Netiquette: Brought To You By CNET and XPERTECHS!

I came across this article the other day while perusing my usual daily tech-site reads and couldn't help but share. Are you a "Google-Stalker," too? Perhaps you've been struck by the urge to google a cube-mate's name? Or even that annoying next door neighbor? The good news is, you're not alone.

"The other week, we covered the difference between searching and stalking online. We dusted off our hands, satisfied with our ample labors, and just as we were about to sink into the deep cave of hibernation/suspended animation that we enter between columns, we received the following inquiry:

"This has been a hard thing to admit myself, but I have a problem: I am a total and complete Google stalker. I'll spend hours just surfing the Web, searching for details about old high school acquaintances, co-workers and potential dates. I am a machine. Seriously. I can find anyone. Give me a first name and an identifying detail, and I'll give you a whole freaking dossier.

My friends make fun of me mercilessly, teasingly (I hope) calling me a creeper, and I've seen some sitcoms and movies lately that seem to indicate that Google stalking kills the mystery or whatever, but I'm just fascinated by people -- and the fact that our lives have become so public. (Also, sometimes stalking comes in handy -- a wedding ring can come off, you know). My question is: Am I really a creeper?"

- Creeper(?) in Connecticut

Well, Creeper(?), assuming -- as we did in the last column with Creepy Crushing in Chicago -- that you are not, in fact, out of your mind, allow us to parse this out for you by way of the following examples.

Is it creepy to Google stalk...

Work contacts

You've just been hired! (Finally, someone appreciates your amazing fortune cookie-writing skills.) You've just shaken hands with your new cubiclemate and you're settling into your computer chair when you're hit with the uncontrollable urge to enter her name into Google and hit "Search." Are you a creeper?

Nope. In the wild, wild west of fortune-cookie writing (and all other professions), it's advantageous to know as much as you can about the people you're working with. Does your colleague have a website? Does it have information about her past gigs? Does it include some hobby that you, too, enjoy (She does George R. R. Martin fan art, too?!)?

Well, then, feel free to cast around. No one is going to be creeped out that you looked at a repository of information that they themselves put online -- just do it at home (How will you feel if she walks by to invite you to lunch and sees you're six pages into her blog?), and bring it up tactfully: "Hey! I saw your website. What was it like working with Donald Lau? He's a legend!"

On the other hand, "I saw all those pics on Flickr where you're dressed as Lady Gaga, passed out on a couch. I love 'Born This Way,' too!" probably won't go over too well. As the cookie would say, "A wise man knows when to keep his mouth shut."

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