Friday, May 9, 2008

One more pointless thing

Not that any of you need to be reminded of this but I have to say it to someone...

The internet is small place, easily searchable. Be careful what you say about your co-workers in a pseudo-private forum such as, oh, I don't know, Facebook, for example...

I have Scalzi as a "friend" on Facebook. I see who he "friends". A not uncommon name pops up on my feed as a recent Scalzi friend, but I wonder if it's the same guy I know from work. Oh, look it is. Hmm, look at that, he's not working there anymore as of earlier this week. Oh my, look at that, he's been publicly ranting on his Facebook page about his employer, supervisors, and various coworkers. And now he doesn't have a job. Just how stupid does he think people higher up the food chain are? Not as stupid as he is, obviously. Circumspect and discreet? Apparently not. Kinda useful in healthcare.

Moron.

Tragically, the two times I've interacted with him would not have led me to expect any better behavior.

Oh well. At least you guys now have an example to share of someone managing to cement a bad meatspace impression with the contents of their social networking site.

6 comments:

kimby said...

With Keith working in the media and myself in PR at one time, we go by the rule that if you wouldn't want your mother to see it...then don't post it.
In my niece's Communication class at University, they had a section on posting things to the web, and how employers WILL find you out. Too bad this guy didn't take that course. He might have still had a job.

vince said...

Yep, what happens in Vegas may stay in Vegas, but what happens on the web is there forever.

Its like in Minneapolis a few months ago, several high school kids were busted for underage drinking, and then were banned from high school athletics. How were they caught? They posted images from a party to their Facebook pages showing them drinking.

Oh, and they and their friends were OUTRAGED that anyone would do this to them. "Violation of privacy" they spouted. "Unfair" they said.

A number of their peers voiced the opinion that they were stupid.

Random Michelle K said...

That's one of the primary reasons I'm very careful about what I post on my website.

And why I considered a very long time before I started talking about my mental health issues on my website.

It's also why I never use my full name when posting comments anywhere. Yes, there is a link back to my website, but no one doing a search for me will see me being a potty mouth first off.

John the Scientist said...

And that, my dear, is the reaosn the only social networking site I belong to is Linked In.

Nathan said...

What? No link?

Anonymous said...

There is a very good reason why I don't use my full name on the internet. There is a very good reason why I never name my co-workers, even if it's just their first names. There is a very good reason why I never indicate which corporation I work for, or in which sector of business it operates.