We have all been warned that the first thing our potential employers are going to do is look us up on Google. They will see all our crazy statuses, pictures and videos on Facebook.

That is not the only thing they are going to see.

They are going to see every comment you have left your name on; they will see every comment someone else has left your name on; they will see every story and picture that has your name in it; they will see that comment you left last week about Lolcats.

Now Dennews.com has received its fair share of comments and we appreciate the fact that people take time to read what we write and leave comments. Comments let us know what readers think. Our policy is to have all comments automatically approved, but to check them when we can and remove those that violate our policy. We let them go up right away in the hopes of readers having an on-topic, civil discussion about the article and the contents. And for the most part, readers are capable of doing that.

But in any group there are a few bad apples that ruin it for the rest of the crowd. They are the ones who leave comments insulting other commentors for no good reason. They leave malicious comments that have nothing to do with the stories or preexisting discussions. They are why comments are occasionally shut down on a story. They ruin the story and comments for those readers who want to have a civil discussion. They poke the sleeping bear of a discussion into a ferocious beast that mauls everything in sight.

During my time as the Online Editor I have received e-mails from alumni who ask to have their comments removed. These (current) professionals had left comments online years ago as undergraduates that they were embarrassed to see now. In their e-mails, most wrote that they regretted leaving those comments years later because their co-workers and employers had seen them while searching their names online. Some had left distasteful comments as a joke. While they may be funny in the moment, they stop being funny when your employer calls you into their office.

So in the future, before you leave an off-topic and malicious comment think about who is going to be reading it in five years. It could be anyone from your employer to your child.

Julia Carlucci is a senior English/journalism major. She can be reached at 581-7942 or [email protected].