# Future politicians' internet history used for mudslinging?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-politicians-internet-history-used-for-mudslinging/234265>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 14, 2004, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-politicians-internet-history-used-for-mudslinging/234265 "2004-03-14T19:36:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![conczepts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e7dd6/32.png) [@conczepts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/conczepts)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-politicians-internet-history-used-for-mudslinging/234265/1 "2004-03-14T19:36:51Z")

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Right now, most politicians aren’t the most internet savvy people. My highschool peers all used the internet and I assume usenet, message boards, and other forums.

I don’t want to be involved in politics, but if I did, there are a lot of things I have said online that could come back to haunt me (I was an adolescant online, afterall). Specifically I am thinking of a few usenet postings I made using my real name about some experiences I had with “ghosts” which I now know to be nothing paranormal. Then as a member of another forum for four years where my name could be discovered through searching, after four years posting all through turbulent highschool years, I’m sure there are many things I’ve said that I don’t now agree with or represent me in any way.

So my questions are, how long do newsgroup posting remain searchable? As my generation grows up and gets into politics, will this become a new trend in mudslinging tactics? Has it ever been used before? (You could use things you find about me on the internet to show that I am a beleiver in paranormal quackery and hold some pretty extreme political and religious views, all of which are no longer true.)

I think people might ignore internet history because we’ve all said things on the internet we might regret, but that is only a WAG.

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**Author:** ![scm1001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-politicians-internet-history-used-for-mudslinging/234265/2 "2004-03-15T13:30:40Z")

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google seems to archive all the newsgroup postings (not binaries) way way back (at least to 1992) So I guess if you used your real name you should stay out of politics.

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**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-politicians-internet-history-used-for-mudslinging/234265/3 "2004-03-15T14:00:07Z")

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Or run for a party that espouses all the dumb things that one might have said over the years.

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**Author:** ![Kalashnikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/2bfe46/32.png) [@Kalashnikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalashnikov)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-politicians-internet-history-used-for-mudslinging/234265/4 "2004-03-15T21:30:24Z")

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Someting like this happened in Nashua a few years ago. Tom Alciere, an unknown, got elected as state representative, presumably just because people didn’t like the other candidates. Soon there was discussion both on the net and in the local paper about some usenet postings he had made which demonstrated some rather wierd and radical political views. He refused to deny these views, and soon resigned his post because other representatives and officials were ostracizing and/or harassing him.

But his posts were recent, relevant, and under his real name, and he wouldn’t deny his radical views.

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**Author:** ![conczepts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e7dd6/32.png) [@conczepts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/conczepts)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-politicians-internet-history-used-for-mudslinging/234265/5 "2004-03-16T05:44:29Z")

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> [@Kalashnikov](#):
>
> Someting like this happened in Nashua a few years ago. Tom Alciere, an unknown, got elected as state representative, presumably just because people didn’t like the other candidates. Soon there was discussion both on the net and in the local paper about some usenet postings he had made which demonstrated some rather wierd and radical political views. He refused to deny these views, and soon resigned his post because other representatives and officials were ostracizing and/or harassing him.
> 
> But his posts were recent, relevant, and under his real name, and he wouldn’t deny his radical views.

Wow. I wanted to know what these radical views were, and by googling “Tom Alciere” I came to [http://www.tomalciere.com/](http://www.tomalciere.com/) I can’t beleive what he says on his homepage.