Is your search history unsetteling?

defyalllogic · Dec 21, 2010

I'm writing a short story and I feel like I should explain to my husband that he dosen't need to worry about my searches for "murder life insurance" "murder inheritance" "indiscretion" etc.

Does story research gather you some strangeness you hope doesn't show up on the auto-complete the next time someone borrows your computer?

KingM · Dec 21, 2010

Are you sure this post isn't intended as cover for the inevitable police investigation?

Ineti · Dec 21, 2010

I have my search history set to delete every time I close my browser, so no issues there.

jaksen · Dec 21, 2010

I've searched for poisons, smuggling (guns), serial killers, how-to-tie different knots (strangulation story), positions of bodies on burning, and so on.

Just delete your history if it troubles you. And never let anyone borrow your computer!

Wayne K · Dec 21, 2010

I rarely look at porn, but for the recent WIP I searched all the vintage sites to try and find one of the movies I was in. Try explaining that to your wife

defyalllogic · Dec 21, 2010

KingM said:
Are you sure this post isn't intended as cover for the inevitable police investigation?

good thing I planned to post the story in SYW. haha.

I actually just discovered Private Browsing (aka: Porn Mode)

Hubby understands, I just worry that I'll jinx him.

though, i also have things like robot sex and how to drug a robot...

it the history was looked at completely, it would be pretty clear those are just a few of many strange searches.

Also I worry about being hospitalized and having people go through my things without me having the ability to explain away the creepiness...

bip · Dec 21, 2010

Comedian Kyle Kinane does a bit about how he judges how productive he was on a give day by his internet search history. One day it was just "beer calories", "Del Taco calories" and "Louis Farrakhan 'cause I felt I didn't know enough about the guy", l0l.

(PS I might have the Del Taco wrong, it's calories in something but possibly another type of alcohol and not a food. He talks about eating a lot of Del Taco, so I substituted that for the one I couldn't remember).

Maryn · Dec 21, 2010

Do share with us low-tech folks. What is Private Browsing and how does one do it on the major browsers like Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc.?

My search history is weird. Since I write both erotica and mystery, plus shop online and just explore what's of interest, I look like a murderous pervert into crafts, movies, and power tools.

Maryn, thinking that description is fairly apt

Wayne K · Dec 21, 2010

I think husbands should take up erotica writing just for the search history excuse

defyalllogic · Dec 21, 2010

Firefox: Tools > Private Browsing
http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Private Browsing

seun · Dec 21, 2010

I've searched murder, suicide, incest and rape all for one book. So to answer the original question...yes. Extremely.

Wayne K · Dec 21, 2010

Pffft, I searched all that doing my genealogy

amyashley · Dec 21, 2010

Makes me happy I don't share a computer with hubby. Also makes me happy that hubby is understanding.

I clear it all before my parents come visiting though!

Sophia · Dec 21, 2010

I don't have a search history on my computer (except for what might be in a hidden file somewhere). It comes under the category of "clutter", so I have it switched off. (In Firefox: Tools --> Options --> Privacy tab and then tick the 'Clear history when Firefox closes' box).

Wayne K · Dec 21, 2010

That bit of info could save a lot of marriages

gothicangel · Dec 21, 2010

Kidnapping, Temezapam and Rohypnol.

What ever you do, don't drink the tea . . . :tongue

defyalllogic · Dec 21, 2010

gothicangel said:
Kidnapping, Temezapam and Rohypnol.

What ever you do, don't drink the tea . . .

I Lol'd

Susan Coffin · Dec 21, 2010

defyalllogic said:
I'm writing a short story and I feel like I should explain to my husband that he dosen't need to worry about my searches for "murder life insurance" "murder inheritance" "indiscretion" etc.

Does story research gather you some strangeness you hope doesn't show up on the auto-complete the next time someone borrows your computer?

Poor guy...he's seen your searches and commented? Or, you are just worried about what he'll think?

Don and I have our own computers, and nobody borrows mine, so I don't have to worry about it. Now, if the FBI is tracking me....

Jamesaritchie · Dec 21, 2010

My big worry is that I frequently search for such things as how to build dirty bombs, where to obtain black market uranium, weak areas in government security, how best to commit terrorism in middle America, how much powdered plutonium it would take to render a large reservoir unusable, etc.

If Homeland Security doesn't have me under surveillance, they aren't doing the job they're supposed to be doing.

Phaeal · Dec 21, 2010

Don't worry, we're all over you.

:hat:

Gack, I better get rid of that history of searches for Rum Tum Tugger/Mistoffelees slash...

DamaNegra · Dec 21, 2010

Yeah, the other day I went through my history looking for a page I'd looked at the week before, and disturbed myself with all the pages I had visited.

Snappy · Dec 21, 2010

Ineti said:
I have my search history set to delete every time I close my browser, so no issues there.

I don't have it set automatically, but I'm definitely sure to clear it out at the end of the day!

RosalieStanton · Dec 21, 2010

I write primarily paranormal romance, but I am attracted to crime as well. I don't think my husband would blink if he saw me researching murder. He already knows I'm a little twisted.

We were watching comedian Patton Oswalt one night; he was discussing his girlfriend:

...my girlfriend is obsessed with like true crime and serial killers, too. All she does all day-- watches fbi files, forensics files on tv. The most graphic, disturbing, depressing shows.
I walk in the house every single day "the amount of semen found in the chest ravity lead .." it's like "shhh, it's the semen cavity killer." So, last year they re-released The Good, The Bad and The Ugly--maybe the greatest movie ever made. So she said, "I've never seen The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. I was like, "Well, you're in " so, we go to seethe good, the bad and the ugly-- ten minutes into it, she walked out, 'cause it was too violent. It was too violent. And then I gotta go home-- "the necklace was made of vaginas and that led--" oh, my god.

My husband turned to me and said, "That's you."

No, he wouldn't be surprised. LOL

benbradley · Dec 21, 2010

Ineti said:
I have my search history set to delete every time I close my browser, so no issues there.

Jesus Saves, and so does Google.

And if that weren't enough, there's this site, it shows me "Your recent searches" on the right:
http://www.bookfinder.com/

Jamesaritchie said:
My big worry is that I frequently search for such things as how to build dirty bombs, where to obtain black market uranium, weak areas in government security, how best to commit terrorism in middle America, how much powdered plutonium it would take to render a large reservoir unusable, etc.

If Homeland Security doesn't have me under surveillance, they aren't doing the job they're supposed to be doing.

It occurs to me that "published author" might make a good cover career for a terrorist...

Wayne K · Dec 21, 2010

The only time I delete my history is when I go on Farmville

Is your search history unsetteling?

i'm a girl. (i have tendonitis)

Purveyor of Prose

Caped Codder

i'm a girl. (i have tendonitis)

has a dog with shifty eyes

At Sea

i'm a girl. (i have tendonitis)

Horror Man

Stunt-Writer

Toughen up.

i'm a girl. (i have tendonitis)

Tell it like it Is

Whatever I did, I didn't do it.

Mexican on the loose!

A new year, a new avatar

Heathen

It's a doggy dog world