I went to a party this past Saturday at the home of the person I’m driving to Atlantic City with (more on that below) and ran into a whole bunch of people who I didn’t know but whom I had met before at some other random party, OR who I recognized from their icon on various Web sites. While this particular community/group/neighborhood is particularly incestuous that way, it just shows once again you cannot hide on the Internet despite what people think. They are wrong, so very wrong.
Interestingly, this relates to the person whose house this was at, who I’m driving to AC with. A few months ago I saw a post on Livejournal about someone giving away free tickets to see Sheryl Crow as long as the person he gave them to made a charitable donation, on the honor system, of at least $25. He wasn’t going to check, he just asked that people do it. He had gotten the tickets through a charity thing and so wanted to pay it along. I saw the post, thought that was a great idea, donated, got the ticket, and went to the concert. This guy was there with this other girl and through conversation we discovered our mutual love of Nine Inch Nails. Talked about them for a while, talked about Sheryl Crow, talked about a few other things, end of concert, nice to meet you bye have a nice life.
Fast-forward 2 months. I’m online on the NIN Web site and I read a post. Person doesn’t use her name, doesn’t use her own picture as an avatar, doesn’t mention Sheryl Crow or concerts or charities or Livejournal or almost anything else we discussed but she said two words (one of which was “Boston”) which made me immediately *know* it was that girl I had met at the concert. So I PM’d her and said “Um you ARE that chick I met, right?” And yes it was and so anyway we got to emailing and discovered we’re going to the same set of concerts and after I posted that I was wondering how people were getting to AC from Boston, she offered me a ride and invited me to this party last week where I saw all these other people who I know somehow from some random way that they never thought would have any relevance to anything.
Point is, you can NOT hide on the Internet. Well I mean you can–I’ve done it–but you have to be really careful. And very, very anonymous. It’s incredibly easy to track anyone down or be recognized.
Which brings me to my next topic. At this party, I was introduced to a guy who had a somewhat unusual first name and after talking for a minute, said “Oh, your name is _____? Do you know [old boyfriend’s name] and didn’t you used to have a piano or cello or something you were trying to get rid of?” And he did; I had met this guy at [old boyfriend’s] house about 4 or 5 years ago for about 10 minutes and remembered this conversation. Funny but hella awkward; I haven’t seen or heard from [old boyfriend] in 4 years and have no desire to. He’s one of those “Oh god what the HELL was I thinking???” experiences. And once we break up, they’re dead to me. I don’t want to be “friends.” It’s over, here’s the shit you left at my house, goodbye, don’t call me. So I had to say “Oh well say hi to X” to be polite but really I’m hoping this other guy developed Party Amnesia and doesn’t recall a thing about the entire night.
Anyhoo, don’t use your real name EVER and don’t say ANYTHING about ANYTHING if you don’t want people to remember you!
However, strangely enough (it would seem, after what I just said) I’ve recently started using my real name and actual picture for certain forums because it keeps me from saying anything I wouldn’t feel comfortable saying to someone’s grandma’s blue-haired bridge club. There’s an anonymity in screen names and impersonal pictures. Using my real name keeps me from doing anything embarrassing. I delete a LOT of posts before actually posting them, once I think about how I have no idea who might see this and I probably shouldn’t say [whatever], now that I really think about it. Using my real name keeps me much more professional in the places where it might count.
I keep my wild-abandon posts anonymous. And believe me, since I know how easy it is to find someone, I am an expert on hiding myself. Heh heh.
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Re Atlantic City: I’m going to three NIN concerts this week. Yep three. I have years of catch-up to do. AC on Thursday, then Manchester on Saturday and Worcester on Sunday. Hope my ears survive. Driving down with that friend from the Sheryl Crow concert and then I met some other people online who are giving me a ride back to Boston on Friday. Should be photographing NIN on Sunday if all goes well. I mean with a pass; I’ll be photographing for all three but only with my big camera on Sunday. I plan to upload pics during the concert itself to Flickr and hopefully to an as-it-happens-updating slideshow via embedded Kyte Producer on meowhousemedia.com, using my incredibly gorgeous hot sexy new iPhone that I am going to marry if it should ever become legal. That thing is better than 99% of the men I’ve ever met. That’s probably a sad commentary on my social life.
Anyway, keep an eye out for pictures on Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. iPhone pics uploaded on site from the venue, plus P&S shots from during the show uploaded later. Then the good “real” set from my Nikon will be up asap after Sunday. Unless my pass is denied or they’re all pulled as they were for one show. Hey Trent please don’t do that, unless you want to make it up by giving me one for Las Vegas. All Access preferred, kthxbai.
I don’t know why I’m worrying about this but with my luck Something Awful Will Happen.