How to deal with percieved invasion of privacy?
March 16, 2015 11:24 PM Subscribe
I lost a USB memory stick recently while out and about, and it contained a full backup of stories and files that I've been working on since I was a teen. That's over 15 years of my most private stuff. I still have the files on the computer, but I carry the backup with me just in case something happens to my computer while I'm out.
Nothing on the USB drive could identify me (thankfully), but I am extremely uncomfortable with the fact that whoever found the drive could be reading things that are very private to me, stuff I never wanted anyone to read.
Today I retraced my steps, trying to find it, with no luck. Someone probably picked it up. I reported it to all the lost and founds of the public transit/stores I visited.
I've never shared my characters or stories with anyone. It's really sad because now when I try to work on one of my stories, I no longer get any excitement from it. All I can think about is how someone else could be reading it, coffee in hand. Ready to share it on reddit or facebook or some other site, to laugh at me and judge me. Or they may try to steal my stuff (although that's unlikely since my stories are pretty bad). But you never know.
I'm trying to move on, but it's super hard. My stories and characters are my sanctuary, the place I escape to at the end of the day. I took comfort in knowing that only my eyes had ever seen them. Now I feel like that's all been breached. I feel like I've been seen naked, stripped down. It would be like someone reading your private diary, or broke into your house or private space, or trying to enjoy a meal that someone has doused with sand.
I've learned my lesson. It's frustrating since it's entirely my fault. My next USB stick will be password protected and I'll never put it in my pocket, ever again.
I KNOW there's a possibility no one read my stuff, but there's no way to know for sure. My head is trying to imagine best-case scenarios, but my heart/emotions just won't have it. I've been checking Reddit, Facebook, and craigslist and Google, looking for my characters' names. My fear is that someone will post snippets on reddit or something, trying to find the owner. Then there will be dozens of judgmental comments, people questioning my sanity. Because the stories were meant for my eyes only, I didn't write with filters (I have no "adult" content though).
I guess what I'm asking is, how can I enjoy my private stories again while being OK with the fact that it's possible someone else has read them? Right now I am not OK with it. At this time, I can't enjoy them, and I can't work on them with the same excitement and enthusiasm as before. All I can think of now is, "someone else probably read this!!" There's nothing I can do to fix this. It's eating me up inside. I know it sounds crazy but I've lost enjoyment for my main source of comfort and escape and I'm not sure how to get past this. What would you do in this situation?
Nothing on the USB drive could identify me (thankfully), but I am extremely uncomfortable with the fact that whoever found the drive could be reading things that are very private to me, stuff I never wanted anyone to read.
Today I retraced my steps, trying to find it, with no luck. Someone probably picked it up. I reported it to all the lost and founds of the public transit/stores I visited.
I've never shared my characters or stories with anyone. It's really sad because now when I try to work on one of my stories, I no longer get any excitement from it. All I can think about is how someone else could be reading it, coffee in hand. Ready to share it on reddit or facebook or some other site, to laugh at me and judge me. Or they may try to steal my stuff (although that's unlikely since my stories are pretty bad). But you never know.
I'm trying to move on, but it's super hard. My stories and characters are my sanctuary, the place I escape to at the end of the day. I took comfort in knowing that only my eyes had ever seen them. Now I feel like that's all been breached. I feel like I've been seen naked, stripped down. It would be like someone reading your private diary, or broke into your house or private space, or trying to enjoy a meal that someone has doused with sand.
I've learned my lesson. It's frustrating since it's entirely my fault. My next USB stick will be password protected and I'll never put it in my pocket, ever again.
I KNOW there's a possibility no one read my stuff, but there's no way to know for sure. My head is trying to imagine best-case scenarios, but my heart/emotions just won't have it. I've been checking Reddit, Facebook, and craigslist and Google, looking for my characters' names. My fear is that someone will post snippets on reddit or something, trying to find the owner. Then there will be dozens of judgmental comments, people questioning my sanity. Because the stories were meant for my eyes only, I didn't write with filters (I have no "adult" content though).
I guess what I'm asking is, how can I enjoy my private stories again while being OK with the fact that it's possible someone else has read them? Right now I am not OK with it. At this time, I can't enjoy them, and I can't work on them with the same excitement and enthusiasm as before. All I can think of now is, "someone else probably read this!!" There's nothing I can do to fix this. It's eating me up inside. I know it sounds crazy but I've lost enjoyment for my main source of comfort and escape and I'm not sure how to get past this. What would you do in this situation?
If someone really wants a USB and picked it up off the ground, they probably just reformatted it so they could use it. I can almost guarantee no one is reading the stuff on there. They opened the USB, clicked around for maybe 10 seconds and realized all the files were fiction, and they reformatted it. You care about this deeply because of what it means to you, but some random person does not care at all.
To some extent, nothing is really private. I mean, everything you do online can be read by other people. I kind of assume anything I do can be found. Not just because of the Snowden spying stuff, but because computers aren't infallible secure devices. You've already been exposed potentially, so why start sweating it now?
You could maybe try to use this as an opportunity to create some new characters and get excited about some new characters and new stories. Not sure how long you've been creating this fantasy world you write about, but it might be good to shake it up and let that attachment go, especially if this bothers you so much.
I will say, I wouldn't advise walking around with a USB stick of personal files at all times "just in case something happens to your computer while you're out." That's sounds quite paranoid. You should look into Dropbox or Google Drive back up your files. Or hell, create an anonymous email and send them all from that email to itself. Or get a keychain USB on your keys AND password protect it. But don't just keep a USB on you that contains info you consider very private.
posted by AppleTurnover at 12:20 AM on March 17, 2015 [12 favorites]
To some extent, nothing is really private. I mean, everything you do online can be read by other people. I kind of assume anything I do can be found. Not just because of the Snowden spying stuff, but because computers aren't infallible secure devices. You've already been exposed potentially, so why start sweating it now?
You could maybe try to use this as an opportunity to create some new characters and get excited about some new characters and new stories. Not sure how long you've been creating this fantasy world you write about, but it might be good to shake it up and let that attachment go, especially if this bothers you so much.
I will say, I wouldn't advise walking around with a USB stick of personal files at all times "just in case something happens to your computer while you're out." That's sounds quite paranoid. You should look into Dropbox or Google Drive back up your files. Or hell, create an anonymous email and send them all from that email to itself. Or get a keychain USB on your keys AND password protect it. But don't just keep a USB on you that contains info you consider very private.
posted by AppleTurnover at 12:20 AM on March 17, 2015 [12 favorites]
It's likely someone took a cursory look then wiped it. Next time encrypt your data so that this can never happen again!
posted by devnull at 12:41 AM on March 17, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by devnull at 12:41 AM on March 17, 2015 [6 favorites]
Best answer: I think you may need to step outside of yourself - and of an internet environment that distorts reality somewhat - to really get through this one.
The true fact of the matter is the vast majority of people simply will not care what's on the stick. And many people wouldn't know what to do with it an would probably bin it. The stories etc are super important you, I know, but they literally not important at all to a single other person.
Think about people in their fifties and older (there's tonnes of them!). A disturbingly high number wold be unsure what to do with a USB stick, let alone read it and post it online.
I know it can feel like the whole world is on reddit, but actually, in real life, hardly anybody is. It's probably like one or two in a hundred people using sites like this. And the number that would post up something personal is much much lower.
It might be worth also considering why your heart "just won't have it". Are these stories or your feelings about them - or your feelings in general - a source of shame for you? Bad writing, if that's what you're worried about, is nothing to be ashamed of. Head over to Amazon and use the "look inside" feature in virtually any book priced under two bucks - those people are making bank off some of the shittiest writing I've ever seen!
Are you worried about private things being shared? Without a social context, it's very hard to breach privacy. No one knows that you wrote this stuff, nor will they ever. Any thought random internet person devotes to the writing will be a perfunctory few seconds and it will be forgot in 24 hours. The internet is filled with public anonymous (And not so anonymous) journals detailing the most private and secret thoughts imaginable; while your writing feels very unique to you, as a reader there is nothing at all unique about it - and if I was looking for private writing in a public forum there's much easier ways to read it.
Are you feeling shame about how much the writing means to you? Hey, you're human: we're allowed to put a lot of meaning into superficial, or trivial, or crappy things. Everyone does - those Amazon books I mentioned above often have legions of devoted and genuine fans. Don't be afraid to love what you produce, warts and all, it's an everyday day act of love and valour we should all indulge in.
It's completely understandable to be unnerved and upset about the lose of something so private and special to you, but I think you will find as the hours turn to days, weeks, months, and nothing happens, this anxiety will dissipate. Stop googling for passages.
Best of luck to you OP, hang in there, you'll feel better about this all soon, I'm sure.
posted by smoke at 12:47 AM on March 17, 2015 [17 favorites]
The true fact of the matter is the vast majority of people simply will not care what's on the stick. And many people wouldn't know what to do with it an would probably bin it. The stories etc are super important you, I know, but they literally not important at all to a single other person.
Think about people in their fifties and older (there's tonnes of them!). A disturbingly high number wold be unsure what to do with a USB stick, let alone read it and post it online.
I know it can feel like the whole world is on reddit, but actually, in real life, hardly anybody is. It's probably like one or two in a hundred people using sites like this. And the number that would post up something personal is much much lower.
It might be worth also considering why your heart "just won't have it". Are these stories or your feelings about them - or your feelings in general - a source of shame for you? Bad writing, if that's what you're worried about, is nothing to be ashamed of. Head over to Amazon and use the "look inside" feature in virtually any book priced under two bucks - those people are making bank off some of the shittiest writing I've ever seen!
Are you worried about private things being shared? Without a social context, it's very hard to breach privacy. No one knows that you wrote this stuff, nor will they ever. Any thought random internet person devotes to the writing will be a perfunctory few seconds and it will be forgot in 24 hours. The internet is filled with public anonymous (And not so anonymous) journals detailing the most private and secret thoughts imaginable; while your writing feels very unique to you, as a reader there is nothing at all unique about it - and if I was looking for private writing in a public forum there's much easier ways to read it.
Are you feeling shame about how much the writing means to you? Hey, you're human: we're allowed to put a lot of meaning into superficial, or trivial, or crappy things. Everyone does - those Amazon books I mentioned above often have legions of devoted and genuine fans. Don't be afraid to love what you produce, warts and all, it's an everyday day act of love and valour we should all indulge in.
It's completely understandable to be unnerved and upset about the lose of something so private and special to you, but I think you will find as the hours turn to days, weeks, months, and nothing happens, this anxiety will dissipate. Stop googling for passages.
Best of luck to you OP, hang in there, you'll feel better about this all soon, I'm sure.
posted by smoke at 12:47 AM on March 17, 2015 [17 favorites]
It doesn't sound crazy at all. This is the exact point that a lot of people (including Glenn Greenwald) make about why privacy matters.
And there is an attitude, often expressed by women writers who have been doxxed and harassed, that may be something to consider. For example, Be Not Afraid... by Isis the Scientist, and this post by Andromeda Yelton, who writes about courage and a back up plan. There's also The Public Voice of Women, by Mary Beard (previously) which seems like a wonderful model for courage.
As a back up plan, if your work does actually get posted somewhere, please consider posting another AskMeFi post, so this community can offer its support and ideas for how to respond.
posted by Little Dawn at 1:01 AM on March 17, 2015 [5 favorites]
And there is an attitude, often expressed by women writers who have been doxxed and harassed, that may be something to consider. For example, Be Not Afraid... by Isis the Scientist, and this post by Andromeda Yelton, who writes about courage and a back up plan. There's also The Public Voice of Women, by Mary Beard (previously) which seems like a wonderful model for courage.
As a back up plan, if your work does actually get posted somewhere, please consider posting another AskMeFi post, so this community can offer its support and ideas for how to respond.
posted by Little Dawn at 1:01 AM on March 17, 2015 [5 favorites]
Best answer: It might be reassuring to consider that there is probably an extremely large overlap between the sort of person who would post snippets of your stuff on the internet, and the sort of person who is too paranoid about viruses to open random files on a random USB drive. Most people aren't tech-savvy enough to participate in the sort of forum or social media where they would post things like this. And most people probably wouldn't use a random USB.
Just making up some numbers here: On finding a USB on the ground
20% of people would just throw it away
20% of people would hand it in to the nearest official looking place
60% would put it in a computer to see what's on it.
Of those 60%, maybe
half would poke around to try to find some clue to the owner, and when they fail, either throw out the drive or hand it in to a lost-and-found
a quarter would see that there are only text files on it, and be disappointed and throw it out, as they were hoping for music or videos or something
maybe 10% (of that 60%) would be too scared to open any file in case it was a well disguised virus, and would format the drive and use it instead.
and maybe 10% (of that 60%) would read a few of the files in case of lolz.
Of that last 10% (of the 60%), I think the vast majority would find your stories not worth making fun of, and if they aren't written for an audience, they might not even be very interesting to a stranger at first glance, so they would probably be disappointed and give up.
Maybe 10% of that 10% of that 60% would find something to mock (because people are assholes) and would maybe read a few lines to a friend or partner, and then the next day find something else to be assholish about instead and forget about your USB altogether.
And maybe 10% of that 10% of that 10% of that 60% is the sort of asshole who ALSO hangs out on social media a lot and has asshole friends and mocks things publically.
So that's what? A 0.006% chance that someone might do this to you? And even if they do, you are not identifiable, and the person probably doesn't have the sort of following to make it go viral somewhere like Reddit, and even internet sensations blow over really fast.
So I don't think you need to worry, even if you think my numbers above are underestimations.
posted by lollusc at 1:18 AM on March 17, 2015 [6 favorites]
Just making up some numbers here: On finding a USB on the ground
20% of people would just throw it away
20% of people would hand it in to the nearest official looking place
60% would put it in a computer to see what's on it.
Of those 60%, maybe
half would poke around to try to find some clue to the owner, and when they fail, either throw out the drive or hand it in to a lost-and-found
a quarter would see that there are only text files on it, and be disappointed and throw it out, as they were hoping for music or videos or something
maybe 10% (of that 60%) would be too scared to open any file in case it was a well disguised virus, and would format the drive and use it instead.
and maybe 10% (of that 60%) would read a few of the files in case of lolz.
Of that last 10% (of the 60%), I think the vast majority would find your stories not worth making fun of, and if they aren't written for an audience, they might not even be very interesting to a stranger at first glance, so they would probably be disappointed and give up.
Maybe 10% of that 10% of that 60% would find something to mock (because people are assholes) and would maybe read a few lines to a friend or partner, and then the next day find something else to be assholish about instead and forget about your USB altogether.
And maybe 10% of that 10% of that 10% of that 60% is the sort of asshole who ALSO hangs out on social media a lot and has asshole friends and mocks things publically.
So that's what? A 0.006% chance that someone might do this to you? And even if they do, you are not identifiable, and the person probably doesn't have the sort of following to make it go viral somewhere like Reddit, and even internet sensations blow over really fast.
So I don't think you need to worry, even if you think my numbers above are underestimations.
posted by lollusc at 1:18 AM on March 17, 2015 [6 favorites]
Ugh, when I first started reading your question, I felt sick for you, thinking that you'd lost 15 years of your stories! Thank goodness that's not the case. It could be much worse. I don't think you need to worry at all. Like others have said, it's far more likely that someone would wipe it and use it. It could also be squished into oblivion on the ground somewhere. Don't worry yourself about it. But do make another backup of your stories as soon as you can.
posted by Klaxon Aoooogah at 1:32 AM on March 17, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Klaxon Aoooogah at 1:32 AM on March 17, 2015 [2 favorites]
Chances are whoever finds it, if they bother to read is, really isn't going to care about it. It would be like finding a USB with someone's family/friends/baby pictures on it. Your writing is close to your heart but probably won't be to a stranger.
Of course there's always a chance someone might read it and you might change their life, invasion or privacy or not.
posted by atinna at 2:02 AM on March 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
Of course there's always a chance someone might read it and you might change their life, invasion or privacy or not.
posted by atinna at 2:02 AM on March 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
You poor thing! I had a startlingly similar thing happen to me. I have also been working on the same long story for years and years and years; the characters are like family etc - but the thought of anyone else reading it makes me sick to my stomach. They're just not ready yet for public consumption.
Anyway this has been going on for years and one day about ten years ago when I was young and EXTREMELY foolish and didn't bother about backing things up as religiously, my flat was broken into and my laptop stolen. Years' worth of work just disappeared without a trace. I can't tell you what it felt like - losing years worth of work and imagining the thieves reading my stories and laughing their asses off at all this really private and meaningful stuff. I cried for DAYS.
Based on that awful experience, this is my advice to you: take the time to feel how you have to feel. Sure, logically, the burglars just wiped my computer and sold it, and logically, your USB stick has fallen underfoot and been crushed somewhere, or taken by someone who has wiped it for their use. If anyone has seen them they've probably given them a quick once-over, shrugged and pressed delete. It's hurtful, but your stories don't mean anything to anyone just yet.
Logically, everything is very probably ok, but you will feel shitty for a while, and that's normal because these stories mean so much to you. Be kind to yourself, take time-out to mope, then go back to your writing - back up and password protect. You'll be fine.
posted by Ziggy500 at 2:40 AM on March 17, 2015 [4 favorites]
Anyway this has been going on for years and one day about ten years ago when I was young and EXTREMELY foolish and didn't bother about backing things up as religiously, my flat was broken into and my laptop stolen. Years' worth of work just disappeared without a trace. I can't tell you what it felt like - losing years worth of work and imagining the thieves reading my stories and laughing their asses off at all this really private and meaningful stuff. I cried for DAYS.
Based on that awful experience, this is my advice to you: take the time to feel how you have to feel. Sure, logically, the burglars just wiped my computer and sold it, and logically, your USB stick has fallen underfoot and been crushed somewhere, or taken by someone who has wiped it for their use. If anyone has seen them they've probably given them a quick once-over, shrugged and pressed delete. It's hurtful, but your stories don't mean anything to anyone just yet.
Logically, everything is very probably ok, but you will feel shitty for a while, and that's normal because these stories mean so much to you. Be kind to yourself, take time-out to mope, then go back to your writing - back up and password protect. You'll be fine.
posted by Ziggy500 at 2:40 AM on March 17, 2015 [4 favorites]
... and think about whether an encrypted storage ramps up the curiosity factor enough to make a potential future finder serious about cracking the encryption and looking very closely at all the contents.
posted by GeeEmm at 3:13 AM on March 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by GeeEmm at 3:13 AM on March 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
The odds of someome doing what GeeEmm lays out is so astronomically low, it's insane to even mention (how many people have the skills to hack encrypted devices?). Encryption is worthwhile if you want to carry around your data and restrict access if you lose it.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 3:44 AM on March 17, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 3:44 AM on March 17, 2015 [6 favorites]
USB memory sticks are generally pretty cheap. I think there are very few people that would pick one off the ground, clean it off and then use it. It probably got quickly crushed and/or thrown out. If I saw one on the street I wouldn't even be slightly curious what was on it and assume that it had some power point presentation or something on it. This isn't a wallet or a camera or a phone.
posted by whoaali at 4:43 AM on March 17, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by whoaali at 4:43 AM on March 17, 2015 [2 favorites]
Not to mention, and I don't know if this helps, but there was an article floating around recently about this guy who designed a USB to melt a computer, which would make the number of people willing to plug in a random USB even lower.
posted by KernalM at 5:47 AM on March 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by KernalM at 5:47 AM on March 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I've found lots of USB sticks (at work - people tend to leave them) and all I've ever done is open them up to see if I can quickly identify the owner. (I have a duty of care here, as a lot of them belong to students.) It's just not....interesting enough. (I mean, plus I'm at work. But I wouldn't anyway.)
As to people spending a lot of time mocking you - it's unlikely, because they don't know you and they'd have to open and read a LOT of material to do so. It seems like people do the whole "let's let the internet know" thing mostly when it's about something they're emotionally (over)-invested in, it's a photo or it's something really short and easy to share like a tumblr post.
I would say that unless your stories are either My Immortal-level terrible or so complex and weird that they are fascinating (like that guy who created that whole strange world with all the vaguely-Blake drawings of armies of little girls) they're unlikely to reward mockery or scrutiny.
I once had access to a whole big box of letters written by a guy fighting on the anarchist side in the Spanish Civil War. That's an interest of mine. I didn't read very many of the letters. I had a ton going on in my life and didn't have a lot of free time, it took some effort to carefully unfold the old paper and make out the old ink and honestly, lots of them were of interest only to the historian. ("Say hello to Mother for me", that kind of thing.) That's much more likely to be the scenario for someone who finds your stuff than anything else.
Also, the type of person who engages in diligent mockery on the internet just because he can (and not even because it's a thing that matters to him or that will accrue him social status)....that's a really distinct personality type, and pretty rare. The odds that one of those people found your USB stick are really, really low.
And frankly, even if it was a whole USB stick full of years of poorly-written alpha-omega Smallville porn or whatever, someone who wants to mock poorly-written alpha-omega Smallville porn can find easily repostable stuff already on the internet. They don't need to wade through a squillion random files by a stranger.
posted by Frowner at 5:50 AM on March 17, 2015 [7 favorites]
As to people spending a lot of time mocking you - it's unlikely, because they don't know you and they'd have to open and read a LOT of material to do so. It seems like people do the whole "let's let the internet know" thing mostly when it's about something they're emotionally (over)-invested in, it's a photo or it's something really short and easy to share like a tumblr post.
I would say that unless your stories are either My Immortal-level terrible or so complex and weird that they are fascinating (like that guy who created that whole strange world with all the vaguely-Blake drawings of armies of little girls) they're unlikely to reward mockery or scrutiny.
I once had access to a whole big box of letters written by a guy fighting on the anarchist side in the Spanish Civil War. That's an interest of mine. I didn't read very many of the letters. I had a ton going on in my life and didn't have a lot of free time, it took some effort to carefully unfold the old paper and make out the old ink and honestly, lots of them were of interest only to the historian. ("Say hello to Mother for me", that kind of thing.) That's much more likely to be the scenario for someone who finds your stuff than anything else.
Also, the type of person who engages in diligent mockery on the internet just because he can (and not even because it's a thing that matters to him or that will accrue him social status)....that's a really distinct personality type, and pretty rare. The odds that one of those people found your USB stick are really, really low.
And frankly, even if it was a whole USB stick full of years of poorly-written alpha-omega Smallville porn or whatever, someone who wants to mock poorly-written alpha-omega Smallville porn can find easily repostable stuff already on the internet. They don't need to wade through a squillion random files by a stranger.
posted by Frowner at 5:50 AM on March 17, 2015 [7 favorites]
You could set up Google Alerts using unique phrases from some of your stories. That way if anyone ever were to post them online, you'd get notified. I agree with other posters that it probably got destroyed or thrown away without being looked at, but this might give you some peace of mind and help you be confident that nobody else is reading your private stuff.
posted by pocams at 5:58 AM on March 17, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by pocams at 5:58 AM on March 17, 2015 [6 favorites]
Best answer: I'm sorry you lost your drive with all your stories on it. But trust me when I say that the chances of this happening are minuscule. With all the writing programs and workshops multiplying across this country and all the tens of thousands of writers this is producing by the year, try to imagine how much writing there is being posted on online, being emailed around, the mile high stacks in agents and publishers' offices. People are just begging their friends, family, other writers to read it. Trying to find readers, especially fiction readers, is notoriously difficult. That's what writing workshops are for--they come with a built in audience: notice you have to pay for it? If I sent my stories to everyone I know I can guarantee you only a small percentage would read them--like maybe two if I include my mother and a friend whose writing I just read (i.e. she owes me). The only reason someone would gladly, willingly read a story of mine is if I told them I based the main character on them. It's the same part of our human nature that makes you think people will care about your fiction writing to the degree your imagination is telling you. Even if someone posted your writing to Reddit what would the headline say: "Look at this fiction writing I found!" Who's going to click on that? He'd probably get downvoted for such a lame idea. Don't get me wrong, I don't think reading your writing is a lame idea. I just think you're way overestimating the interest people have in writing--and fiction in particular.
Here are the scenarios in which writing found on a random jump drive might get posted, assuming the person who found bothers to read the contents:
You wrote a tell-all about a celebrity, even a minor one. Someone might try and get the juiciest part posted to, idk, gawker? I take that back, if the person is that type they'd also probably try and sell it to the NYPost.
You're a well-known writer, it's obvious from googling your name. Maybe someone will leak it. Do you see a theme here?
You're actually lucky you lost it on the street. Here's the scenario you should avoid: You tell your nosey friend/lover/relative you wrote all about them in your journal which you've saved on this jump drive you carry around with you. You lose said drive at their house.
So you've learned a valuable lesson. You care about your writing so encrypt it or save it on gmail. That's what I do.
I really think you're fine.
posted by lillian.elmtree at 6:12 AM on March 17, 2015 [2 favorites]
Here are the scenarios in which writing found on a random jump drive might get posted, assuming the person who found bothers to read the contents:
You wrote a tell-all about a celebrity, even a minor one. Someone might try and get the juiciest part posted to, idk, gawker? I take that back, if the person is that type they'd also probably try and sell it to the NYPost.
You're a well-known writer, it's obvious from googling your name. Maybe someone will leak it. Do you see a theme here?
You're actually lucky you lost it on the street. Here's the scenario you should avoid: You tell your nosey friend/lover/relative you wrote all about them in your journal which you've saved on this jump drive you carry around with you. You lose said drive at their house.
So you've learned a valuable lesson. You care about your writing so encrypt it or save it on gmail. That's what I do.
I really think you're fine.
posted by lillian.elmtree at 6:12 AM on March 17, 2015 [2 favorites]
Best answer: In spite of all the folks trying to reassure you that the odds are miniscule, if this were me I would still be thinking "Yea, I know it's miniscule, but WHAT IF someone really has it and will post it?" I wouldn't be able to separate the rational statistics from the irrational fears.
So here's what I would do:
1. set up Google Alerts like pocams suggested above, and then force myself to NEVER manually search again. Or, knowing me, try to convince myself that I can search only on one day per week, but other than that, just let it go.
2. really think through the worst case scenarios. Write them all down in a numbered list, and for each one, put a "then" statement: If worst case 1 happens, Then I will do action X or I will feel emotion Y and then deal with that emotion by action Z. Once I have it all written down, it helps my runaway brain to quit jumping around the What Ifs, because I have them all indexed and potentially resolved.
3. I would think about it from the point of view of the characters. I would write some scenarios where they become aware that they have been hijacked or kidnapped or otherwise discovered. Let them break the 4th wall and talk about where they are and who has them and how they feel about it. Are they scared? Are they excited for the adventure? Do they discover some horrible truth or some beautiful vision that noone would ever have seen if this tragedy/lucky event had not happened to them? For me personally, I would probably start with awful scenarios, but hopefully, gradually, as time passed I would start to think of them in really nice places having a wonderful time.
posted by CathyG at 6:56 AM on March 17, 2015 [6 favorites]
So here's what I would do:
1. set up Google Alerts like pocams suggested above, and then force myself to NEVER manually search again. Or, knowing me, try to convince myself that I can search only on one day per week, but other than that, just let it go.
2. really think through the worst case scenarios. Write them all down in a numbered list, and for each one, put a "then" statement: If worst case 1 happens, Then I will do action X or I will feel emotion Y and then deal with that emotion by action Z. Once I have it all written down, it helps my runaway brain to quit jumping around the What Ifs, because I have them all indexed and potentially resolved.
3. I would think about it from the point of view of the characters. I would write some scenarios where they become aware that they have been hijacked or kidnapped or otherwise discovered. Let them break the 4th wall and talk about where they are and who has them and how they feel about it. Are they scared? Are they excited for the adventure? Do they discover some horrible truth or some beautiful vision that noone would ever have seen if this tragedy/lucky event had not happened to them? For me personally, I would probably start with awful scenarios, but hopefully, gradually, as time passed I would start to think of them in really nice places having a wonderful time.
posted by CathyG at 6:56 AM on March 17, 2015 [6 favorites]
Best answer: Write a story, a brand new one about the someone who finds your USB stick.
Put lots of detail in it. Make the person someone likeable who would either respect your privacy or enjoy your fiction. Don't write a snippet, write a sizeable number of words. Make this story your reality and write things that reassure you, for example - They only pick up the stick because they think they know who lost it, not because they are nosy. When they realise it is not the stick they think it is, they are afraid to put it into a computer for fear it has viruses. Their room mate puts the stick into the computer thinking it is a spare and when they discover there is fiction on it quickly stops, doesn't read anything and feels guilty that they invaded the finder's privacy by "finding out" they write personal fiction. Soon after the various characters from your lost stick start to appear briefly in the finder's life.
The plot is just a suggestion of how you could shape your story, because you need to be the one writing it and figuring out what happens and how one event leads to the next. Use your writing to deal with the feeling of exposure and make the finding of the stick something that brings good things into the life of the good person who found it. You could also write how being in the world where the stick ended up brings good things into the life of the characters on the stick.
If you can get into this story you can change your feelings about the whole thing. You are currently writing bad ending stories mentally about all the humiliating things that could happen so replace the worrying with working on the story.
I work in a print shop and I see people's private stuff inadvertently on a regular basis when they bring a stick in to get me to print out a file and it turns out to have their personal porn picture stash or their sadistic fiction or a long file about their struggle to get landed immigrant status or custody of the child or whatever. This little vignettes have not made me think less of the people who unintentionally are revealed to me. Almost always I see something that makes the person more human. I only see the faintest glimpses as I try not to see it, to spare them their privacy. There are a lot of people, like me out there who would not judge you or think less of you. We outnumber the ones who poke fun and judge and make comments on the internet. You just can't see us because we are not posting.
posted by Jane the Brown at 6:57 AM on March 17, 2015 [11 favorites]
Put lots of detail in it. Make the person someone likeable who would either respect your privacy or enjoy your fiction. Don't write a snippet, write a sizeable number of words. Make this story your reality and write things that reassure you, for example - They only pick up the stick because they think they know who lost it, not because they are nosy. When they realise it is not the stick they think it is, they are afraid to put it into a computer for fear it has viruses. Their room mate puts the stick into the computer thinking it is a spare and when they discover there is fiction on it quickly stops, doesn't read anything and feels guilty that they invaded the finder's privacy by "finding out" they write personal fiction. Soon after the various characters from your lost stick start to appear briefly in the finder's life.
The plot is just a suggestion of how you could shape your story, because you need to be the one writing it and figuring out what happens and how one event leads to the next. Use your writing to deal with the feeling of exposure and make the finding of the stick something that brings good things into the life of the good person who found it. You could also write how being in the world where the stick ended up brings good things into the life of the characters on the stick.
If you can get into this story you can change your feelings about the whole thing. You are currently writing bad ending stories mentally about all the humiliating things that could happen so replace the worrying with working on the story.
I work in a print shop and I see people's private stuff inadvertently on a regular basis when they bring a stick in to get me to print out a file and it turns out to have their personal porn picture stash or their sadistic fiction or a long file about their struggle to get landed immigrant status or custody of the child or whatever. This little vignettes have not made me think less of the people who unintentionally are revealed to me. Almost always I see something that makes the person more human. I only see the faintest glimpses as I try not to see it, to spare them their privacy. There are a lot of people, like me out there who would not judge you or think less of you. We outnumber the ones who poke fun and judge and make comments on the internet. You just can't see us because we are not posting.
posted by Jane the Brown at 6:57 AM on March 17, 2015 [11 favorites]
I guess what I'm asking is, how can I enjoy my private stories again while being OK with the fact that it's possible someone else has read them?
Perhaps by focusing on the relative likelihood that someone has actually read them, which in the opinion of most of the above folks is pretty low.
My first thought was "who would put a found USB stick into their computer?"* (I think lollusc's 60% is off by a magnitude or so.) Second, there are already more unread books and articles on my hard alone than I will be able to finish in this lifetime--I can't imagine spending my reading time on some random stranger's unfinished notes.
Go back to your writing, which you so clearly enjoy. It's a shame to waste time worrying about this.
*For the record, I call ageism on the notion that people in their fifties and older wouldn't know what to do with a USB stick. This 60 year old got her first PC in 1984--the year of that famous Macintosh commercial. Today's 50 year olds were about 20 then--part of the target audience.
posted by she's not there at 7:07 AM on March 17, 2015 [6 favorites]
Perhaps by focusing on the relative likelihood that someone has actually read them, which in the opinion of most of the above folks is pretty low.
My first thought was "who would put a found USB stick into their computer?"* (I think lollusc's 60% is off by a magnitude or so.) Second, there are already more unread books and articles on my hard alone than I will be able to finish in this lifetime--I can't imagine spending my reading time on some random stranger's unfinished notes.
Go back to your writing, which you so clearly enjoy. It's a shame to waste time worrying about this.
*For the record, I call ageism on the notion that people in their fifties and older wouldn't know what to do with a USB stick. This 60 year old got her first PC in 1984--the year of that famous Macintosh commercial. Today's 50 year olds were about 20 then--part of the target audience.
posted by she's not there at 7:07 AM on March 17, 2015 [6 favorites]
People in general do not read long passages of text. Fifteen years' worth? I submit a 0% chance that anyone will read enough of it to have an opinion one way or the other.
You've got to take back your stories, mentally. Stand up for yourself. They're YOUR stories and YOUR characters and YOUR inner world. Nothing, even mockery, of which there is a 0% chance, can change that.
posted by kapers at 7:53 AM on March 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
You've got to take back your stories, mentally. Stand up for yourself. They're YOUR stories and YOUR characters and YOUR inner world. Nothing, even mockery, of which there is a 0% chance, can change that.
posted by kapers at 7:53 AM on March 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
Based on Census data, there are 13,569,252 people in the US [PDF] that do not speak English well. Depending on the local demographics where you live, there is a decent chance that the person that picked up your drive would not be able to read your stories even if they wanted to.
posted by Rock Steady at 8:02 AM on March 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Rock Steady at 8:02 AM on March 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
I think that all of the advice that you've gotten so far is stellar, but I wanted to offer an alternative approach. It may be kind of crazy or too much for you, but it's something to consider.
You've worked so hard on these stories, but you've never shared them with anyone. Now there is a risk (a ridiculously vanishingly small risk) that they might be shared without your consent or control. That's just awful.
So... why don't you share them? In a way that you can control them? There are lots of online communities where people share editing help, or you could even go ahead and pay for an editor to work on one or two of the stories that you like the best. Get it edited, make the revisions, get it edited again, and then publish!
Use a pseudonym if you want. Post it up on Medium or Tumblr or as an eBook. Just make it the best that you can and put it out there. You'll sap whatever power the stories on your flash drive might have over you -- because you own them, and you decided the form in which they would enter the world.
posted by sparklemotion at 8:04 AM on March 17, 2015 [3 favorites]
You've worked so hard on these stories, but you've never shared them with anyone. Now there is a risk (a ridiculously vanishingly small risk) that they might be shared without your consent or control. That's just awful.
So... why don't you share them? In a way that you can control them? There are lots of online communities where people share editing help, or you could even go ahead and pay for an editor to work on one or two of the stories that you like the best. Get it edited, make the revisions, get it edited again, and then publish!
Use a pseudonym if you want. Post it up on Medium or Tumblr or as an eBook. Just make it the best that you can and put it out there. You'll sap whatever power the stories on your flash drive might have over you -- because you own them, and you decided the form in which they would enter the world.
posted by sparklemotion at 8:04 AM on March 17, 2015 [3 favorites]
You don't seem worried about infringement, which is the only scenario for which I'd recommend a google alert. I can't think of a good reason you should set one up. I think it's a bad idea.
You're just going to fuel your paranoia when you should be defusing it. A google alert is like wringing your hands impotently going "what if, what if?" Moving on is taking your stories back, taking your power back, going "so what?" It'll feel way better.
posted by kapers at 8:07 AM on March 17, 2015 [2 favorites]
You're just going to fuel your paranoia when you should be defusing it. A google alert is like wringing your hands impotently going "what if, what if?" Moving on is taking your stories back, taking your power back, going "so what?" It'll feel way better.
posted by kapers at 8:07 AM on March 17, 2015 [2 favorites]
If you dropped it on the street it's likely that it was never picked up at all, but just swept into garbage/fell in the sewer/run over by a car.
Echoing others, I think most people are too afraid to put a random USB drive into their computer. Most people are too lazy to read 15 years worth of writing, or even more than a few pages (unless you are an absolutely fantastic writer and/or famous). No offense, but most teenagers are awful at writing, it's not even worth reading enough of it to make fun of.
And... you really don't see very much "haha look at this crap piece of writing" online. I've never seen it where the author hasn't deliberately published it (i.e. weird erotic fiction about gay unicorns on Amazon).
I think the absolute worst likely scenario is that a small handful of people read it, laugh and forget it about it almost immediately. People who mock others on the internet don't have the attention span for this kind of thing.
posted by desjardins at 9:04 AM on March 17, 2015 [3 favorites]
Echoing others, I think most people are too afraid to put a random USB drive into their computer. Most people are too lazy to read 15 years worth of writing, or even more than a few pages (unless you are an absolutely fantastic writer and/or famous). No offense, but most teenagers are awful at writing, it's not even worth reading enough of it to make fun of.
And... you really don't see very much "haha look at this crap piece of writing" online. I've never seen it where the author hasn't deliberately published it (i.e. weird erotic fiction about gay unicorns on Amazon).
I think the absolute worst likely scenario is that a small handful of people read it, laugh and forget it about it almost immediately. People who mock others on the internet don't have the attention span for this kind of thing.
posted by desjardins at 9:04 AM on March 17, 2015 [3 favorites]
Best answer: I second CathyG and Jane the Brown. The fact that you've been writing these stories for fifteen years proves they're what you're supposed to be doing. They're your assigned work. You're supposed to be turning your experiences into fiction. Write the bad thing. Make it into fiction with spectacular villains and saviors finding your stories and doing terrible and wonderful things with them. Write the saga of the memory stick. It most likely got run over by a rickshaw. After that it was carried off by a crow and given to a little girl in exchange for scraps from her Lunchables. Then what happens? Where is the memory stick in fifty years? In 200 years? This loss and the uneasiness it has caused you is material: grist for your mill. Use it and make it into something. Get back to work.
posted by Don Pepino at 9:17 AM on March 17, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by Don Pepino at 9:17 AM on March 17, 2015 [4 favorites]
Chance that it was even picked up = low to begin with
x Chance that whoever picked it up plugged it in
x Chance that whoever plugged it in didn't immediately delete all the files on it
x Chance that person who didn't immediately delete all the files spent more than 2 minutes looking through them
x chance that person who cared enough to read a lot of it disliked it enough to put it on the internet to mock (seriously, if someone keeps reading it it's probably not because they think it's awful)
------------------------------------------------------------
= seriously virtually nonexistent. If anyone read it, it was probably literally one person at most, which is still really really unlikely
I totally get your anxiety but I also think give it some time and you'll feel a lot better about it. These things often feel really visceral at first and then subside. Not trying to minimize how you feel because I've definitely been in similar situations and felt as you do.
posted by hejrat at 9:54 AM on March 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
x Chance that whoever picked it up plugged it in
x Chance that whoever plugged it in didn't immediately delete all the files on it
x Chance that person who didn't immediately delete all the files spent more than 2 minutes looking through them
x chance that person who cared enough to read a lot of it disliked it enough to put it on the internet to mock (seriously, if someone keeps reading it it's probably not because they think it's awful)
------------------------------------------------------------
= seriously virtually nonexistent. If anyone read it, it was probably literally one person at most, which is still really really unlikely
I totally get your anxiety but I also think give it some time and you'll feel a lot better about it. These things often feel really visceral at first and then subside. Not trying to minimize how you feel because I've definitely been in similar situations and felt as you do.
posted by hejrat at 9:54 AM on March 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
It's maybe a long shot, but in addition to setting up a few Google alerts, you might want to set up a web page somewhere that has a) a safe means to contact you and b) unique words and phrases from your corpus, such that if someone found your drive and read some of your work, and tried a search based on what they read, they'd find your page.
Again: it's a long shot. But ya never know. Someone might be looking at it right now thinking "gee, this all looks really personal; I wish I could return it to whoever lost it".
posted by doctor tough love at 10:21 AM on March 17, 2015 [2 favorites]
Again: it's a long shot. But ya never know. Someone might be looking at it right now thinking "gee, this all looks really personal; I wish I could return it to whoever lost it".
posted by doctor tough love at 10:21 AM on March 17, 2015 [2 favorites]
A few months ago I noticed a CD or DVD on the floor of a parking garage. I briefly pondered whether I should move it to a ledge where it would be less likely to be run over, but I decided that if someone had lost it, they'd retrace their exact route, and moving it might make it harder for them to find. I also briefly thought that it might just be litter, tossed from the window of a car, and if so, it would remain there for a few days/weeks and then the building maintenance people would throw it away. I never once contemplated picking it up, taking it home, and putting it in my computer to see what was on it. That would be asking for a virus, plus a waste of time and just sort of nuts. It also never occurred to me that anyone else would consider taking it home. The only possible futures I envisioned for it were "found by owner" or "thrown in trash." (If it was in a location with an obvious lost and found or main desk nearby, I might have left it there, but it wasn't.) I also never even wondered for a second what might be on it. And I can be pretty nosy in the right circumstances, plus I like to help people when I can. It just didn't occur to me. I forgot about this entirely until I read your question, so clearly, though I spent a few minutes thinking about the disc, it was a tiny, tiny blip in my day. A disc is larger and more visible, as well as recognizable to more people, than a USB stick.
I just wanted to add that little non-story to the chorus of "Don't worry, the chances of it being read are extremely slim."
You asked what we'd do in your situation, and I sympathize with it on many levels, really. So I think what I would do is to keep reminding myself that logically, the stick is probably in three pieces in a gutter, or maaaaaybe, just maybe, someone took it home hoping it was classified documents/music/porn and threw it away when they found it wasn't. I would also spend a few weeks taking a break from writing stories, or start some new, totally different stories, until the feeling of lost privacy had diminished.
posted by DestinationUnknown at 10:41 AM on March 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
I just wanted to add that little non-story to the chorus of "Don't worry, the chances of it being read are extremely slim."
You asked what we'd do in your situation, and I sympathize with it on many levels, really. So I think what I would do is to keep reminding myself that logically, the stick is probably in three pieces in a gutter, or maaaaaybe, just maybe, someone took it home hoping it was classified documents/music/porn and threw it away when they found it wasn't. I would also spend a few weeks taking a break from writing stories, or start some new, totally different stories, until the feeling of lost privacy had diminished.
posted by DestinationUnknown at 10:41 AM on March 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: UPDATE: Thanks all of you for your amazing answers. I wish I could mark them all as best answers. I woke up reading them, thinking about what you guys all wrote, and feeling MUCH better about the situation than I did last night. It's funny what a good night's sleep can do.
Then out of the blue the phone rang, and it was a lady from the store I'd shopped at the day I lost the USB stick. Yesterday while retracing my steps I'd gone to the store and reported the USB drive missing. They couldn't find it then, but they had me write the details down in case it turned up. Well it turns out that this morning they had it! I was shocked; I thought my chances of finding it were nil. I just came back home and plugged it into my computer. Checked the "last modified" dates for the documents. Not a single one had been opened. I still can't believe it.
The store folks really went above and beyond on this one. I was not insistent at all, so it was all on their initiative. I called them yesterday morning to report it missing and they didn't find it. When I went out to retrace my steps yesterday afternoon, I decided, what the heck, I'll just ask the store folks one more time if they happened to see it. The lady who helped me searched thoroughly through their lost and founds, and then had me write the details down. When I went in to pick it up today, the manager held up an index card where it had been attached using a rubber band. I just can't believe it. It makes me feel guilty for automatically assuming the worst about people. Weird irony that I don't want people to read my private stuff, but I still turn to people for support, help, etc. Maybe I shouldn't be so guarded and private all the time. I think I'm all "independent" and "private", but in reality I'm not.
I'm just so grateful for how thorough the store folks were in this. I'm going to write them a nice review and probably call the manager to let them know. I mean, the lady who helped me yesterday could have just stopped after she couldn't find the stick.
Anyhow I know I post a lot of emotionally-charged questions on this site, but I keep coming back because the answers here are always so helpful, and they make me see the situations in a different light/perspective. Like I said, after reading all your answers I was really feeling better about the whole thing. The fact that the disk was actually found is icing on the cake.
Now I'm going to put passwords on everything, and if I ever take it out of the house again, I'll put it on a necklace and wear it around my neck.
I know I'm gushing, but the files on this disk were so important to me and I can't express enough how relieved I am. I still can't believe it!!
posted by starpoint at 11:15 AM on March 17, 2015 [20 favorites]
Then out of the blue the phone rang, and it was a lady from the store I'd shopped at the day I lost the USB stick. Yesterday while retracing my steps I'd gone to the store and reported the USB drive missing. They couldn't find it then, but they had me write the details down in case it turned up. Well it turns out that this morning they had it! I was shocked; I thought my chances of finding it were nil. I just came back home and plugged it into my computer. Checked the "last modified" dates for the documents. Not a single one had been opened. I still can't believe it.
The store folks really went above and beyond on this one. I was not insistent at all, so it was all on their initiative. I called them yesterday morning to report it missing and they didn't find it. When I went out to retrace my steps yesterday afternoon, I decided, what the heck, I'll just ask the store folks one more time if they happened to see it. The lady who helped me searched thoroughly through their lost and founds, and then had me write the details down. When I went in to pick it up today, the manager held up an index card where it had been attached using a rubber band. I just can't believe it. It makes me feel guilty for automatically assuming the worst about people. Weird irony that I don't want people to read my private stuff, but I still turn to people for support, help, etc. Maybe I shouldn't be so guarded and private all the time. I think I'm all "independent" and "private", but in reality I'm not.
I'm just so grateful for how thorough the store folks were in this. I'm going to write them a nice review and probably call the manager to let them know. I mean, the lady who helped me yesterday could have just stopped after she couldn't find the stick.
Anyhow I know I post a lot of emotionally-charged questions on this site, but I keep coming back because the answers here are always so helpful, and they make me see the situations in a different light/perspective. Like I said, after reading all your answers I was really feeling better about the whole thing. The fact that the disk was actually found is icing on the cake.
Now I'm going to put passwords on everything, and if I ever take it out of the house again, I'll put it on a necklace and wear it around my neck.
I know I'm gushing, but the files on this disk were so important to me and I can't express enough how relieved I am. I still can't believe it!!
posted by starpoint at 11:15 AM on March 17, 2015 [20 favorites]
How nice you got it back, and it's unread! I always password protect my personal docs, even at home and have a USB that won't allow password protection so I use it for non-personal stuff I wouldn't care if someone sees.
I bet you're feeling so relieved today!
posted by RichardHenryYarbo at 11:37 AM on March 17, 2015
I bet you're feeling so relieved today!
posted by RichardHenryYarbo at 11:37 AM on March 17, 2015
Think about people in their fifties and older (there's tonnes of them!). A disturbingly high number wold be unsure what to do with a USB stick, let alone read it and post it online.
What's disturbing is that anyone under 50 actually believes this.
posted by caryatid at 1:44 PM on March 17, 2015 [6 favorites]
What's disturbing is that anyone under 50 actually believes this.
posted by caryatid at 1:44 PM on March 17, 2015 [6 favorites]
I work in IT communications with a general public audience: More people know less about IT than is generally supposed. I was not trying to imply that anyone over fifty is useless with a computer, and I apologise if it seemed that way.
posted by smoke at 2:01 PM on March 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by smoke at 2:01 PM on March 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
That's so great. It sounds like you learned a valuable lesson about people.
posted by lillian.elmtree at 2:59 PM on March 17, 2015
posted by lillian.elmtree at 2:59 PM on March 17, 2015
What they said, above. Anonymity is your friend here, but a google alert can be your fairy godmother.
Ten years ago my house was burglarized and my computer (among other things) was stolen. On my hard-drive was about 150 stories I'd gleaned from journals I had kept over a period of several decades. A few of the files were printed, but the rest were lost, and cannot be replaced. I would have taken some comfort in thinking that the thieves would read my stories and get something out of them....not wisdom, mind you, but notes on a life, anecdotes and stories about things I saw and did during the nearly half-century I squandered on serial existences rather than a useful life. But I figger that they just ransacked the hard-drive for bank records and such, then sold it for a pittance. They got a few measly dollars for something that was priceless to me. It was an emotional hurdle, putting all that in perspective, and I am still pissed at the loss.
It's good that you have backups for your files. I understand what you mean by saying they were private. When I mine my notes for anecdotes and stories I am always aware of things I want never to be seen by anyone. As some have mentioned above, odds are in your favor that your stuff will never be read. Even so, they are just messages in a bottle. In other words, it's not a chore that a troll is likely to take on, but it's more likely that a reader would be someone in whom your words would strike a resonant chord.
I would be tempted, in your place, to look to the content of my stories, and select a few to use for the plot bones of a "message in a bottle" story. The reader finds Mss in a dusty old box--no, wait. The reader finds a thumb drive on the park bench where she goes on Saturday mornings, to sit....
Anyway, please accept my sympathy. Your loss is not trivial, but it is recoverable.
posted by mule98J at 4:25 PM on March 17, 2015
Ten years ago my house was burglarized and my computer (among other things) was stolen. On my hard-drive was about 150 stories I'd gleaned from journals I had kept over a period of several decades. A few of the files were printed, but the rest were lost, and cannot be replaced. I would have taken some comfort in thinking that the thieves would read my stories and get something out of them....not wisdom, mind you, but notes on a life, anecdotes and stories about things I saw and did during the nearly half-century I squandered on serial existences rather than a useful life. But I figger that they just ransacked the hard-drive for bank records and such, then sold it for a pittance. They got a few measly dollars for something that was priceless to me. It was an emotional hurdle, putting all that in perspective, and I am still pissed at the loss.
It's good that you have backups for your files. I understand what you mean by saying they were private. When I mine my notes for anecdotes and stories I am always aware of things I want never to be seen by anyone. As some have mentioned above, odds are in your favor that your stuff will never be read. Even so, they are just messages in a bottle. In other words, it's not a chore that a troll is likely to take on, but it's more likely that a reader would be someone in whom your words would strike a resonant chord.
I would be tempted, in your place, to look to the content of my stories, and select a few to use for the plot bones of a "message in a bottle" story. The reader finds Mss in a dusty old box--no, wait. The reader finds a thumb drive on the park bench where she goes on Saturday mornings, to sit....
Anyway, please accept my sympathy. Your loss is not trivial, but it is recoverable.
posted by mule98J at 4:25 PM on March 17, 2015
Yay, that's great news!
posted by Klaxon Aoooogah at 6:23 PM on March 17, 2015
posted by Klaxon Aoooogah at 6:23 PM on March 17, 2015
Oh, you lucky! I've lost two flash drives that never turned up and I've just had to get used to the idea that a stranger might find them but more likely they are lost forever.
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:31 PM on March 17, 2015
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:31 PM on March 17, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
I don't think that anyone is sitting around reading your stories.
posted by kinddieserzeit at 11:43 PM on March 16, 2015 [49 favorites]