Carrying mace

Residential Programs and Services began this school year by launching a campaign of posters warning students about the dangers of using Facebook.com as a means of displaying personal information and as a social forum. Some of the main concerns of the group are that employers search the site for information on potential employees and that, on a scarier note, stalkers may use the site as a means to track down victims.\nAs far as employers using the site to check out candidates for jobs, I find this more than a little ridiculous. Basing corporate choices about employees on information found on a stupid social forum like Facebook is both a disservice to the people a company is considering hiring and to the company itself.\nHowever, another of my reactions to the campaign is that there might actually be something to this stalking thing. My mind began to churn on all the possible ways I could locate a person by using Facebook. And so to fully grasp the problem, I decided to take a hands-on approach. \nI visited the profile of a person on Facebook. This person is a junior, male from Indianapolis. Having the personality that I do, the first thing I honed in on is that he likes to drink. And so, I began my search by spending an evening at the bar. However, within an hour a funny (and most likely foreseeable) problem surfaced. I began to feel hazy and got more interested in drinking and hanging out with my friends than I did about actually finding the person whose picture I had printed off from the site. My first attempt to find the guy was a failure. Upon looking at his profile again, I learned that he was not even 21 and so was not likely to be seen at the bars ...\nAnyway, where I probably should have started is with the fact that he is in a fraternity. However, nursing a hangover, I didn't have the desire to actually drive to the house and see if he had been around there lately. I called the cell phone number the guy had listed, but he hadn't set up his voice mail. I decided to go to sleep and get rid of my headache.\nWhen the fall semester starts, I suppose I can look at his class schedule and find out where he has class, but if some are in the early morning, I probably won't ever find the guy. I have to get my beauty sleep. Oh, well. I give up. I guess stalking isn't my gig. \nBut as you can see, if someone is a little smarter and a little more determined than my less-than-motivated self, any student is easily findable through Facebook. \nSo heed RPS's warning about the dangers of using the Web site. And as a further protection, always carry a can of mace for the stalkers and a bottle of breath spray for the rare occasions when the stalker is really gorgeous. But don't hold your breath on the latter. We are a rare breed.