internet screen name theft
 

i typed my screen name into google and it turns out some guy from dallas stole my screen name. has this happened to anyone else? i tried to contact the person to ask them to please change there screen name but there was no way to contact them.

my screen name is still all me except for one or 2 entrys but its still troubling to see that somone stole my screen name.

and whats worse is its on some dating site!

Re: internet screen name theft
 

What, "mrbob1000"? That's not all that unique. How many Bobs are on this planet?

JBotAlan, on the other hand...:D

Come up with something new then! And some people believe it's a good idea to use different S/Ns everywhere you go.

JBot

Re: internet screen name theft
 

Did he steal your screen name, or did you steal his?

If he is old enough to be on a dating site, maybe he had the name first?

Re: internet screen name theft
 

nope. i had this screen name for a long time, since i first started playing runescape in 2000

Re: internet screen name theft
 

Maybe I don't see the big deal, it is just a screen name.

If the individual was using your first and last name fraudulently I'd understand.

This is the internet, you've created a screen name to mask your real identity, this new identity does not automatically become yours on every site.

Just let it go, maybe make a new one if it really bothers you that much. Is this person impersonating you? Or are they just trying to mask their true identity like you are?

How do you know that you had the screen name first? Maybe the accounts were dormant and the google spiders just now discovered them. Maybe you are in fact the "thief" in this situation. Look at it from other perspectives.

Why is it so important, that in a virtual world someone else has your fake name? There maybe people in the real world who share your name, these people have no control over such name seeing as how it was given to them at birth.

Do yourself a favor, step away from the computer, go outside, sit in some grass and appreciate who you are away from the virtual world. Forget that someone "stole" your "screen name" and appreciate all that there is away from the computers.

Re: internet screen name theft
 

Or, better yet, do a Google search on your real name and see what comes up. It's good for some fun if you've got some free time. (I've done it a time or two myself.)

Re: internet screen name theft
 

How does someone even "own" a screen name in the first place?



It's not like a domain name that you paid money for, and legally own.

Re: internet screen name theft
 

I have a billion results when I do that...*



*Ok, maybe not a billion... but there are quite a bit. lol :cool:

Re: internet screen name theft
 

i still feel a little wronged. i am fairly certain that i have been mrbob1000 for longer than him but the real reason is i dont want anyone reading things he writes thinking i wrote them. also, employers later in life might say "i googled this guy and he look really wierd. cancel the interview"

Re: internet screen name theft
 

How would they know it was you unless you provided them with this information? They're going to look for Stephen Johnston not MrBob1000. If while they are looking for Stephen Johnston they find MrBob1000 then maybe they'll look into it. But I'm pretty sure that they will be able to tell the difference between the "impostor" and yourself.

Do yourself a favor, if you want to get rid of the worry that anyone will be using a scree name that anyone could come up with, come up with something more original, or even use your name I suppose.

I've also noticed that google likes to link to my most recent posts so - I'm Michelle Celio, and I like robots :D

Re: internet screen name theft
 

I'm with Michelle, I'm hoping that you never tell an employer to search for you as "MrBob1000." That would be strange, very strange.

It is good advice to Google yourself when you hit the stage of applying to colleges and applying for jobs. Employers will often check out their prospective employees on line, and I recently heard that Colleges were starting that practice as well. That's why I cringe when I see what some of you post in other social networking sites.

Re: internet screen name theft
 

Especially when you remember that information in Google or other search engines takes years to be purged...if ever. So what you posted in 2008 might be there to haunt you in 2020...

Don

Re: internet screen name theft
 

I definitely can relate. I actually went to a gaming site once, and there was a guy with the name 'Molten' that was just spamming the chat. I was mad. My suggestion is to alter your name slightly. Add a year at the end. Any year. The more random the better. Then nobody will copy it.

Also, A note to Michelle: You believe(it seems from reading your posts) that your real name makes you who you are. However, you also state that nobody has control over it. Everyone does choose their username. It is my opinion that you can tell a lot more about someone by their username then you can from their real name. For instance, from my username you might deduct that I think Fire is cool. What can you tell from my real name? Just something to think about.

Re: internet screen name theft
 

This is possibly the single most important message from this entire thread.

"Ownership" of a screen name is an irrelevant concept. No one "owns" a screen name as a globally unique identifier. You can't prevent anyone else from using it any more than you can prevent someone else from being given the same real name as yours (example: guess how many people there are in the world named "Dave Lavery" - while I would argue that any more than one is superfluous, it would appear that the world does not agree).

However, what you, as a unique individual, do while using that identifier in a manner that allows your actions to be coupled to you -IS- something that you can control. You have to remember that "gee-it-seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time" bile-filled rant about the dumb restrictive decision your parents just made is going to have a life of its own after you post it on Facebook. Six years from now, long after you have forgotten about it, that really cool prospective employer that you really want to work for is going to do a search on Archive.org and read through it. They will realize how you trash talk about your family "in private" and wonder if you will do the same about their company. The "this-is-why-I-think-my-chemistry-teacher-is-the-most-moronic-person-on-the-planet" five-page diatribe that you just posted one day will be reviewed by your co-worker down the hall that is supposed to be mentoring you in your new job. Long after you have forgotten writing that blog entry about your first weekend binge as a college student, an as-yet-unmet significant other is going to read it and wonder why they should ever waste their time with someone that behaves so boorishly. And let's not even consider the reaction from your grandmother (remember? that person that we are all supposed to be making proud?) as she reads through your latest harangue on the universal unfairness of the world and how the rest of us should all just go and stick our heads in dark places.

So please, before you make that vituperative post disparaging the "horrible, wrong-headed, my dog could have done better" post about the refs decision during your last match - think. Think about those words that you are about to post publicly. Think about the message that they convey. But most importantly, think about what those words say about you - as an author, a possible employee, a future compatriot, a potential friend, and a current family member. Because those words WILL get out. And they will have your name on them.

-dave



.

Re: internet screen name theft
 

I just saw this today and figured I would post it. Lets you know if the name you want to use is already registered on these popular sites.
http://www.usernamecheck.com/

Re: internet screen name theft
 

It appears I'm a soccer player, a player in the NBA development league, a professional skateboarder, a wedding photographer, a prospective congressman, an interior designer, a movie producer, and a murderer currently on death row in Missouri.

Re: internet screen name theft
 

I warn against doing this. One of my friends did this and found out that there is some guy with the same name as him. Unfortunately, his search of this guy led to some explicit websites on a school computer. He didn't get in trouble (because he didn't get caught), I just warn to be careful.

With that being said, I'm an australian politician, a baseball star, and a comedian.

Re: internet screen name theft
 

i am an emmy winning nararator! :cool:

this is getting fun. really fun...

thing i was worried about was people pretending to be me.

Re: internet screen name theft
 

And now you discover that they are worried that you are pretending to be them! :P

My name is unique enough that Google only lists my own nefarious activities. But my daughter comes up as a very prolific journalist, and my son as a realtor, a doctor and as my husband (hehe - they share the same name!)

Re: internet screen name theft
 

User names are a very good thing in some cases, especially for kids. My user name was chosen for no particular reason other than it had nothing to do with me. It allowed me to be a part of this when I was told that no one online was allowed to know my name (Parents rule, I think it is a good one) I have since made the decision that hiding is not something I want to do. User names are still very personal and I can understand where you are coming from. You have to realize, we live in a world with over 6 BILLION people, chances are someone will think that mrbob1000 is a cool name and use it without even knowing about you. And if they do know about you and are still using the name, imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.

Although, a search of my name doesn't show up anything about me until page 3/4 and even then its a dead link.

On an unrelated note, is there a procedure for changing user names here?

Re: internet screen name theft
 

Contact Brandon Martus and ask him to change your username. Give him the current name/information and provide the new name that you would like to replace it with.

It may take a little while but he will change it for you.

Jane

Re: internet screen name theft
 

Here is a really old thread about choosing a screen name that is your real name.

Enjoy!

Andy B.

Re: internet screen name theft
 

Actually, I sometimes just call people by their usernames. (Just ask boiler) It makes things easier and I believe it is more personal.

Re: internet screen name theft
 

Aww. I'm only a cyclist and some random guy on Facebook. And what's more funny is the cyclist with my name lives in my STATE! Perhaps a long lost relative?!

Re: internet screen name theft
 

Lucky for me that when I search my name, not too much comes up. Most of the results are my published photos, as well as my team's 2008 animation submission!
However, I do have a lesson learned. Many years ago my high school was having a huge amount of financial difficulties- they cut art, gym, music, everything but the "core" classes. In response, I posted a brief, yet somewhat angry review of the school on a school review site. Even though others had done the same, it still reflects poorly on me when it shows up in Google results. One of these days I'll contact the site asking for its removal. Remember, kids- everything appears on Google!

As for username theft...I'm still not sure why it's a problem. If the username I want isn't available, I just pick another. I generally don't see myself gaining any sort of fame or familiarity by using just one alias, but maybe that's just me.

Re: internet screen name theft
 

The real trick is to add some things that are on your resume along with your name, and then see what pops up. It shouldn't take but a few tags to drill you out of the masses.


Wetzel

Re: internet screen name theft
 

well, from googling my full name, i've come up with:

1: some jivespace thingy that i apparently signed up for cuz it has my psuedonym
2: the honor roll list from my school =))
3: early 1900's austrailian electoral rolls
4: UW office?
5: supreme court tax decision
6: uw office again.
and a band =)
man i get around.

Re: internet screen name theft
 

About 104,000 for you--many times what I get for my name. For comparison: John Doe gets 4,580,000. John Smith gets 47,400,000. So I guess we'd all better avoid screen names using John Smith-- unless we want to get lost in the crowd, big time.

Re: internet screen name theft
 

Need to find out where your chosen user name is registered?
http://www.usernamecheck.com/
EDIT: Whoops, didn't see this earlier; still worth mentioning again /EDIT

Do you know how many people share you name? (this is only an estimate)
http://howmanyofme.com/

remember kids, when picking a user name, plan ahead, then go to all the websites ever and squat the accounts, so you will always have the name :yikes: (but no, really, do plan ahead; and don't put a strain on the poor websites info structure)

Re: internet screen name theft
 

How Many of Me returns that one or less people are named Branden Ghena. Wow, I feel like one in 305,668,223! :D

I'm not so sure about usernamecheck, though. While it did uncover my long lost eBay account (I had forgotten about it), it also listed my old username (tawnos23) as taken on websites which, once I got there proved to be open, and didn't notice my steam account at all.

Re: internet screen name theft
 

Hmm... I'm a freelance photographer... an employee of the Chargers (wow, I even have a Wikipedia article!), a writer, a couple different businessmen... I can't even find my personal college webpage... ;(

Re: internet screen name theft
 

There's an "Elgin" Clock in my school cafeteria... Every time I see it, I just think it's so funny!

Re: internet screen name theft
 

Screen names and handles are something that take thought. I've got a few that I use, depending on the situation. For IRC, I tend to stick to OHGOWHATISTHISIDONTEVEN.

It's all about finding something for your own, preferably something that can be slightly modified to reflect the situation and uses. My main moniker I'd rather not throw into the public spotlight, but here's an example of picking a good handle:

A sysadmin on my IRC server uses three nicks, depending on the time and mood, also depending on the server. Poppy, Poppet, and Pop. Short nicks if on the job of OPERing, longer if just chatting. It's nice to find some root for a handle, so the people you want to be able to find you can succeed, but also have enough variation available that you can mold it to the current situation.