I'm a little late chiming in on this.  Actually, I'm home, recuperating from a bout of pneumonia, and didn't feel well enough to get on the computer until this morning.

The issue of electronic footprints has come up on the Archives List, as well. I was one of the first to bring it up there, to remind people that what people wrote was a permanent, archived record.  Rather than repeat some of what I've written there, I'll just provide links to two examples, one from 2003, one from 2004:

http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0311D&L=ARCHIVES&P=R689&I=-3

http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0407C&L=ARCHIVES&D=0&I=-3&P=18499&F=P

An additional point about postings.  You'd be surprised how much people reveal about themselves in them.  In some cases, I've found myelf thinking, this would be a pretty good person to work with, or to hire, or conversely, this person seems to have issues (exudes an air of "I can only be somebody if I consider you to be nobody") and might be hard to work with.

A potential supervisor might google someone's name and conclude, I might have trouble if I hired this person and then assigned him to a team led by X, becaue he doesn't seem to like X-type people. I need someone more comfortable with working with and for different people.  I'll pass on hiring him.  Or, a job seeker may decide I'll pass on applying for a job working for that poster, sounds as if she or he would just add constant stress to my work environment.

Sometimes even things said in fun might be misunderstood and taken out of context. Just try it, go back to list postings over a certain span of time, and see the very differing impressions people convey through their writing (words and style) to those who don't actually know them! The words are a permanent record, whether the intentions match up with the eye of the beholder is another story!

Maarja

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