My online name, on the other hand, links me to comments on several blogs, first and foremost this one, but that doesn’t bother me. I’m proud of my association with this site, and I stand by everything I said (Unless the facts dispute me, in which case I’ve usually corrected myself, and thus stand by my stated corrections), so why worry? True, someone could learn a lot about me from my various postings- my interests in CZ, paleontology, science in general, and the paranormal, along with my strong belief that global warming is a serious danger, and that something must be done to curb habitat loss and the current rate of extinction being just the more obvious examples. Again, I don’t see that as a bad thing, it’s not like anybody’s getting my credit card numbers or anything. OK, so they’ll quickly learn that I live in NJ near Atlantic City, but not enough to track me down and beat me up for my unrepentant intellectual ways.

I’ve learned a lot about many of the posters here too- Ole Bub, Kittenz, and so on, and like Kittenz says, that does make us sort of like some kind of family, and I kinda like that. I would also hope any future employers would see us as we are and accept us on those terms, or else, why would you want to work for them anyway?

And, now while it’s true my frequent visits to Cryptomundo betray an interest in unusual and exotic critters, there’re some critters just too unusual and exotic even for me!

Seriously though, I like my privacy, but that’s not entirely the reason I don’t give my real name online in blogs.

My online name gives me a feeling of being an explorer on another planet. That sounds trite but it comes closest to what I feel.

When I begin interacting with the Cryptomundo community, for instance, I feel like this little window into which I type is a window into another world. And my little online name is just my family name in this community.

No, I was talking about those people that are real, use their real names, and turn up in the searching, quite easily.

It can be an advantage, especially, as I was trying to point out, as you may be seen as more interesting than most people. Besides, the person interviewing you may be into Bigfoot as much as you are. The world is changing, and actually being intrigued by cryptozoology has become a positive and creative part of our culture.

But I don’t use my name on the Net. As one of my fave anime characters said when asked his name “Oh, I’ve gone beyond such things as names…”

(And my True name isn’t used “anywhere.”)

I’d recommend to people to use one email address for everyday stuff and to make a new email address when looking for work. That way a search for it won’t pull up any results. Name searches can pull up a lot of stuff about people that aren’t you. Mine had me finding out that there was a Ship Captain with my name in the 1800s. So I don’t see that hurting most people.

As for job seeking, I can only speak from experience. One should not lie on a resume, but you can be selective in presentation. I list on my resume, for example, cryptozoology. Not as a cryptozoologist, but as a writer, researcher and editor in association to certain publications. It is only a snippet, and also breaks the room during an interview and allows for an open conversation about thinking outside the box, structural ideas and systematic methodology.

But, each career and job is different. In academic areas, the cryptozoology connection could be problematic as well as political or governmental. While in service and manufacturing areas it is not always a detriment. This is particularly true if the distinction between work and cryptozoology is set-up in a way that allows these entities to co-exist together. Tap the skills you learn in cryptozoology, such as research, interviewing and writing, and use them in your career. This spin on it can help, as it turns the stigmata into a positive usage of acquired knowledge.

Now, my perspective is from manufacturing and consulting on both the job seeking and hiring basis. It is not concrete, and in the end it comes down to personal choice as to disclosure or non-disclosure of identities online.

Craig Heinselman
Peterborough, NH