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alta vista
``` [If you haven't tried DEC's Alta Vista Web/Usenet search server yet, you really must. The URL is http://www.altavista.digital.com/ ]
Date: Fri, 22 Dec 95 15:30:46 PST
From: RISKS List Owner
RISKS-LIST: Risks-Forum Digest Friday 22 December 1995 Volume 17 : Issue 58
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Date: Fri, 22 Dec 95 13:15:30 GMT From: pjt1@scigen.co.uk (Piers Thompson \(Ionica\)) Subject: My name is mud! [alta vista]
I am interviewing job applicants at the moment. I saw the mention of the alta vista search engine in Risks and thought it could be a useful tool for gathering extra information about applicants from their usenet participation. I am dubious about the morality of this course of action but I am also keen to recruit the best person for the job.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, I didn't get any hits on any of the applicants. So I tried searching for myself......and the first hit was an obscene mailing to one of the alt newsgroups.
I have an unusual name so any prospective employer might very well assume that the obscene poster was me.
In a way I think that this experience was amusing in an ironic way. I tried to use underhand means to discover things about job applicants and, instead, found out that my name's net image isn't quite as expected.
Piers pjt1@scigen.co.uk
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End of RISKS-FORUM Digest 17.58
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