Facebookers, MySpacers, YouTubers, and bloggers of all kinds, hear this!

If you put something on the internet, people will read it. And I mean everyone; not just your friends and online contacts, but your employer, your pastor, your ex-boyfriend and maybe even your mom. Mine certainly does .

I don’t mean to instill fear, or dissuade anyone from sharing information online. I am obviously a major proponent of all things online networking-related, and there is little about me that you can’t read about online. And then there are the photos. But it’s important to remember that if you put it out there, it will be seen.

This topic comes up at just about every blogging-related conference I’ve been to (yes, several thank you very much) and those in the know tend to agree; there is “no security by obscurity,” to paraphrase Roland Tanglao (I think it was). Meaning, you can’t assume that the internet is such a massive space that the photos from your drunken exploits on that Thursday that you called in sick won’t be found by the boss you lied to, eventually.

My generation is the last that will have to experience a paradigm shift here; us “grown folks” have had to decide whether we’re comfortable with “putting ourselves out there.” The young ‘uns seem to have a reckless “devil may care” attitude with a lot of what they publish online, and my message to them is simply this: tread carefully.

Recently, over lunch with Six Apart’s Anil Dash, this very topic came up, and he said that they screen the MySpace pages, YouTube channels and blogs of every job applicant they get at the company, and anytime he talks to school groups, etc. he’ll bring up this fact, just to watch their reactions. “Shock and awe” pretty much sums up his description of the ensuing discussion and question period.

Of course, sometimes maintaining a public profile puts you at risk as well, as evidenced by certain goings-on in the blogoshpere of late (no link until the dust has truly settled). Just as in the “real world,” there are always a few bad eggs out there who seem intent to ruin the fun for the rest of us. But we shall overcome, and all that. It’s a lot of fun here on the ‘internets,’ and I want nothing more than to see everyone join the party, and be themselves, without fear.

Just remember that you are in public, and you should act accordingly.

(image credit: “New Issues of Privacy” from the New Yorker by NYCMotherPie)

I’m finally registered. It will be my first, and my first Moosecamp as well, happening at UBC Feb. 23 and 24.
And you can bet I ordered the t-shirt, too.

I’ve added some new gems to my blogroll (”Stuff I Read,” in the right column). As always I only add things that I read on a regular basis, and that I’m keen to share with readers.

You might find yours in the list, but don’t be heartbroken if it’s not there…I have several others short-listed that may be added soon.

Enjoy!

Update: How could I forget Converstations, and Obviousness.net?

For starters, I haven’t been posting much. This is most disappointing to me, because I vowed I would be consistent. Much worse though is the fact that I haven’t added the rest of my podcasting series, and now we’re close enough to the holidays that it seems I might break that promise too.

My sincerest of apologies to those of you who were waiting for more episodes before Christmas, especially those who made a point of saying so in the comments. In the New Year, I will atone for all of my sins, I assure you. Still, Time magazine has voted me Person of the Year.

Lastly, I owe a big thanks to Mack Collier, his “Z-list” has brought me a huge burst in traffic and links, and I haven’t had the time to reciprocate to all of the linkers. This one I will rectify much sooner. Thanks to all of you who are reposting my link over and over again, I am entirely grateful. I haven’t checked yet, but you might have moved me up the Technorati ladder quite a few notches. In blog land, that’s like hard currency.

And, did anyone else notice that the entire Wordpress dashboard UI changed overnight? I’m still getting used to it.

Update: ‘Twas Rob who changed my dashboard; adding a plugin as a surprise, as he mentions in the comments.

You’re probably all just dying to know, and although I’m tempted to publish a whole list here, this is actually just to announce a cool new feature from Flickr:

Give the Gift of Flickr. As many of you know, I’m a huge fan of the service, but I am still on a free account. And even though, as Factory Joe (aka Chris Messina) reports, those free accounts are going from 20MB to 100MB per month in uploads, I still feel as if I owe it to the Flickr community to contribute more than just my occasional photo or two.

So if you’re stumped, and you want to get me something that I will cherish for many years to come, this is the idea you’ve been looking for. If my new Pro account isn’t under the tree this year, I resolve to purchase this for myself in the New Year. Just like I resolve to finally start training for the Vancouver Marathon. Seriously.

This is my 100th post since the switch to Wordpress. Add the 81 from Blogger, and we’re not far off from 200. Also, stay tuned for the celebration of the most important milestone of them all, Tell Ten Friends’ first birthday. (hint: it happens before we ring in 2007)

Thanks very much for reading. I’m having a blast, and your comments, links, feedback and encouragement are just icing on the cake.

Tag! I’m it.

Ben Yoskovitz shared his five things that the blogging community doesn’t know about him, and has chosen me as one of five people to continue to spread the meme. So here goes:

1. I can read Korean (phonetically, at least), even though I have no idea what I’m saying out loud most of the time. Try it for yourself; it only takes about three hours or so to learn.

2. I have a healthy dose of Acadian (Merci, Grandpa Arsenault) mixed in with my Irish and English heritage, mais mon francais n’est pas bon.

3. After college, I spent an entire calendar year as a bike courier in Victoria. Having my bike stolen from outside my friend Erik’s pizza shop was the beginning of the end of that memorable time for me, and was the wake up call I needed to start growing up.

4. My first name is actually Patrick, inherited from my father and his father before him and his father before him. And all of us first born sons, all with middle names starting with “J.” If you’re keeping track, that would make me Patrick Jordan Behan, and Patrick J. Behan IV.

5. Although I did play rep hockey up until Bantam, due to a late-blooming ability to skate well enough and a complete lack of “hands,” I had a much more successful career as a referee (even appearing in the stripes as a linesman for a game of Junior “A”) than I ever did as a player. Ask anyone who ever played hockey with me, and you won’t get much of a dispute on this point.

So there you are, five things that you didn’t know about me before that I am comfortable sharing with the ‘internets.’

Now, I want to find out five things about:

Jeremy Latham
Nathaniel Steven Henry Brown
James Sherrett
Linda Bustos (a hip noob)
Kris Krug

As reported by Ianiv of the Blogaholics, Grouse Mountain was giving away free lift passes yesterday, in exchange for a minimum donation of $2 for North Shore Family Services or canned goods for the Harvest Project.

My brother Wes, Rob and I all went up in the afternoon, and spent a few hours discovering Grouse Mountain for the first time, and getting some great runs in. A great time was had by all; it was sunny and warm and even though it was incredibly busy, the whole hill was full of happy people. I was most impressed by the view of Vancouver from the top:

Photo by Rob Masefield

Ryan Ashton (of Adcouver and Boston Pizza fame) recently asked the big question, and will wed Corrie Miller (of Rock 101’s Bro Jake Morning Show and Vancouver Province fame).

(Ryan and Corrie style out in black and white)

Congrats, guys. Can’t wait for the party.

Firefox 2.0’s functionality caused a feverish frenzy of fits that feature words that start with “F,” friends. Since installing the new version, I am unable to get it to work.

Even uninstall/re-installs have proven fruitless. Or rather, the install works, but I when I go to open the program, I get a message saying that a previous Firefox process needs to be stopped first, or restart. Neither works, and I am losing patience fast. I can’t handle another hour of IE; I just can’t.

I am currently accepting any sympathy or useful “how to” tips you may have. Thanks in advance!

Update: Crisis averted, thanks to Lindsey and the MozillaZine Knowledge Base.