We asked some of our online friends to share their social media horror stories.
This is what they told us:
1. Name Stealer
"A fellow comedian had a physical altercation with a journalist in my hometown. I posted some jokes about it online.
"He got so upset that he purchased my domain name. He owns the rights to my namesake and redirects it to his own website.
"I asked my girlfriend, who has worked with him in the past, to ask for the rights back. He told me to delete all the jokes, which I did willingly. He then requested $1,000.
"To this day, he still owns my domain..."
—Omar
2. Foot in Mouth
"I once applied for a job at [media company] without realizing that I had once posted 'Ugh, I hate clicking on a link and then realizing it's [media company]. I feel so cheap.' I linked to my profile in my résumé.
"I didn't get the job."
—Emily
3. College Pride
"A popular TV personality posted something extremely inappropriate about my alma mater. I felt inclined to disagree with him, so I posted a response that bluntly ended by telling him to 'F off.'
"At the time, I was working for a big media company. He saw my employer listed in my profile and emailed the owner — who is also a VERY BIG, high-profile personality — asking for my resignation (which was honestly flattering to think I had gotten under his skin so much).
"Fortunately, the person he contacted didn't have the authority to fire me, and he actually lost his job soon after."
—Ryan
4. Online Nip Slip
"I was trying to upload a set of work photos, but somehow uploaded a photo of my own boobs. I didn't notice for over an hour...by which time my friend's 14-year-old son had liked it, and it had a load of comments.
"Oh, and in case there were any doubt that it was me…I was wearing a name necklace."
—Nicky
5. Stalker IRL
"Back in the day, on one of the first social media platforms, my friend became friends with this random guy (because that's what we did). He then found me through her top friends and friended me. I accepted.
"A week or two later, I started receiving strange text messages, phone calls to my parents' house, and physical letters... Yes, the ones in the mail! The messages would be anything from a friendly 'how are you' to a 'hey is that you walking to your car?' The creepiest part was that it WAS me!
"Eventually, everything stopped, but to this day, I have NO idea who this person was. I definitely learned my lesson about posting too much personal info online."
—Lauren
6. Online Irish Exits Should Exist
"I made a joke about St. Patrick's Day in a friend's post and got into a three-hour fight in the comments section with people about whether the potato famine is an acceptable source of comedic material.
"Just thinking about it is giving me anxiety all over again."
—Alex
7. Dad's Afloat
"A friend from high school recently had a baby, and she put pictures up of her baby in the tub. Unfortunately, she failed to notice that a certain part of her hubby (who was in the tub) was floating in the background.
"So my friend and I created a fake email address and anonymously emailed her to let her know that her hubby was bearing all online."
—Sarah
8. My Blog on Paper
"Back before things like 'privacy settings,' I posted on my blog that I'd gotten a new job, and I no longer had to put up with the idiots at my current one (along with a lot more color commentary).
"When I got to work, my boss had printouts — apparently someone had been secretly reading my blog every day and printed a copy of this entry for everyone in the entire company.
"Luckily, I was ready with my two weeks' notice, but those were a very, very rough (and lonely) two weeks."
—Sarah
9. Sophie's Friend Choice
"I was visiting my family in Ohio and told one friend I couldn't hang out because of family obligations, but I ended up meeting up with another close friend who posted a picture of us online later in the night.
"The first friend saw it, got upset, and hasn't talked to me since..."
—Julie
10. Mom's Got Mail
"Once, I sent a sexy almost-naked (thank GOD it wasn't though) photo to my boyfriend in a social media direct message, but accidentally sent it to the message we had started WITH my mom to arrange our travel plans the day before.
"I sent her 20 messages asking about Grandma and Christmas memories in a new message box to hopefully distract her from seeing the first one, but it didn't work.
"She told me 'to be more careful with that, I don't want to know what you do in private.' I died."
—Mandy
11. This Is Not a Virus
"In December, to celebrate the end of 'Movember,' I posted (what I *thought* was) this status update: Now that it's December, you can tell who the real pedophiles are.
"I was super proud of myself for the joke, then went to a rehearsal, and at the end I got a message from someone I went to grade school with saying, 'Unless you have a virus, I don't really understand nor appreciate you writing about pedophiles on my wall. Again, unless it's a virus, no worries, but if it was your own sense of humor, please refrain from commenting on my wall.'
"I sent her a message explaining the mistake and then a few apology notes, but she hasn't responded, and we've never talked about it."
—Meghan
