I have always been in two minds about this, but have erred on the side of caution: I NEVER put my name to anything online that I think could possibly reflect badly on me at any point in the future.
I'm not remotely famous by any stretch of the imagination, but I am fairly relatively known internationally within a certain subset of astronomy. I'm also still early in my career. I don't want to do something boneheaded now that's gonna stay in a Google search for all eternity and bite me on the ass when I least need it! Sometimes this means suppressing (but not denying) my opinions for fear they might piss off a future potential employer. Other times it just means going under obscure usernames that are pretty much untraceable to me. I don't even reuse usernames for different websites (except banking, bill pay, etc).
It's stupid -- I know! Nobody should be afraid of having their voice heard and, unless you're a total bigoted freak (which I'm not...), you should be proud of your opinons and stick by your beliefs. But when anybody searches on my name online, I dont want them to see results that tie me to any divisive opinion, be it pro-life or pro-choice, pro- or anti- gay marriage, republican, democrat or nazi or whatever. I want them to see the achievements that paint me in the best possible light.
Some might say that the blanket of anonymity is really just cowardice with no personal convictions. I say it's a necessary evil and good common sense.
Along similar lines, I reckon that NASA should sell advertising space on the side of launch vehicles, etc, to help cover costs of launch. How much would (e.g.) McDonalds be willing to pay for a frickin' huge yellow 'M' on the side of a rocket? I'd bet a million or three $'s, at least. (After all, companies pay millions for 30s during superbowl commercials...) To a small science mission on a budget of a couple of hundred million, this would be a really big deal, IMO.
Just my 2c...
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I have always been in two minds about this, but have erred on the side of caution: I NEVER put my name to anything online that I think could possibly reflect badly on me at any point in the future.
I'm not remotely famous by any stretch of the imagination, but I am fairly relatively known internationally within a certain subset of astronomy. I'm also still early in my career. I don't want to do something boneheaded now that's gonna stay in a Google search for all eternity and bite me on the ass when I least need it! Sometimes this means suppressing (but not denying) my opinions for fear they might piss off a future potential employer. Other times it just means going under obscure usernames that are pretty much untraceable to me. I don't even reuse usernames for different websites (except banking, bill pay, etc).
It's stupid -- I know! Nobody should be afraid of having their voice heard and, unless you're a total bigoted freak (which I'm not...), you should be proud of your opinons and stick by your beliefs. But when anybody searches on my name online, I dont want them to see results that tie me to any divisive opinion, be it pro-life or pro-choice, pro- or anti- gay marriage, republican, democrat or nazi or whatever. I want them to see the achievements that paint me in the best possible light.
Some might say that the blanket of anonymity is really just cowardice with no personal convictions. I say it's a necessary evil and good common sense.
Along similar lines, I reckon that NASA should sell advertising space on the side of launch vehicles, etc, to help cover costs of launch. How much would (e.g.) McDonalds be willing to pay for a frickin' huge yellow 'M' on the side of a rocket? I'd bet a million or three $'s, at least. (After all, companies pay millions for 30s during superbowl commercials...) To a small science mission on a budget of a couple of hundred million, this would be a really big deal, IMO.
Just my 2c...