# Stories about how what a person did on the internet ruined their lives **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 22, 2013, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-how-what-a-person-did-on-the-internet-ruined-their-lives/669415 "2013-09-22T03:31:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![hotflungwok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-how-what-a-person-did-on-the-internet-ruined-their-lives/669415/41 "2013-09-23T14:32:56Z")
I can’t find it, don’t remember her name, but there was a woman who was either fired or disciplined or not hired because of some videos she was in when she was younger. They were parodies of safe sex type videos, one of them was about using a vibrator and the other was about using anal sex. I saw them, I laughed. There was no nudity, just the obvious subject matter. Maybe not life ruining, but [Star Wars Kid](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Kid) sure regrets what he did. There’s also any number of stories about people who get [caught for posting stuff on Facebook.](http://theweek.com/article/index/227257/7-suspected-criminals-who-got-themselves-caught-via-facebook) ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-how-what-a-person-did-on-the-internet-ruined-their-lives/669415/42 "2013-09-23T15:06:24Z")
I’m thinking of those people that had major meltdowns in letter/email format - like that one guy that sent an email after that woman didn’t return his affections… He was a lawyer or finance guy…damn I know one of you is going to find it and put me out of my misery. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-how-what-a-person-did-on-the-internet-ruined-their-lives/669415/43 "2013-09-23T15:56:07Z")
> [@Poysyn](#): > > I’m thinking of those people that had major meltdowns in letter/email format - like that one guy that sent an email after that woman didn’t return his affections… He was a lawyer or finance guy…damn I know one of you is going to find it and put me out of my misery. [John Fitzgerald Page, the guy who has to be at the gym in 26 minutes?](http://gawker.com/309684/nightmare-online-dater-john-fitzgerald-page-is-the-worst-person-in-the-world) ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-how-what-a-person-did-on-the-internet-ruined-their-lives/669415/44 "2013-09-23T16:17:05Z")
I have a FBF who’s constantly posting really right-wing memes on Facebook. I don’t mind, because she doesn’t insult people who disagree with her, but she’s also studying to be a nurse practitioner, and if the subject ever comes up, I’m going to tell her that excessively publicizing her political beliefs may impair her job prospects a couple years from now. I’m NOT going to tell her that the fact that she also cannot seem to construct a coherent sentence or use punctuation correctly isn’t going to help her either. I briefly had her on hidden status because for a while after Sandy Hook, she was posting links to stories about how Obama etc. had staged this to get guns banned and authorize household searches for them without a warrant. I do have someone else on hidden status right now because she’s on the warpath again. That warpath is several dozen atheist memes a day, and the type that are insulting to believers (and yes, she’s an equal-opportunity atheist, not just anti-Christian). She’s on permanent disability, so job-hunting isn’t an issue for her. I also unfriended a relative because he was posting memes advocating a Christian holocaust! I probably should have reported him, too, but didn’t. These are the kinds of things that would get someone arrested if they said them about Jews or Muslims, and he’s gotten into trouble at work for “preaching” to co-workers. There are some ideologies people should keep to themselves, IMNSHO. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-how-what-a-person-did-on-the-internet-ruined-their-lives/669415/45 "2013-09-23T18:20:07Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I was laid off for 18 months before getting a new job. About a week into it, I sent out an email to a bunch of people making dumb jokes about the new job and the new boss. Most of the recipients were at my old job. > > Somehow, my email ended up with an HR manager at my old job. Since I mentioned my new employer by name, this HR person found the name of the HR manager at my new job and forwarded it to her. I was fired the next day, after just over a week on the job. > > It took two more years to get another job (just got hired in July). I am digging out of a mountain of debt, and still facing a foreclosure lawsuit, though I have hopes to settle it and keep my home since I have sufficient income to resume mortgage payments. My take from the story: HR guy is a dickwad. What would possess someone into doing something like this? If I worked in HR, and somebody that we had to lay off made a joke about their new job, I’d laugh it off and ignore it. It takes a pretty big asshole to look for the new company’s HR guy and forward him the email. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-how-what-a-person-did-on-the-internet-ruined-their-lives/669415/46 "2013-09-23T18:38:36Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > My take from the story: HR guy is a dickwad. > > What would possess someone into doing something like this? If I worked in HR, and somebody that we had to lay off made a joke about their new job, I’d laugh it off and ignore it. It takes a pretty big asshole to look for the new company’s HR guy and forward him the email. The question in my mind is how old job HR manager got it in the first place. She wasn’t on my distribution list. Maybe someone forwarded it to her thinking she would be amused. Obviously she wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-how-what-a-person-did-on-the-internet-ruined-their-lives/669415/47 "2013-09-23T18:59:46Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > My take from the story: HR guy is a dickwad. > > What would possess someone into doing something like this? If I worked in HR, and somebody that we had to lay off made a joke about their new job, I’d laugh it off and ignore it. It takes a pretty big asshole to look for the new company’s HR guy and forward him the email. HR managers aren’t exactly known for their sense of humor. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-how-what-a-person-did-on-the-internet-ruined-their-lives/669415/48 "2013-09-23T20:27:08Z")
> [@LC\_Strawhouse](#): > > [This guy’s story](http://www.salon.com/2001/06/08/scarlet_b/) is pretty amusing, it’s about how a former internet obsession with Bigfoot is ruining his love life. Have read the linked article, rapidly. I get that it’s basically, ruefully humorous, and hyperbolic because of that: but find it hard to believe that a one-time (and since, renounced) obsession with a subject which is weird, but – in comparison with many imaginable obsessions – essentially wholesome and harmless; would be a deal-breaker for all, or indeed very many, potential partners. I have a long-term interest in Bigfoot and his supposed cousins elsewhere in the world (have come to the conclusion that the high probability is, that they don’t exist) – am in my sixties and never married, and am in almost all respects, content with my single state; anyhow, I certainly don’t ascribe my singleness to my being a bit of a Bigfooter, and being fairly open about it. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-how-what-a-person-did-on-the-internet-ruined-their-lives/669415/49 "2013-09-23T22:58:16Z")
> [@stpauler](#): > > [John Fitzgerald Page, the guy who has to be at the gym in 26 minutes?](http://gawker.com/309684/nightmare-online-dater-john-fitzgerald-page-is-the-worst-person-in-the-world) Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-how-what-a-person-did-on-the-internet-ruined-their-lives/669415/50 "2013-09-24T12:11:04Z")
> [@stpauler](#): > > [John Fitzgerald Page, the guy who has to be at the gym in 26 minutes?](http://gawker.com/309684/nightmare-online-dater-john-fitzgerald-page-is-the-worst-person-in-the-world) This guy got so famous that, even today, in a Google search start typing “atlanta douc…”, and Google will autocomplete to “atlanta douchebag” and bring up stories about him from years ago. [I did a thread about him 4 years ago](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=536893). ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-how-what-a-person-did-on-the-internet-ruined-their-lives/669415/51 "2013-09-24T13:23:04Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > I Google my potential dates and have stopped contact if I find out that they are advocates of stupid bullshit. One that comes to mind is a professional nutritionist who bases her recommendations, in large part, on the eye color of the client. Don’t most of us have brown eyes? Do we all get the same recommendation? My SO’s family are always talking about people who cause themselves this kind of trouble, and then they extrapolate it to think they should never put anything on the web, ever. I want to tell them, putting pictures of your grandchildren is not going to come back and bite you on the ass. Posting things about your day won’t, either, and you can password-protect things and CYA. But they won’t/don’t listen, preferring to gasp at the horror stories. Ah! First on the second page! I hate that! ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-how-what-a-person-did-on-the-internet-ruined-their-lives/669415/52 "2013-09-24T13:44:00Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > I Google my potential dates and have stopped contact if I find out that they are advocates of stupid bullshit. One that comes to mind is a professional nutritionist who bases her recommendations, in large part, on the eye color of the client… I have to admit, you spurning a date with me would surely destroy my life! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-how-what-a-person-did-on-the-internet-ruined-their-lives/669415/53 "2013-09-24T13:46:07Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > …Ah! First on the second page! I hate that! Change your settings to display more messages per page. My page two starts with post #201. OTOH, I feel the same – it sucks when I happen to BE post #201. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-how-what-a-person-did-on-the-internet-ruined-their-lives/669415/54 "2013-09-24T16:24:45Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Don’t most of us have brown eyes? Do we all get the same recommendation? You’re going to be sorry that you asked. [Iridology - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iridology) > [@](#): > > My SO’s family are always talking about people who cause themselves this kind of trouble, and then they extrapolate it to think they should never put anything on the web, ever. I want to tell them, putting pictures of your grandchildren is not going to come back and bite you on the ass. Posting things about your day won’t, either, and you can password-protect things and CYA. But they won’t/don’t listen, preferring to gasp at the horror stories. My step-mother has never surfed the web and barely uses email. She is deathly afraid that using a computer will give her a virus that will steal all of her money. She also things that Facebook destroys lives because of something her friends have told her about their kids that I have never quite been able to understand. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-how-what-a-person-did-on-the-internet-ruined-their-lives/669415/55 "2013-09-24T17:13:46Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > I know any number of people who I think have hurt their careers and are totally oblivious to it. Not because of any one dramatic incident, but a slow chipping away of respect because they made public a persona that was significantly more sexual, or more emotionally petty/dramatic, or was more politically radical than what they present at work. There’s a reason we tamp those things down at work. Yes, freedom of expression, it’s a terrible thing. Gotta teach people they are just cogs in the machine. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-how-what-a-person-did-on-the-internet-ruined-their-lives/669415/56 "2013-09-24T17:23:35Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Come on—it was more than just a pro-gun control message, and it did more than just imply a desire for harm on NRA members. Spoilered for offensiveness: Seems like a perfectly reasonable thing to say. He wasn’t saying HE would kill anyone, or even advocating killing … clearly, he hates that. He just wants those who are enablers of gun violence to get their karmic dues. Unremarkable, really. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-how-what-a-person-did-on-the-internet-ruined-their-lives/669415/57 "2013-09-24T17:29:28Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > The question in my mind is how old job HR manager got it in the first place. She wasn’t on my distribution list. Maybe someone forwarded it to her thinking she would be amused. Obviously she wasn’t. I think you were seriously and deliberately screwed over by your old HR manager. You hold ultimate responsibility for making the jokes, but what she did went WAAAAY over the line. She hate you, Jim. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-how-what-a-person-did-on-the-internet-ruined-their-lives/669415/58 "2013-09-24T17:33:27Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > I think you were seriously and deliberately screwed over by your old HR manager. You hold ultimate responsibility for making the jokes, but what she did went WAAAAY over the line. She hate you, Jim. I know that the intent couldn’t have benn anything other than malicious, but I didn’t even KNOW the woman when I was at the old job. I know her name, because when the new employer fired me, they (for some reason) gave me a copy of the email they received from the HR woman at the old job. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-how-what-a-person-did-on-the-internet-ruined-their-lives/669415/59 "2013-09-24T18:25:58Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > There was a NYC restaurateur who was photographed exposing himself on the subway. Once it hit the net he was identified and it destroyed his reputation. [Suspected Subway Pleasurer Arrested - Gothamist](http://gothamist.com/2005/09/01/suspected_subway_pleasurer_arrested.php) A raw-food restaurateur, no less. Giving rise to an article headed [Onan the Vegetarian](http://nymag.com/news/features/16576/). 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-how-what-a-person-did-on-the-internet-ruined-their-lives/669415/60 "2013-09-24T18:50:07Z")
There was a Temp working at Microsoft several years ago that posted a photo of a bunch of G5 Macs in the Shipping department on his blog, with some comment like “Even Microsoft uses G5s! Hah!” or something. He was fired, not for the dig, but b/c he posted a public photo of an internal building within MS - a HUGE no-no. (FYI, those G5s were for my department, the MacBU, which developed Office for the Mac specifically, so he was doubly stupid for thinking that this was some hilarious faux-pax) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-how-what-a-person-did-on-the-internet-ruined-their-lives/669415.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-how-what-a-person-did-on-the-internet-ruined-their-lives/669415.md?page=4)