Digital stalking...Follow

Back in college, prior to the advent of Facebook or Myspace, there was this a student registry on the campus network. It contained pretty much every piece of data the school had on students and faculty, and anyone with a student/faculty login had unrestricted access to the information. The student populace referred to it as "Stalker Net". With a first or last name, you could find out their major, classes, where on or off campus they current resided, where they were from, etc.

Now with Facebook that information and more is readily available on a lot of people without many restrictions.

The other day I found myself looking up a person I just met earlier that day to see what they were like. Yes, they were female. Yes, I browsed their shared images. And I just remembered "Stalker Net".

Have you ever found yourself "stalking" a person online?

Liar.

Asking if someone has ever facebook stalked is like asking if they've ever googled their own name, or if they've ever ************



Edited, Feb 22nd 2013 11:07pm by trickybeck

Hmmmm, I've never done it with a person I met in person. I've done so with a person I met online (who claimed to have graduated high school with me, though I did not remember her at all). Looked her up on facebook (open profile) and realized I didn't recognize her AT ALL.

One of my best friends does this, and yes it is creepy. He told me the other day "I met a cute dental student named Lauren on the bus today. We chatted for a while; she goes to my university too!" By the end of the day, "... do you think it would be weird if I facebook friended her?"

Me: You found her on facebook? Did she tell you her last name or anything?

Him: Nah, I looked up all the Laurens in the dental college, then those in pre-med, and checked all their names online. Browsed pictures until I found her. Turns out she likes salsa dancing; so do I! So, should I friend request her?

Me: ... no. You're creepy.

Locke's example sounded creepy. Maybe it was benign and without any harmful intent but I doubt the lady in question would have been flattered, Tirith's example less so. If you're going to put information and photos publicly available online for anyone who knows your name, you can hardly complain that people look at them.

Edited, Feb 23rd 2013 9:30am by Jophiel

From time-to-time I have "google stalked" someone to ensure they're not a psycho. And by ensure, I mean as ensured as I can be from a google search, lol. It's surprising what you can find out about someone from their email, phone #, typical username, etc just from a simple search.

I know who you all are and I've seen what you all did.......

Did you fap?

Legal Briefs > Tighty Whiteys.

Legal Briefs + Tighty Whiteys = Conservative Lawyers that moonlight as Underwear Models.

I've looked up people I used to know on facebook, other than that there's too much effort required to make it worthwhile.

That doesn't mean you can't still point and laugh when you see how fat they've gotten in their facebook photos.

I have a sort of "John Smith" name, except with more famous people sharing it... so I actually have never bothered. Because it's just going to be unrelated crap.

I did teach a friend of mine with the last name "Adolf" to put quotation marks around their full name so they stopped getting all the Hitler hits when they googled themselves though.

Edited, Feb 25th 2013 4:34pm by Olorinus

Digital stalking is part of my job description. It's called due diligence. Po-tay-toe, po-tah-toe.

But the things that I've had to dig up and then my jaw drops when I find something that goes beyond the realm of jumping the shark. I'm laughing now thinking of some things.

Edited, Feb 26th 2013 9:17am by Thumbelyna