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Some people don't want potential future employers googling them by name before making an offer and finding something that turns them off. For example, perhaps y

Some people don't want potential future employers googling them by name before making an offer and finding something that turns them off. For example, perhaps you are an atheist (and revealed that in your comments somewhere) and the future employer is fervently religious. This is potentially a bad situation for the commenter. If comments weren't anonymous then these folks probably wouldn't make their comments at all. So I think you get a more honest discussion if it's anonymous, at least for some topics.

jarek 16y ago
At the risk of sounding idealistic and spoiled with freedom and lack of commitments (which is, well, accurate right now), I'm not sure I'd want to work for an employer who wouldn't hire me because of something I've posted on the internet. It's the 21st century. Yeah, a lot of my life is on the internet and relatively easy to find. It's almost like having a free, instant private investigator for all of your potential employees. But do you really want to work for a place that not only sets a PI on you, they put weight in what he reports when they know it might not be totally accurate? For people who do need a job a bit more than I do, that is a concern — and I wouldn't advocate against pseudonymity because life is not always nice and simple.
- qw 16y ago
  > For people who do need a job a bit more than I do, that is a concern — and I wouldn't advocate against pseudonymity because life is not always nice and simple. That's why I am very careful about my identity online. I have no problems with finding jobs right now, but who knows where I'll be in 10 years?
  - jarek 16y ago
    Fortunately, being 23, time spans that far into the future might as well be in the next century so it's not a large concern for me :) (That, and I think I have a pretty foolproof plan B for when everything breaks that I would be reasonably OK with executing.)

jarek 16y ago

At the risk of sounding idealistic and spoiled with freedom and lack of commitments (which is, well, accurate right now), I'm not sure I'd want to work for an employer who wouldn't hire me because of something I've posted on the internet. It's the 21st century. Yeah, a lot of my life is on the internet and relatively easy to find. It's almost like having a free, instant private investigator for all of your potential employees. But do you really want to work for a place that not only sets a PI on you, they put weight in what he reports when they know it might not be totally accurate? For people who do need a job a bit more than I do, that is a concern — and I wouldn't advocate against pseudonymity because life is not always nice and simple.

qw 16y ago
> For people who do need a job a bit more than I do, that is a concern — and I wouldn't advocate against pseudonymity because life is not always nice and simple. That's why I am very careful about my identity online. I have no problems with finding jobs right now, but who knows where I'll be in 10 years?
- jarek 16y ago
  Fortunately, being 23, time spans that far into the future might as well be in the next century so it's not a large concern for me :) (That, and I think I have a pretty foolproof plan B for when everything breaks that I would be reasonably OK with executing.)