You know how the saying goes: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. It works that way in the ever evolving online communities we participate in, too.

Today I received a request from someone who had posted a comment in one of our blogs some time ago. The person apparently regrets what they wrote that day and now would like us to remove the comment. The user came to this decision when they typed their name into Google and a link to this comment is the first item on the results page.

I'm reading more and more these days about how people are trying to control their online identity. The way Google works, the web page with your name on it that has been linked to the most times is the one that will come up first. It's not the one you may want, such as your Facebook, MySpace or LinkedIn page. And it may be one that you really don't want, such as a negative news article or blog post. (This is a new problem in the public relations world.)

So what can you do if you don't like the results of a vanity search on Google? You can either try to get the top result removed or create some content that eventually will push down the entry you don't like. The best way to control your identity is to have your name registered as a URL. (Like a lot of people, I wish I would have jumped on markbriggs.com 10 years ago.) Then start a blog on that domain and get a lot of people to link to it.

Any thoughts on whether I should help this user out and remove the comment that is coming up first in their vanity search? Post a comment and let me know.