Im sure Google has the best character recognition software in the world,, they know your names alright, putting them in an image is pointless other than it looking different. I hardly ever post in here because of THE rule and I tend to only answer technical questions in here if I do, I won't post my full name on any public forum that's my right to privacy, if this post gets deleted because of that so be it, they better go and delete all my other helpful and polite posts too.

Google doesn't even index it if it is text in your signature. You are perfectly safe if it is in your signature, its the people who sign their name inside their post who have it visible to search engines.

True, but every other aspect of AVSIM is fair game for Google, like say the file library. Plus, Google is perfectly capable of linking your real name to certain nicknames you use. Googling my name together with the word AVSIM for example links to the About Me page of my account, because Dan posted them together once during his RealAir Duke contest. I don't mind, but the people that value their privacy have a valid argument.

Frankly i can't see what the problem is. the rule say's sign your full name, so why not just do it and get on with enjoying this great hobby. If i have a problem and i want to solve it, it seems a small price to pay.

God google knows everything... Their servers know your name... they know when you're sleeping, and they have track of those dirty keywords that you use past 10pm!

Before I joined avsim I used too wear a tin foil hat and cover my windows with tin foil to keep google satellite x-ray beams from figuring out who I am. At first I was skeptical about posting my name and after many nights of tossing and turning in my tin foil sheets I decided to post my name in my sig and throw out all the tin foil and you know what..My name does not come up in google, nobody stole my identity, the FBI is not following me. So get over yourself s people, nobody cares about you or searching your avsim posts and linking it to other aspects of your life. Nobody can steal your identity just because they have your name from a web forum. NOBODY steals identities that way. You are much more likely to have it stolen by a family member or hotel staff or a server at a bar or restaurant.

Yep. I can google my name, and nothing actually relating to ME comes up. There is someone with my name on Facebook, who ironically lives in Birmingham, but that's NOT me because I'm not on Facebook. So.....I'm just happy to follow the rules. Makes things easier.

I would much rather have my name in my sig then have pmdg create their own forum on their website and have this turn into an unofficial forum, its just one less place I have to sign up to.

Well according to Google - I was born in 1925 and died in 2002 - also I was a famous musician and a conductor. Alternatively I am an actor...with my own IMDB page. Well I don't believe that I remember being an actor and I am pleased to inform you that rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated...

There's no such thing as privacy on the internet. If someone wants information about you they WILL get it no matter what.

There's no such thing as privacy on the internet. If someone wants information about you they WILL get it no matter what.

Sure, that's great. Since you believe that, mind giving me your address, DOB, SSN, etc.? Afterall, I could find it out anyway, right?

Before I joined avsim I used too wear a tin foil hat and cover my windows with tin foil to keep google satellite x-ray beams from figuring out who I am. At first I was skeptical about posting my name and after many nights of tossing and turning in my tin foil sheets I decided to post my name in my sig and throw out all the tin foil and you know what..My name does not come up in google, nobody stole my identity, the FBI is not following me. So get over yourself s people, nobody cares about you or searching your avsim posts and linking it to other aspects of your life. Nobody can steal your identity just because they have your name from a web forum.NOBODY steals identities that way. You are much more likely to have it stolen by a family member or hotel staff or a server at a bar or restaurant.

:( You know, you could be slightly less patronizing here. It's not just about stolen identities, there's a wide variety of reasons as to why someone would be researching someone else on the internet, e.g. potential employers, potential mates, etc. And yes, you're absolutely right, no one has ever had their identity stolen from the internet. Indeed.-John Rodgers

Sure, that's great. Since you believe that, mind giving me your address, DOB, SSN, etc.? Afterall, I could find it out anyway, right?

Actually, Danny is not wrong. In the internet you can get all the informations you want about someone. Of course that just searching for the name of the person at Google won't return many results, but with the "right tecnique" and enough free time for it, you can find many informations about people.

Back to topic please. We don't want to have another deleted or locked Thread guys...

Actually, Danny is not wrong. In the internet you can get all the informations you want about someone. Of course that just searching for the name of the person at Google won't return many results, but with the "right tecnique" (hacking) you can find whatever you want about whoever you want.

This always cracks me up when people talk about "hacking" like it's some easy thing to do if you just know the right keystrokes or something. That may be what it's like on TV shows like 24 or CSI, but it's not even close to that way in the real world. You can't just "hack" someone to find out info about them.

This always cracks me up when people talk about "hacking" like it's some easy thing to do if you just know the right keystrokes or something. That may be what it's like on TV shows like 24 or CSI, but it's not even close to that way in the real world. You can't just "hack" someone to find out info about them.

Actually I don't know much about hacking (actually I don't know anything about it), but I do know it's not like in the TV. I know it's not something you can do in 2 or 3 minutes while you drink a cup of coffee. Was just an example.

Im sure Google has the best character recognition software in the world,, they know your names alright, putting them in an image is pointless other than it looking different.

Interesting as that is not what Google says in their webmaster guidelines:

Try to use text instead of images to display important names, content, or links. The Google crawler doesn't recognize text contained in images. If you must use images for textual content, consider using the "ALT" attribute to include a few words of descriptive text.

Found at: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769Not that they don't have that technology. If spammers can get past CAPTCHA, I'm sure Google can index content in at least some images.