Do You Google Your Friends?

[Senator]

This has nothing to do with retirement, but here goes…

Just curious. I came across a situation where a female resident of a landlord friend of mine is dating and living with a murderer. He just moved in a few months ago.

The guy was actually acquitted of the murder of the first person that was stabbed and died, and the second person he stabbed lived. He pled guilty to, and is currently on 20 years of probation. From the police report, “was stabbed in the back and his throat was slit” and fled. The cops were called when the female that eventually died called the police.

After the acquittal, no one was charged with the murder. The guy was covered with blood, but none of his DNA on the knife.

He was eventually convicted of attempted second degree murder. He has other numerous drug charges and alcohol charges. They are both ~24 years of age. He is actually a likeable character, maybe like Ted Bundy, or the BTKL killer probably was.

A simple Google of his name leads to 100s of articles about the gruesome murder. Maybe she knows, maybe not.

I almost always do some searching, but that is my nature. Other people I talk to do not.

Does anyone ever do the slightest searching to see if the person that they are in a close relationship is a potential bad character?

[LOL!]

Yep, I google my kids all the time. They should be more discrete and I let them know it.

[Another Reader]

The landlord needs to know this ASAP. This is a liability nightmare and most likely grounds for an eviction. If this were one of my rentals, there would be a three day quit notice delivered on Monday.

[travelover]

I Google my enemies.

[martyp]

Sure. I Google people I meet and also look at their profiles on Facebook. I don't see it as much different than talking with a friend about another friend. I don't pay money to look up their criminal records.

[MRG]

I have, most of what I find requires payment. I do not bother. I did find it useful doing family research. Lots of free old newspaper articles on family back in the 1910s-1950s. I learned FIL and his DF had received a patent for a fishing lure! That was never known by DW and BIL.

[Amethyst]

Is the renter's name a fairly common one? Did you cross-check with state and district court online records to be sure the renter and the murderer are the same person?

My true name is somewhat common...I get hassled at airports, because someone of the same name is on a no-fly list! Mr. A.'s name is even more common.

All to caution that looking up folks, to find out dirt on them, is a potential road to libel, slander, and just plain unfairness to the person being looked up.

A.

[Senator]

I have seen newspaper articles with his mugshot. That's him.

[aja8888]

I Google myself every once in a while to see what's out there. Usually, it's not much to Google about. I have a Facebook account, but rarely look at it.

[Rustward]

I do use peoplefinders and linkedin to see where friends and former colleagues are and what they might be doing now. Peoplefinders is also useful if you want an approximation of someone's age.

And . . . I did use google to discover some facts about how the former owner of the place where I last w*rked spent some of his or the company's money (on a $1,000,000 yacht). Of course I shared that information with the employees who became ex-employees after he sold out and told them he was not going to make the company contribution to the company 401K match that year, and they would not be paid for their unused paid time off (PTO). The employees got something for the 401K and unused PTO after some negotiation, but I do not know all the details of that.

That former owner -- I do not know anybody that would p!$$ on him if he were on fire.

Anyway, yes to google, peoplefinders, linkedin, and probably other sites as well. I think there is one called lookwhojustgotbusted.com where I looked up one of our neighbors' kids after I heard a loud noise and a few minutes my wife walked into the room and declared "There is a car bumper in our front yard!". I think the flashing blue lights in the window shades tipped me off that something was happening on front of the house.

[Mulligan]

I rarely search anyone. I did search to see an obituary of a friend of my grandmother who recently passed away. And for some reason I then googled my deceased grandmother to see if there was an online obituary for her. Not only was it there but there was a google image of her tombstone. It was linked to "find a grave". What a major creep out. She was not a famous person and the cemetery is a tiny one out in the middle of literally nowhere. This was not done by a family member as I have never even heard of this person who did it, but she has posted over 500 of them. Very odd...


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[MRG]

I believe findagrave is part of ancestry.com. First family grave site was creepy, afterwards I found it neat to see ancestors graves I never knew. Reminded my of being six and visiting family graves with my grandmother. She taught me to pay respect to those that passed before. I guess we're all different about graves and headstones.

[easysurfer]

IMO, the the question is similar to "Is it okay to have a prenup?" For some, the belief is if you really trust someone, that shouldn't be necessary. For others, why not? Doing the "Google" or "Facebook" or other background check is only common sense.


BTW, I don't think the BTK Killer was not a likeable character. I read that he was a PITA to some as a stickler for rules to follow

[LoneAspen]

I Google people I know all the time. Friends, coworkers, etc. I attended a training class this past week and Googled the instructor, and discovered he's involved in negotiations/lawsuit with one of the local utilities about an easement for a gas pipeline that runs under his neighborhood. I know it's him because they did a video interview with him, and it's clearly him.

I Google my own name from time to time, but never find anything, which is to be expected because I'm not on social media, and never do anything exciting, so no cause for anything to be out there on me. However, I have found a couple other people with same or similar names (my name is VERY uncommon) that must lead equally uninteresting lives because there's not much out there about them, either

I'm not in a relationship, and haven't been in a long time, but if I were, and it got serious, I probably would dig a little deeper to make sure the person wasn't a felon, axe murderer, or involved in some horrible conspiracy or something like that.

[haha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Senator A simple Google of his name leads to 100s of articles about the gruesome murder. Maybe she knows, maybe not.

I have never known a single woman who didn't google any man that she had become intrigued by. OTOH, women sometimes find marriage prospects on death row.

They are not always easy to understand.

Ha

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

++amigo!

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[Ally]

Yes, I do sometimes. My good friend met a man friend on an internet dating site. Some of the things he told her sounded off base, so I googled him. He had a history of being fired from professional jobs for sexual harassment and more. I told my friend what I saw and she was first horrified at what he had done and then horrified that I had googled him. It took awhile to repair our friendship.

[easysurfer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ally Yes, I do sometimes. My good friend met a man friend on an internet dating site. Some of the things he told her sounded off base, so I googled him. He had a history of being fired from professional jobs for sexual harassment and more. I told my friend what I saw and she was first horrified at what he had done and then horrified that I had googled him. It took awhile to repair our friendship.

Sounds like a case of shooting the messenger.

Glad your friendship got repaired.

[easysurfer]

I have a brother who has too much time on his hands.

He's retired but kinda thinks because of that has to keep busy. Where as me, I'm enjoying the joy of putzing around.

I didn't like the way on Facebook he got too interested in friends of friends so put him as an acquaintance where he now can only see my common friends. Plus, I didn't want to read his every post on every meal that he had for dinner

[Khan]

Yes, most of them; and myself.