Do you ever research people you know indepthly

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I find when there is someone I like, whom I don't see a whole lot of, I tend to search for them quite extensiviely online. Finding out their forums, job history, family photos, whatever. I've found online friends home addresses and phone numbers before they ever gave me their last name. (and don't worry, I have enough sense to know when to keep what I've found private, though sometimes I've asked close friends, "do you mind that I do this"


The reason this is on my mind is I know a man who is fairly wealthy. Based on the median income for his area, the fact he once "ranted" to me about how long it took him to make a certain amount of money, I estimate he makes between $200,000-$300,000 a year. I never thought to much of his income until someone else who knows me basically said something like, "A lot of millionaires live in his town and they are stuck up snobs. Is that a problem for you?" (I'm poor. I make $100/month above the cutoff for food stamps) So now I'm curious to determine if he's a millionairre. i've considering tracking his job history (which i've done some of in the past, though largely beacsue I was intrigued by his job position) looking up the profits for his company, better estimating his income from that, finding out much it costs to join the clubs he belongs to, adding a bit for investments, then subtracting things like income and property taxes, cost of club memberships, how much I think he spends on entertainment, average car insurance costs for his area and type of car etc. to determine how much money he would have to put aside annually. I must admit this really souns like a fun endeavor for me.

But in some ways its kind of silly too. Because i could just call him and ask. I'm sure he'd tell me, it just wouldn't be fun to go about it that way.

my xperience is that people dont like being traced... they see it as an invasion of their privacy... i wuld ask him outright....

I usually do this with people I used to be friends with that I haven't had contact with an a long time. Every so often, I'll wonder what they've been up to and start my research. I recently did this with an old army buddy of mine. He was super easy to track down and I got his email address from his older brother. I emailed him and he seemed kinda freaked out that I'd tracked him down. It's not like it's hard! He emailed me back once but since then hasn't emailed at all. Oh well. I tend to get a bit obsessed with the internet sometimes. It's like down the rabbit hole... one thing just leads to another search, then another, and so on...

C-R-E-E-P-Y. Sorry if that's judgemental, but that's just how it comes across to me. In fact, I hesitated to answer this post cuz I wouldn't want to pop up on your stalker radar.

Admittedly, I do enjoy researching things on the computer, but people's private info just isn't my thing. I'm more into stuff like seeing how alternative energy can be used in certain applications, that kind of thing. I understand the research bug, I just hope you find something to research in the future that doesn't violate other people's privacy.

I like to do this, with the people I admire and I don't know,... like celebrities and such ... research for anyhting relate to them on-line, and this way feel them more 'familiar' to me, ... and it also helps me a lot to forget about my 'asperger' and 'look up ' to them ..

There is nothing I'd find thats truly private. If its on the internet than in 99% of all cases they either put it there or know its there. Its not like I go about hiring private detectives, soliciting other people's input, or implanting listening devices anywhere. And I should also clarify that I don't actually use or share the information for anything.

And this man has searched me online, which I imagine was to get my contact info when I wasn't returning any of his calls to my cell phone (since I never had it on I'd no idea that he had been calling me).

Though looking up things like property tazes and square footage of his house is way more indepth than I've ever gotten with anyone I know he'd be cool with it. Though I could ask him about doing this first and then when I'm done he could tell me if I'm close to being right. I'm sure he'd get some humor out of that, and it would fit into some of the other skills I have that he's spoken to me about as they are related to some of his education/training

As a rule no. People that I wonder what became of them I will look for once in a while. I've lost track of what was once a family to me in one job setting and they do publish papers from time to time or end up teaching, I can track some that way. If someone here has their www button up, I like to look at their sites and see what they might have to say about themselves. I do once in while look at peoples past posts here, but usually that's when I might be misunderstanding them and I want to make sure. That most always occurs when I see a big time flame going on and I need to see if it's pattern with them. But no I don't look for personal things. I don't back track emails that I get on my site. I don't stalk people. If I'm interested in them I'm very upfront about it.

I had a friend who did this kind of thing in high school, and it made me very uncomfortable. A quick google search of a name is OK, but searching out small details of their life without their permission is kind of a violation of their privacy.

I do it all the time. Not just people, when I want to know, I want everything.

Geology, History, economics, transportion, of the region, down to the location, and local history.

It is planning, and little known facts, 70 years ago this was a major lead mining district, hundreds of miles of flooded tunnels, the ground water is loaded, are worth knowing.

Site studies are only part of a business plan, I have to know more about suppliers, competitors, customers.

If an important supplier, a reason for the chosen location, in near bankrupt with declining sales, or is related to your major competitor, or old with no successor, all affect investment.

If the person you are dealing with has an email that tracks back to a Maximum Security Prison, if someone claims to be at the top of their field but there are no records. It is worth looking into.

Are the people you are dealing with legally able to do what they offer? Do they own what they offer to sell? Checking for convictions is always done, and not just in the State where they are doing business. SRO's are the worst, the professions, Doctors, Lawyers, Stock Brokers, never get to court, but there are records.

Some sites list only convictions, but a pending case of fraud should be looked for. They may be looking for money to flee with.

Not only everyone involved, but the local politicals, do they live above their means? Does the local bank write out of state mortgages, but few local, and do large amounts of money move through to off shore accounts? What about deaths and disappearances over the last ten years?

Crime rates are useful, what kind of people are these? If you plan on living with them, hiring them, doing business, education, income, local culture, are important.

An Eyes Wide Open Report can compare several choices, bring out the best and worst, and at least you know.

You never know till you look. Sex Offenders may seem to have nothing to do with business, but in one group the only one is a 23 year old male, who hit on a 17 year old female. In another group of the same size, it runs for pages, families, baby sitters, teachers, ministers, police, with very young children, it is the town hobby, and that jury of peers thing, they all get probation.

In another place the raped, murderd and mutilated bodies of young women have been showing up for twenty years, or they vanish with no trace. This is another town hobby. In another place it is boys.

75,000 people a year just vanish. They never use their Social Security number, get a new drivers license, open a bank account, they are just gone. This is three times the known murder rate, and there are few records. Some small towns have fifteen missing people, it makes me wonder.

I do this for businesses looking for a new location. I also go to the town, and many a Mayor is looking for a payoff. I also interview people who have left town. I am yet to find Mayberry.

This could be a really fun game, if someone asked a question about themselves and then challenged people to find the answer using only internet research.