Internet reputation
From Wikipractice
Contents |
Introduction
As soon as a document is published on the Internet, millions of people can immediately see it, and it is automatically indexed. As a result, someone searching the Internet with your name will get back all documents you are associated to, even those you are not the author. To convince yourself, just type your name in a search engine like Google.
Which are the main concerned documents?
The main concerned documents are:
- News posted in Usenet news
- Mails send to distribution lists
- Article or answer written in blogs
- Attached files
- Web pages
- Etc.
Document storage
It is impossible to delete some documents, like Usenet news, which remains several years in the memory of some Internet servers reachable by everybody. Other computers scans published articles and archive them: the also remain available to anyone several years.
Basic rules
There are some rules which allow to control, not to say guarantee your Internet reputation:
- Keep in mind that all published documents are immediately available to millions of Internet users.
- Publish only pertinent and useful information.
- Avoid aggressive sentences and articles
- Avoid personal aggression
- Do not participate to forums or discussion which do not respect rules above
- Always keep control on published information where your name is associated to. Do not hesitate to contact authors who quote you in order to make them removing your name.
Checking your reputation
It is a good practice to periodically search the Internet with it name and surname, in order to find what is related to it. Also proceed to such search with the username you are using the most.
If your name is linked to an article you will not, you can always ask the webmaster to remove it. It is however more difficult on usenet groups.
