Hello, are you So-and-So from myLot?
By Dr. Ann
@drannhh (15219)
United States
February 27, 2008 4:24pm CST
This is going to happen someday! Having just posted a photo of an unusual bag I sometimes carry made me realize that one of these days I'll be shopping somewhere or dining at a restaurant or waiting in line to see a movie and someone is going to some up out of nowhere and say it!
If I admit to being a myLot member at that point, they will probably want me to guess who they are. That could be quite difficult unless it is someone who has published a personal photo as an avatar or on their profile.
What do you think you would say if this happened to you? Would you deny even knowing what a "myLot" was? Would you invited them to sit down and buy them coffee? Do you ever think when you are starting a discussion or replying to one that you might be sharing too much information...or is your life an open book?
I was really disconcerted to see someone recently describe a web site that asks you to put in your pet's name and the street you live on in order to get some comic interpretation. People replied with no apparent compunction about telling 120K people around the world what street they live on. If it was Main Street, then perhaps they would enjoy relative anonymity, but some of the street names were of the sort that would not be found in every town, and it seems to me one is flirting with identity theft by being so open here.
Some of you post your children's photos here. How would you react if a rather scurvy looking person came up and said, "Look, there is that little girl whose photo was on myLot. I'd know her face anywhere!" Is this extreme paranoia on my part, or do you think you would freak if that happened?
Have you ever seen someone in public and thought, "That person looks a lot like So-and-So from myLot?"
9 people like this
12 responses
@lilaclady (28207)
• Australia
27 Feb 08
Oh wouldn't it be good if Mylot had T/shirts for sale with their logo on it so especially when the members are travelling they could waer them and maybe oneday they would bump into other members all over the world...
4 people like this
@aseretdd (13730)
• Philippines
28 Feb 08
I have never thought of this sort of thing to happen to me in the future... like being recognized by another mylot member... but then... it would be somewhat weird if that happens... since there are more than a billion people around the world and only 121,000 mylot members... i don't think that sort of incident would be by accident...
It is either that person sought me out or someone is playing a joke on me... but whichever way... it will certainly be very very creepy and weird...
@secretbear (19448)
• Philippines
29 Feb 08
you are so paranoid drannhh. LOL just kidding. ^__^;;
i sometimes think like that too. not just about myLot but with other social networking sites which i am a member of. but not all the time. i only think about the possibility of seeing a net friend in real life once in a while. and i don't fret about it. its okay for me if a person would see me and recognize me as someone from the net. if that person is a net friend, i would definitely take time to have a small talk with her and get to know her a little bit personally. ^__^
but i think, we see too many faces here in the net everyday. thousands and millions of faces that unless we always see a person's face everyday and had made an impression to us, we won't really remember that person if we see her/him in real life. that's true for my case. ^__^
@secretbear (19448)
• Philippines
3 Mar 08
just like what i've said, some people like me wouldn't remember a person in just a few meetings unless that person made an impression. like here in myLot. i don't remember a lot of people, but those who i have remembered have made quite an impression to me, or something like they do the same thing over and over again. like someone make a discussion almost everyday about a news that she read in yahoo. or someone likes carebears more than i do and she has a tremendous collection of carebears stuffs. or someone always respond in a very sarcastic way, or in a serious way like always taking things seriously even a joke. some things like that. makes me remember a person more. ^__^;;
@drannhh (15219)
• United States
1 Mar 08
Having taught in large classes, it is now a habit with me to store away the essence of many many people in some corner of my mind, but with me it is not so much a person's face as some little thing about the personality that lingers. When we taught in the same class I would be the one who remembered each student's name, though, sometimes astounding them by being able to greet them by it 2 or 3 years later after they thought they surely must have been forgotten.
Hubby's mind works a different way, though, he will say something like, "Do you remember the guy who sat 3 rows back on the right side of the glasses and often wore a red shirt" and will answer "Oh, yes, you remember Mr. Stevens, too!" Just as some students were hard to forget, it is the same with myLot personalities. Some because they are so lovely, and some for other reasons...
1 person likes this
@arkaf61 (10881)
• Canada
28 Feb 08
LOL That would be interesting, I would be in the lookout from now one, so I won't miss you :):)
As for privacy I'm with you. I don't have personal photos and I rarely make exceptions. The last time I made and exception was with a picture of my son when he was smaller. But he , of course, doesn't look anything like the picture anymore so I was ok with that one exception.
I am very careful with my private information and with pictures - I know first hand what can be done with pictures and of course too much personal information can be a problem as well.
Sometimes we are responding to a discussion or creating a new one and we might get a bit too much personal information. But it's important to be careful.
@arkaf61 (10881)
• Canada
28 Feb 08
Yes, even when the child is really missing, those amber alerts keep circulating way after the child is found sometimes.
Plus with all the kinds of people in the internet having a photo+personal information can be very dangerous. It's so easy to find someone, a picture makes it even easier.
And to top it of there are the zillions things that can be done to change pictures, adding people, things, taking clothes of. etc. etc. etc. - If I do that all the time for fun, now imagine a good professional :)
2 people like this
@drannhh (15219)
• United States
28 Feb 08
Yes, I always wonder where they get the photos for those fake Amber reports. I can't tell you how many people have been fooled by those. I keep sending them copies of the Snopes page:
http://search.atomz.com/search/?sp-q=amber+alert&getit=Go&sp-a=00062d45-sp00000000&sp-advanced=1&sp-p=all&sp-w-control=1&sp-w=alike&sp-date-range=-1&sp-x=any&sp-c=100&sp-m=1&sp-s=0
The list just keeps getting longer.
2 people like this
@girlgonefishing (2174)
• United States
28 Feb 08
I've only put one picture of my entire family here and it was in a discussion so, I don't really worry about it. I of course have my real picture as my avatar, but you can't see my face in the picture. I think, even if I put a picture of myself that was really clear, I wouldn't worry too much about it because I hardly ever go anywhere where there are people.
If I were to happen to run in to someone from MyLot, I would ask them who they were and if I remember them as being a nice person on here then I would ask them to sit and enjoy coffee with me. If it were YOU, I would have you over for dinner!
@girlgonefishing (2174)
• United States
3 Mar 08
I know what you mean! We are getting a Publix plaza in our little town. What next? A traffic light? Geeze!
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
31 Aug 08
hi drannhh nope I dont think the likelyhood of that will
happen to me as there are over 141,000 people here now
and that makes it pretty unlikely that I would meet]
one of mylot friends, specially as most of my friends
are from other countries and I am here in the USA.
1 person likes this
@drannhh (15219)
• United States
31 Aug 08
Although I agree that it is unlikely, as I live on the edge of a highly trafficked resort town that quite a few people from all over the world eventually get around to visiting, it is probably that we have seen one or two myLotters without realizing it. Having them turn out to be somebody from my very own friend list would narrow that down a bit too, but stranger things have happened. 
@desertdarlene (8910)
• United States
28 Feb 08
I know of some people on other sites that I would definitely recognize if I saw them in public, but it would be awkward for me to confirm that identity. A lot of people would probably feel uncomfortable with meeting someone they only knew online right out of the blue like that. I don't want to seem like a stalker.
On the other hand, it's a good idea to be just as watchful as to what you write about online as you are speaking to someone in person. When it's in writing and published, it sticks around longer. I don't feel like I have any regrets because I feel that I have never said or done anything here that I wouldn't do in real life.
And, I agree with you about being careful about posting your kids pictures, but you don't want to be paranoid, either.
@drannhh (15219)
• United States
28 Feb 08
Your point about the written word sticking around is so true, and photos do that too. As a friend once said, you don't want to be too afraid to live your life. On the other hand, it is probably safer to err a little bit on the side of paranoia than a little bit on the other side.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157545)
• United States
28 Feb 08
If a person knew my discussions well enough to know that I was from myLot, then I would probably sit down and have a cup of coffee with them. I will tell what town I live in, and that I am from Kansas. I do not give my address or phone, or post my grandkids' pictures, or even my adult kids' pictures, out of respect for them. You will also not find a lot of pictures of me either. I am not paranoid, just cautious.
@subha12 (18441)
• India
28 Feb 08
I will never deny the fact to anybody that i am a member of mylot. its a great site and I hope whoever join this will enjoy the site as well as me.Whatever people may say, i will accept I am so and so in mylot if anyone recognizes me.
@wondericequeen (7876)
• Hong Kong
2 Mar 08
I don't know what I would do if someone comes up to me and ask me if I am one of the members of blah blah blah site. Probably if he or she introduces herself as someone I am familiar with, I would invite him or her to sit down and have a coffee and chat. But if I think he or she doesn't sound very sincere or right, then I probably try to escape *laughs*.
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
28 Feb 08
Good (and funny!) thought! You never know! Could happen! Whatyou said sparked something in me..something similar happened but I can't remmember it. One of those )on the tip of my tongue" things.
But I did have a thing happen, I like I Love Lucy and have a purse with her on it and alla nd I was in line one day at a store and the cashier commented on it, and she was a fan and we talked for a few minutes about our "fanship" and things about LUcy - (no one else in line!). It was just funny that she noticed and we were both fans.
1 person likes this
@zed_k4 (17589)
• Singapore
7 Apr 08
Hello there drannhh, good day to you ;)... I think that it would be an extremely nice idea should I go out shopping or anywhere outside and someone came up to me recognizing me as a user from mylot. I think mylot should have a get to know session not with one another (since we all pretty much have known one another by answering discussions and etc). But I would love for the people responsible for mylot to put up their own image or avatar. Anything to depict something that all of us could ask questions and perhaps one or two of them could reply in a particular help-desk forum. But that's just my wishful thinking and suggestion.
However, back to your discussion, I most definitely wouldn't freak out at all should someone taps on my back or just say hi to me to indicate that they know me. I think it would be a great and courageous thing for that person to talk to me outside, most definitely. Other than that, I have yet to see anyone in public which I recognize from mylot, and I wouldn't hesitate to just come over and say hi, LOL.
@drannhh (15219)
• United States
7 Apr 08
Well, then, if I should see someone who looks just like your avatar, I shall pop right up and say "Do you myLot?" That will turn myLot into a verb and start a discussion. Two things accomplished in one! Thanks much for searching out this old discussion and bringing it back to life :-)
1 person likes this
