10 New New Secret Questions

Om Malik, Friday, October 12, 2007 at 3:32 PM PT Comments (20)

Have you ever wondered why the “secret questions” on everything from your bank account to email account all have a certain bland quality to them? Where were you born? What was your first school? Bo-ring.

We think it’s time for question writers to get a creative and come up with some more contemporary queries. We are seeding with 10 suggestions, but feel free to blog on your own site (TAG: Secret Questions) and link back here. Or just go nuts in our comments.

* How many stock options do you have? (How many are worth anything?)
* Who was your first online date? (Which service was it through?)
* What is your World of Warcraft name?
* What was the name of your first startup?
* What is your Facebook username?
* What was your first email address?
* What is your Google Page rank?
* When was the first time (year) you used Google?
* How many IM accounts do you have?
* When was the last time you went out on a date?

Bonus secret question (and answer):

* How many pounds have you lost since YouTube got acquired and you had to eat crow? 22 (18 to go.)

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20 comments so far

October 12th, 2007
5:02 PM PT

How many RSS feeds do you subscribe to?

October 12th, 2007
5:14 PM PT
joey said:

How many hours do you waste at work reading blogs?

October 12th, 2007
5:19 PM PT
hobnobLover said:

Very nice list…

And this question should probably be included in the list: How many times do you visit GigaOm?

hobnobLover
http://www.hobnobLover.com/

October 12th, 2007
5:29 PM PT
Om Malik said:

hobnobLover, for 100% self serving reasons, that is like the best question ever.

October 12th, 2007
7:58 PM PT
Jeff C said:
  • Who was the first president you voted for?

  • Who should’ve won a Nobel Peace Prize?

My answer to both: Reagan

October 12th, 2007
8:19 PM PT
ms7 said:

From a safety perspective, some of these are potentially dangerous ones.

Especially …
“Which year did you start using Google?” only have a few options and can be easily cracked.

October 12th, 2007
9:16 PM PT
Vikas said:
  1. What is your IP address
  2. How many gigabytes of pirated music do you have?
  3. How many different passwords do you have?
October 12th, 2007
9:34 PM PT
Tailz said:

How many email accounts do you have? (How many times do you check your mail a day?)

Whats your favorite game of all time?

October 12th, 2007
11:45 PM PT
Amit said:

Quite an innovative post buddy. Anyways few from my side…
1. When was the last time (year) you entered a web url without googling it?
2. How many times do you use the ‘F’ word in a day?

October 13th, 2007
3:07 AM PT
darrenstuart said:

You don’t have a username for facebook…

how about

Facebook or mySpace?

October 13th, 2007
8:48 AM PT
Shane said:
  • How many stock options do you have? (How many are worth anything?) - a BIG FAT ZERO :(
  • Who was your first online date? (Which service was it through?) - Beth via lavalifePRIME
  • What was the name of your first startup? Brainstorm International
  • What is your Facebook username? Bobby
  • What was your first email address? brainstorm@hotmail.com
  • When was the first time (year) you used Google? 1999/2000
  • How many IM accounts do you have? 3
  • When was the last time you went out on a date? last week

How many times do you use the ‘F’ word in a day? a LOT

October 13th, 2007
8:52 AM PT
Pranjal said:

Another question………how many blogs and networks your own?

October 13th, 2007
10:39 AM PT
Anand said:

I don’t know..Thought Om Malik always comes up with better stuff..This topic is more Techcrunchish..

Anyway, about the topic, aren’t questions like PageRank and stock options bound to change every now and then? How will I remember the stock options and Pagerank I had at the time of registration!

October 13th, 2007
10:52 AM PT
Om Malik said:

Anand,

I was just trying to have fun on a Friday evening - just something to laugh about and lighten the mood going into the weekend.

October 13th, 2007
10:53 AM PT
Om Malik said:

Hobnoblover,

I meant the last comment in a nice way. I appreciate you coming back to read us often and participating in the conversation. Self serving: as in great for gigaom.

October 13th, 2007
11:00 AM PT
Miles said:

@ms7
Only some are bad from a safety perspective?! Try, all of them (not only need wide variety of answers, but also facts that don’t change over time, and will be remembered 10 years from now). But, the post is meant to be humorous, right?

October 13th, 2007
11:00 AM PT
tara ghose said:

why didnt om malik come to my wedding?

October 13th, 2007
1:01 PM PT

How about:

Favorite Chuck Norris quote?

or

Pirates or ninjas?

October 13th, 2007
5:07 PM PT
Satish Sharma said:

Actual from my bank(s)

  • What was your grandfathers profession !!

I could write a million questions to ask these stupid tech-bankers .. but those aren’t for this forum!

October 14th, 2007
9:13 PM PT
varun said:

What about:
1. How many total online friends you have?

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