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Comment by jacobscott | Hacker News Reader

Is it clear that this isn't just some kind of alternate reality game? I mean, if he can find all this guy's info, he can't find his parents?

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You sound so confident of that. Try to find who my parents are. I've been on the Internet since 1994. I have a trail 14 years long. I'll give you some keywords for the past ten or so: squid, webmin, texas, joe cooper (and the obvious "swelljoe").

Good luck. (And, if you do happen to figure out where my parents are or their names, no need to post that data. I'll trust that your google fu is above and beyond the merely mortal. I will also be deeply impressed, because I couldn't find the barest of clues in the couple of minutes I searched...I really wondered, "Is it that easy to track down someones family?")

Edit: So some folks have decided to take me up on the challenge, which is fine with me. But I will make a humble request that you not actually call or email any of my friends, family, or acquaintances. If you think you've got a lead, just let me know via email and I'll tell you if it would result in an answer or another solid lead. (So far, no one actually has figured out any friends or acquaintances to call, and no one has gone beyond a virtual search, as far as I know. I'm just thinking proactively. The Internet does strange things sometimes.)

I'm npt going to try too hard but.. you gave plenty enough info there to track them down (assuming I dont just have to se google :))

That's probably true. A couple of phone calls, and a well-place email to acquaintances would probably do the trick. My point is that if it's hard to find my parents (given my very long, very public, history on the Internet), and I believe it would be, without resorting to background checks or other somewhat pricey processes, I imagine it must be much harder to track down the parents of someone who you only have a couple of snippets of information about. The Internet trail is far shorter, as well...finding friends and others to contact could be challenging.

Idunno about that. I skiptrace dates before I meet them for fun+safety. I don't use any pay services, just freely accessible info. I learn all kinds of useful things. Social networking makes the information that much more detailed.

This is silly. I know where you work. In case of emergency, I would mail your bosses and have them pass word on to your parents.

So, in most cases I guess that would work. Not in my case (all email to my public company addresses goes to me). But in most cases, that makes good sense. I guess I don't really think about that since it's been so long since I've worked for someone else.

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