I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Been something or other

Okay, because I was bored, I looked at BeenVerfied.com. And first up, they maybe looking at a truth in advertising suit. See, it's not "free", you only have a "free" trial period.

But, I ran myself, because, well, you know. And I think it's interesting that one of my aliases is my brother. So, not so much with the clean database.

And then, in their commercials, it states, "Search yourself, you might be surprised at what you find," while they're highlighting conviction for armed robbery. I think you'd remember being convicted for armed robbery. That's not something like forgetting which color polo shirt you wore on Wednesday.

So, not so much with the thinking it's really worthwhile. Unfortunately, some people, employers say, may be looking to save themselves some moolah and go with the cut rate site and then they don't really understand quality and think I am my brother.

2 comments:

ChiaLynn said...

I haven't looked at BeenVerified, but the job I just quit was background investigations. Sadly, you're right - there are a lot of employers, lenders, landlords and others who think the cheap online search is just the same as the professionally-conducted search (where I'd scroll through the results and say, "Yeah, that looks to me like his brother - not old enough to be his dad.").

It's really a problem when you've got someone else with your name who's been convicted of armed robbery - the database won't order the court records to see if it's really you (and find out whether the case was dismissed or expunged), and the person using the database may assume that the name match is enough for a positive ID.

Steve Buchheit said...

Chia, see, that's the problem is that most places don't really know the difference. Fortunately for me, I have a somewhat unique name (there's only a few "Stephen Buchheit"s out there in the world - however, it was heavily intimated to me by a major publisher that I might consider a pseudonym for publishing).

It's about the same level of "Well, I've got a niece that's studying this graphic design thing in high school, I'll let her design my brochure/website." Uh, yeah, it'll cost you less up front, but it'll cost you more on the back end.