Strava ghosts?

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Just for a laugh, I tried ego-surfing my name on Strava. There seem to be half a dozen profiles with my name (and occasionally location) that have apparently never done any activity ever - cycling or otherwise. What's the story with these phantom profiles?

[Kim]

Could it be a function of people who've logged a ride they did with you attempting to add you to the ride?

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Maybe. Most of that sort of thing goes over my head. Wouldn’t those clones have collected one activity each then?

[phantasmagoriana]

Maybe they're just other people with the same name as you who happen to be on Strava?

As for the no activities bit, maybe they do have some but they're set to private/followers only. I recently decided I CBA with Strava any more and decided to set all my activities as private (haven't yet decided whether to delete the account altogether) - I just had a quick look and I show up as having no activities recorded, when I've actually got >1800.

[Basil]

I use Strava, but I never post an activity.  I can't see the point.
I look at it when I get home. Look at the route. Check the distance.  Check the time. Then delete it.

[fuaran]

Is it everyone in Australia named Bruce? 🤣

Could be people that sign up, but can't figure out how to use it. Or people that sign up just to follow others, or join groups etc.
Or duplicate accounts. It is quite easy to accidentally create a duplicate account, if you try logging in with a different email address. Even something like gmail.com vs googlemail.com. Or if you try logging in with Facebook, that would create another separate account.

[FifeingEejit]

Commonality of your name must be a factor, and there's plenty of people who've signed up to strava then never used it (very probably to see someone's activity, such is the reason I have Komoot and MapMyWotsit accounts)

There's 3 other users with my real name.
None with my nom de vélo.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

There are at least a dozen with my name but about a third have some activities listed or photos or locations. The rest - zip!

[zakalwe]

I use Strava, but I never post an activity.  I can't see the point.
I look at it when I get home. Look at the route. Check the distance.  Check the time. Then delete it.

Why bother recording it at all?