checks her referrer logs, and joins us here in the great meme melting pot?
posted by ceiriog at 10:35 AM on October 13, 2001


I once knew a guy from Sri Lanka who, when becoming a citizen and giving what would be his official name from there on out as far as the US government was concerned, added "White Tornado" in the middle. Or so I remember.
posted by Mo Nickels at 10:50 AM on October 13, 2001


hey redhead, you could just put your own photo up in your profile.
posted by palegirl at 12:27 PM on October 13, 2001


I once knew a guy from Sri Lanka

There's got to be a limerick in there somewhere.

I was sufficiently moved by this thread to delete my last name from my profile. Ha! I will be as the wind, moving among you silently in the night!

(and smelling a little gamey.)
posted by Kafkaesque at 12:42 PM on October 13, 2001


I once knew a guy from Sri Lanka
After wimples and veils he did hanker
Once he stole one
From a Carmelite nun
And the swine never bothered to thank her.
posted by Grangousier at 4:08 PM on October 13, 2001


I knew it was in there somewhere.

thanks Grang!
posted by Kafkaesque at 5:43 PM on October 13, 2001


I knew it was in there somewhere.

thanks Grang!
posted by Kafkaesque at 5:44 PM on October 13, 2001


get em
posted by clavdivs at 2:28 PM on October 14, 2001


Ok, Ok, you can find me here
posted by redhead at 7:41 PM on October 15, 2001


No dear, that's me and I am really a librarian.
posted by Lynsey at 8:21 PM on October 15, 2001


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