Thursday, October 05, 2006

Wikipedia

All right, 'fess up. Who did this?

And why did it seem important to name my parents in it? I just edited those out. Why don't we just post my middle name, social security number, and mother's maiden name while we're at it?

11 comments:

Ed Ward said...

Okay, I'm officially jealous. After reading the New Yorker story about the Wikipedia a couple of weeks ago I looked myself up and...nothing!

But you're right, that's weird: who knows your parents' names?

And your middle name -- just a wild guess here -- Antoinette?

(ducking)

Marie Javins said...

My middle name does not start with an A.

It's obviously not my mother or it would have been more current and carefully edited. I suspect... my sister. But then there would have been links. Hmmm...

Anonymous said...

antoinette. that made me laugh.

There's a way to look up the wikipedia history of an entry. They track edits - and comment on the edits.

Someone put up a flattering wiki of me, someone else edited out all the adjectives and suggested that I had made the entry myself...

You should be happy that you have a wiki. It really doesn't have personal info. At least you don't have a bad picture up.

- shannon wheeler

Marie Javins said...

Well, I edited out the personal info, so no, there isn't any. Anymore.

I need to find the time to update it. It needs some serious updating. And of course now I have to go look at your entry.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, the internet is a creepy place, which is why I've chosen to do nothing noteworthy with my life so I never end up on Wiki or others. The only other person that shares my name is a principle in Montana. I'll gladly let him have all the internet fame.

If you really want to creep yourself out, do a search on..

www.zabasearch.com

Linda said...

That zabasearch is a bit alarming, except that so much of the info is wrong. It has Marie Javins at my old address (where she never lived) and me at her sister's address (I never lived there). It does not have me at my current address (good!) but it has me under my previous name at two previous addresses, my tenant's address, and Marie's previous address.

~Mom

Amanda Castleman said...

That Zabathingy gives me chills. Luckily, it's pretty inept. For me, the site lists my parents' last two addresses, but none I've lived at properly. Phew.

Hatboy: go design a plastic plane, already, and stop freaking people out.

No, wait, that 787 is way scarier than the search engine...

Marie Javins said...

I suppose if someone goes to the trouble of looking for me on zabasearch rather than just checking directory assistance, they deserve to get false info.

No, seriously, zabasearch is based on public records. So someone, somewhere, (no, clearly credit card companies) has said Person X lived here, and at some time in the past Person X lived with Person Y, therefore Person Y must also live here.

It really pisses me off when I get my credit report and see all the BS on it. Where do they get this stuff? Okay, I know, public records. Is it my fault I now have two "Apparent Aliases" because some yahoo at City Hall mistyped my name once, and someone in 1988 misread the 'J' as a 'T?" Aliases my butt. Very stupid that the credit bureaus words are takes an gospel for things such as getting mortgages.

I do challenge every little thing on my credit report. Because it annoys me that they think I lived at my mother's in 2005. But still, it is irritating to have to deny things that never happened.

Pville Peg said...

Hmm, I'm not so sure that zabasearch IS all based on credit records. Searching on my full legal name and its variants that appear on credit cards, mortgage, drivers license, real estate tax records, etc., Zaba didn't find me at all. The only place that Zabasearch had me listed at all was when I searched for my nickname -- which is how I'm listed by the phone company for directory assistance -- and it was an accurate listing that revealed exactly the same information that is available from that source. I have an 'unpublished' phone number, which does not appear in the phone book but which IS available if you call directory assistance. It's cheaper than having an unlisted number, but I no longer feel so smug about using the unpublished number to avoid telemarketers...

It may make it easier to be anonymous if one has a more common last name. And, given your experience with a city hall clerk's typos causing 'alias' listings, I wonder if part of the issue is that some cities & counties release information to this database, and others, like the places in which I am a landowner, do not....

I'm working on a parody of "It's a small world after all" that goes, "It's a weird world after all..."

Marie Javins said...

One good thing about typos... I know exactly where all these home insurance and refinance companies get my name from. The property tax rolls, where they left a letter out of my name. I can go to the Jersey City website and see what I owe. I can also see what Roberta and Yancey pay every year, and what the taxes are on any property I'm interested in. And of course I can find the name of a property owner and google their blog... which I suppose means anyone interested in my condo could do. Uh-oh...

Marie Javins said...

Whoa... speaking of the condo... seems there might be TWO COMPETING BIDS on my place!!! Wah! Of course, it could all disappear in a puff of smoke.

Two bids... full-time job starting in January. Hm, where would I live until then? Sublet? Campervan? Bangkok? Barcelona? Buenos Aires?

Then again, there's always that long time in between before the buyer gets the financing. Might work out just right.

But which buyer? I liked them both.