How Disappointed Can You Get?

It’s your last year in your university and probably your last time to watch UAAP Cheer Dancing Competition as a college student. Your university did not win, nor the other universities that you expect. How disappointed can you get?

With all those tamaraws using “sarimanok,” eagles (who happen to have the same color as the sponsor) imitating “MJ,” archers performing a “pseudo-masquerade,” falcons turning “Japanese,” tigers being “set on fire,” warriors with “jeeps,” and bulldogs who (oops! I honestly can’t remember their performance 😦 ), still judges are judges and I cannot contest their decision. In the same way, I am the “judge” of my own blog and I have the right to say that when UP Pep Squad started to add story (adding “kwento” and not just dance there) to their cheer dance last year, it seemed that other universities suddenly did just the same. Oh well, that’s it. Imitation is next to admiration :-).

After getting your attention, let’s move forward to something else. Have you tried searching your whole name or nickname in Google and other search engines and getting unwanted/disappointing results like a hate blog or site of another person with the same name as yours? I know this is a bit late post in response to Sir Barry’s question in his blog last time. But this is another story, okay.

I remember trying to search my name in Google when I was in 4^th yr high school like what our English teacher told us to do. I saw that my name was registered in a database of a school where I never attended. Then, just this semester, I found out that my name was still registered in that database. It’s not that I am against that school or what, but seeing my name under that school may bring unnecessary problems in the future since that school can’t be seen in my resume.

Here are some tips (based on experience) on how you can save your online reputation:

1. Copy the exact URL of the site where you see your name.
2. If possible, copy the exact location and paragraph/text where your name appears (because this is what the search engine keeps on finding when your name is typed)
3. Double check your accounts and see if you are registered in that site in any way. (Most databases and other sites send messages to email once in a while and these messages often include a link that allows you to unsubscribe.)
4. Contact the admin or webmaster of the site and relay your problem politely. (There is always a way to contact the admin or webmaster of a site. You must give the URL and even the exact location and text where you see your name to make it easier for them to address your problem.)
5. If the problem persists, repeat all steps (hehe!).

As for my own problem, I did not get the result I wanted when I first contacted the webmaster. I repeated the first four steps carefully and that time, I was successful. Now, I am completely happy with the results when I search my name online. This is one thing UP has taught me: speaking without getting intimidated, even to the person of authority (like here, a webmaster hehe!), as long as I really have my point.