# background check website? are people too paranoid?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/background-check-website-are-people-too-paranoid/570861>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [February 10, 2011, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/background-check-website-are-people-too-paranoid/570861 "2011-02-10T04:48:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/background-check-website-are-people-too-paranoid/570861/1 "2011-02-10T04:48:08Z")

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I just saw this commercial for the website [beenverified.com](http://beenverified.com) (will I get banned for spamming for posting this?) but the point is that do we really need to background check everyone? The girl in the commercial is all like "I won’t let anyone near my family unless they’ve been verified. Are we too paranoid these days?

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**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/background-check-website-are-people-too-paranoid/570861/2 "2011-02-10T05:52:11Z")

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> [@PSXer](#):
>
> I just saw this commercial for the website [beenverified.com](http://beenverified.com) (will I get banned for spamming for posting this?) but the point is that do we really need to background check everyone? The girl in the commercial is all like "I won’t let anyone near my family unless they’ve been verified. Are we too paranoid these days?

It’s not that we are too paranoid, it’s that a company is trying to drum up business. Don’t believe that everything you see in a commercial is an accurate depiction of real life.

(I haven’t seen the commercial, though, so I have no idea what the situation they’re depicting is. Is it a nanny check, or something else? It’s not being paranoid to do a background check on a nanny.)

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**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/background-check-website-are-people-too-paranoid/570861/3 "2011-02-10T06:13:24Z")

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That commercial is really greasy. They’re trying to drum up business by manufacturing fear.

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**Author:** ![Double\_Foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@Double\_Foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Double_Foolscap)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/background-check-website-are-people-too-paranoid/570861/4 "2011-02-10T11:35:22Z")

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I’d say that we’re too paranoid about the wrong stuff. We’ll post details of our lives on networking websites with nary a thought, but live in fear of the paedophiles and rapists we see behind every bush.

(Massive generalisation there.)

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**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/background-check-website-are-people-too-paranoid/570861/5 "2011-02-10T11:47:14Z")

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People are paranoid and fearful because the media teaches them to be this way.