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+--- Thread: Social Networking Sites Are Starting To Scare Me (/showthread.php?tid=10008)
Social Networking Sites Are Starting To Scare Me - Bob Schroeck - 10-03-2009
This morning, LinkedIn suggested a potential contact for me that threw me for a loop -- someone I knew from Steve Jackson Games 15 years or so ago.
What's scary about that?
Neither of us has anything about SJG in our profiles. We're in two completely different fields. We have (had) no connections in common. She's in Texas, I'm in NJ. I haven't talked to/emailed her in years. Her entry is under her married name, and I knew her only by her maiden name.
How the hell did LinkedIn figure out to suggest her to me?
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
- ordnance11 - 10-03-2009
Not so usual Bob. You two may have no connections in common. But it's like a geneology tree. Go back far enough, and you two have connections in common.
__________________
Into terror!, Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell
- Matrix Dragon - 10-03-2009
Quote: ordnance11 wrote:
Not so usual Bob. You two may have no connections in common. But it's like a geneology tree. Go back far enough, and you two have connections in common.
And you're not seeing what's terrifying about that? O_O
- ordnance11 - 10-03-2009
Quote: Matrix Dragon wrote:Ever seen the TV series "Connections" in the 80's? If a series of random events have commonality in them, why not people? I've
Quote: ordnance11 wrote:
Not so usual Bob. You two may have no connections in common. But it's like a geneology tree. Go back far enough, and you two have connections in
common.
And you're not seeing what's terrifying about that? O_O
met people who met people I knew in different times in my military days, so it doesn't boggle me. It is a small world after all.
__________________
Into terror!, Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell
- Bob Schroeck - 10-03-2009
The thing is, about 95% of the connections that LinkedIn is suggesting to me are people who are or were at AMBest. I had no one from my writing side in my
profile at all. And DK and I had no other connections. It still baffles me.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
- jpub - 10-03-2009
Remember that these sites, especially business-related ones, do out-of-band searches on you when forming links. It probably figured out that you were the GURPS
writer, and went from there.
- Jeanne Hedge - 10-04-2009
Quote: Matrix Dragon wrote:
Quote: ordnance11 wrote:
Not so usual Bob. You two may have no connections in common. But it's like a geneology tree. Go back far enough, and you two have connections in
common.
And you're not seeing what's terrifying about that? O_O
Facebook did something similar to me. I think it's got something to do with email addresses (maybe).
Also, I don't think your last name is all that common. I bet that's triggering at least some of these connections - your name is presumably in the
credits (the "database") somewhere online for something from SJGames, therefore it's linking you to everyone else on LinkedIn whose name matches
a name in that same database.
Think of it as a weird version of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon (Six Degrees of Bob Schroeck?)
![[Image: 6bf36ddc1d2c96930d75576c361a9b3f8152885f.gif]](http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/forums/forumimportfiles/6bf36ddc1d2c96930d75576c361a9b3f8152885f.gif)
Jeanne Hedge www.jhedge.com
"Believe me, if I have to go the rest of my life without companionship, knowing myself won't be a problem."
-- Gabrielle of Potadeia
- Bob Schroeck - 10-04-2009
Quote:Also, I don't think your last name is all that common. I bet that's triggering at least some of these connections - your name is presumably in the credits (the "database") somewhere online for something from SJGames, therefore it's linking you to everyone else on LinkedIn whose name matches a name in that same database.I was wondering if they did something like that, scanning other sites on the net for relevant information to suggest links with. That makes it a little less scary in one dimension, and a whole lot scarier in another.
Quote:Think of it as a weird version of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon (Six Degrees of Bob Schroeck?)I have a Kevin Bacon number of 3, by the way...
How? Oh, simple:
Brooke Shields and I worked on the 1984 http://www.princeton.edu/~triangle/]Princeton Triangle Club show Under The Influence together.
Brooke was in the 1990 film Backstreet Dreams with Sherilyn Fenn.
Sherilyn Fenn was in the 2004 movie Cavedweller with Kevin Bacon.
I used to have a higher Bacon number, mostly running through George Burns and the 1979 movie Just You And Me, Kid, but some films made in the last ten years have put me closer to the winner's circle.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
- Bluemage - 10-04-2009
...the winner's circle, which is comprised entirely of (Kevin) Bacon?
Seriously, I find it creepier how iTunes and the like have a reputation for 'randomly' giving you the exact song you want to hear. It's one thing
to know who you've worked with, but to understand how you think?
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.
I've been writing a bit.
- Jeanne Hedge - 10-04-2009
Quote: Bob Schroeck wrote:I'm curious about Brooke Shields from back then, but I won't ask.
Quote: Also, I don't think your last name is all that common. I bet that's triggering at least some of these connections - your name is presumably in theI was wondering if they did something like that, scanning other sites on the net for relevant information to suggest links with. That makes it a
credits (the "database") somewhere online for something from SJGames, therefore it's linking you to everyone else on LinkedIn whose name
matches a name in that same database.
little less scary in one dimension, and a whole lot scarier in another.
Quote: Think of it as a weird version of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon (Six Degrees of Bob Schroeck?)I have a Kevin Bacon number of 3, by the way...
My KB number is 3 as well. When I lived in S.Jersey, I lived in Bruce Willis' hometown. I worked with a lady who knew him from back when, and knew Demi
Moore from them being around the town (and when they were in town they *were* around the town). Demi worked with KB in "A Few Good Men".
Jeanne Hedge www.jhedge.com
"Believe me, if I have to go the rest of my life without companionship, knowing myself won't be a problem."
-- Gabrielle of Potadeia
- Bob Schroeck - 10-04-2009
Curious in what way? I mean, she was a nice kid; great dancer, lousy singer, had a talent for voices and accents I don't think she's ever really used
in anything other than Triangle shows, and was pretty good at comedy. We didn't really hang together, although we had several mutual friends.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
- Jeanne Hedge - 10-04-2009
Quote: Bob Schroeck wrote:You just sort of answered what I was curious about. Although most of the country knew who she was (and had for several years) and where she was
Curious in what way? I mean, she was a nice kid; great dancer, lousy singer, had a talent for voices and accents I don't think she's ever really used
in anything other than Triangle shows, and was pretty good at comedy. We didn't really hang together, although we had several mutual friends.
at, I had heard that she was trying fairly hard to be as normal a college student (and have a normal college student life (if such a thing as
"normal" applies to college students )) as she could. Sounds like that was so. Good for her!
Jeanne Hedge www.jhedge.com
"Believe me, if I have to go the rest of my life without companionship, knowing myself won't be a problem."
-- Gabrielle of Potadeia
- Bob Schroeck - 10-04-2009
Well, normal is relative. I got stopped once backstage by one of her bodyguards who demanded to know who I was and why I was there. And I was on the edges of
some of the powertrip stunts her mother tried to pull, like trying to seize control of the show's publicity from the club. Terri Shields, before she
succumbed to Alzheimer's, was a battle tank in lipstick. But Brooke herself? To the extent that we interacted, she was a sweet kid. Gave me a piece of
carrot cake, once, right out of the blue, for example.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
- ECSNorway - 10-04-2009
Sounds like a nice kid, yeah.
My own Bacon Number is, as far as I can tell, four - my aunt went to school with Bobcat Goldthwaite, who himself has a Bacon Number of 2.
(On the other hand, my Bacon Number to all SORTS of interesting people in politics is a lot lower than you'd think... my grandfather was in the same cadet
unit at Annapolis as Jimmy Carter. Pretty much all of 'official Washington' is BN
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.