# Anyone else a Where's George Fan? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 23, 2001, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-wheres-george-fan/77762 "2001-08-23T19:02:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-wheres-george-fan/77762/1 "2001-08-23T19:02:00Z")
I’m talking about the [http://www.wheresgeorge.com](http://www.wheresgeorge.com) website that a friend just steered me to. It’s a site where people enter the serial numbers of their paper money. The site keeps track of where the bill has been before, and emails anyone whose hands it had previously passed through. What a great time-waster. I have only entered nine bills and none of them had been entered before, but I’m sure this will become an obsession with me and I’ll soon improve my hit rate. ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-wheres-george-fan/77762/2 "2001-08-23T19:48:22Z")
I’ve just recently signed up on it. I have, so far, $25 entered (a bunch of ones, mostly). I like to draw sunglasses on my Presidents with a Sharpie if I have time. I should get around to writing “[www.wheresgeorge.com](http://www.wheresgeorge.com)” on the back, too. ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-wheres-george-fan/77762/3 "2001-08-23T19:53:00Z")
yeah, I’ve had a couple. I gotta check up on them, see where they’ve been since. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-wheres-george-fan/77762/4 "2001-08-23T21:28:12Z")
I did it fairly seriously ($500) for a month or so, then stopped. Two months later, and I have three hits. Neat idea and I’ll probably start up again (for another short-term round), but sorting loose bills and writing the URL on each one was something I’d either have to do consistently (though it’s time-consuming) or not bother doing at all. Another thing is that my credit card is linked to my frequent flyer miles, so I charge virtually everything. I barely use cash at all any more. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-wheres-george-fan/77762/5 "2001-08-23T21:31:50Z")
It’s fun. Haven’t done it much lately, but it’s fun. ---
**Author:** ![Harbour\_Lights](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7feea3/32.png) [@Harbour\_Lights](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harbour_Lights)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-wheres-george-fan/77762/6 "2001-08-23T22:12:43Z")
I’ve been doing it for about four months now. I don’t get a lot of US cash, so no hits on anything I’ve enetered yet. There’s also a Canadian site “[whereswilly.com](http://whereswilly.com)” (for Wilfred Laurier). I’m more active on it, but still not hits on anything I’ve entered. Canadians are a bit handicapped on this as our paper money starts at $5.00. My son has also been doing both, and after three months got his first hit on the Canadian site. Three months after he initially entered the bill, and the hit is from a village a half hour drive away. Most of my money comes from an ATM. Most of my entries are 20’s. The chance of anyone receiving these in change isn’t great. ---
**Author:** ![Swede\_Hollow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@Swede\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swede_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2001, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-wheres-george-fan/77762/7 "2001-08-24T00:01:53Z")
Sorry, I had to post a negative reaction. I work at a bank and it is annoying coming across all these defaced bills. These bills have been defaced and are supposed to be removed from circulation and this web site is encouraging people to deface more. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2001, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-wheres-george-fan/77762/8 "2001-08-24T00:13:13Z")
You have entered 1,703 Bills worth $6,924. Bills with hits: 168 Total hits: 203 Hit rate: 9.86%. George Score: 805. Your rank (based on George Score) is #751. By the way, Swede, according to bank employees and Federal Reserve employees who use the site, one or two lines of writing on bills isn’t considering “defacement”. And according to the correspondence that Hank (the owner of the website) has had with the Secret Service, it’s not defacement to write a website on bills. ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2001, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-wheres-george-fan/77762/9 "2001-08-24T01:10:05Z")
Besides, you don’t HAVE to write the website on your bills. I don’t. I realize this crucifies my chances of getting one of mine turning up again on the website, but you never know.