We originally wrote this blog post for Halloween last year, but the advice is timeless.

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Ah Devil’s Night, you’ve come again. Does any other holiday inspire such poor decision making as Halloween? New Years is a close second (who among us can deny a glass of the bubbly?), but Halloween has to take the cake. Just take a walk around a Halloween costume shop. Would you find half of the adult costumes appropriate for any event other than Halloween? On second thought, don’t answer that question. We don’t need to hear the saucy details of your personal life here at the Reputation.com Blog.

Despite the fact that most people realize how inappropriate their costumes are, they will still buy them and, worse yet, take dozens of pictures in them. Before they know it, the pictures are tagged with their name and shared on Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. Uh-oh.

From the salacious to the politically incorrect to the just plain dumb, here is our list of the five halloween you do not want shared online.

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Department of Erections

Because nothing says “Hire Me” quite like a sexually aroused convict! Seriously, this costume is not only unfunny and inappropriate, but also awkward. It certainly wouldn’t be easy to walk around a crowded party, you know what I mean?

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Hot Dog Vendor

What is about men’s costumes and exposed genitals? Are we men really that immature? Wait, scratch that. I already know the answer. Also, the title of this costume is not descriptive enough. Instead of “Hot Dog Vendor,” it should be called “Future Sex Offender Regisrant.” The model’s expression doesn’t do much to help salvage the costume, either. “Hey ladies! There’s a box of hot dogs on my crotch. Get it?”

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Poo Poo Platter

If you think this costume is funny, think of this possible exchange.

YOU: Hi…Mary, right? I met you at the Halloween party?

MARY: Oh, Hi! That was so much fun! I don’t remember, what did you go as?

YOU: (deep breath) Um… Well… I went as a plate of poop.

MARY: Oh…right.

YOU: So, want to have coffee sometime?

MARY: (walks away)

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Sexy (insert word here)

It’s hard to pick one women’s costume that is especially inappropriate since they all have the same desired effect: turning regular women into strippers. Ladies, don’t pander to the chauvinistic costume industry! Buck the trend this year. Instead of being a sexy witch, be an ugly witch. Instead of being a sexy police officer, be a regular police officer (like the one that knocks on your door at 3:00AM to shut down your party). The possibilities are endless.

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Toilet Child

What do you do if you don’t want to dress up yourself, but you still want to bring shame on to your family’s good name? Hmm. I know! Dress your child up like a toilet! That way, when people check out pictures of your fun family halloween party on Facebook, they’ll always remember that you’re the family everyone else in the neighorhood craps on.

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By now, everyone should know how important it is to be careful about what you share online. Not only can you be fired for what you post on the web, but you can hurt your chances of getting into school too. Despite countless stern warnings, however, many Internet users do not take the time to consider the long-term effects of what they post on Facebook, MySpace, and other social networking sites.

If you’ve already made the mistake of buying one of the above costumes, and you’re planning to rock it at the bar on Saturday night, we beg of you,return it now. You might get some inebritated chuckles from friends, but the laughs will stop when you head to your next job interview. If you choose not to heed our warning, however, we won’t hold it against you. Heck, we’ll even help you find the pictures and take them down. Why? That’s just how we roll around here. Now go ahead and start planning next year’s costume.

Thinking about publicly divulging your earlier dabblings in satanic rituals? Or considering an ironic, fringe title for an article in your college newspaper? Take a lesson from the Delaware Senate race. Everything you say or do in the public sphere can and will find its way to the Web’s megaphone. And it can bite you.

Mental anguish lawsuit, masturbation, witchcraft — these aren’t terms often aligned with trust, esteem or politics. We all know that the little red flags that appear in search results can go a long way in forming our judgments, regardless of whether those flags are grounded in reality. Search for your local doctor and “quack” or “addict” comes up; alarm ensues. Check out a potential employee online and you find a rant-filled blog or juvenile pictures, you’ll do more than just raise an eyebrow. Likely, you’ll place them in the reject pile.

This week’s side-by-side comparison of the online reputations of two contending candidates, Christine O’Donnell and Chris Coons, offers its fair share of flag-raising results. Let’s dig in to a few of the more interesting scores.

Tone: O’Donnell 1, Coons 4
For O’Donnell, Google Suggest (a new feature by Google that turns up predictive search results) sets the tone when it serves up “Christine O’Donnell witch,” “Christine O’Donnell witchcraft” before “Christine O’Donnell for senate.” In her earlier career O’Donnell made a public statement about her interest in witchcraft. O’Donnell reinforced this association with advertisements, videos and interviews discussing the claim. Google recognized a pattern Christine O’Donnell = witchcraft. And now the campaign is more identified with witchcraft than it is tea party, republican or Delaware senator.

Similarly, an artifact from Coons’ youth is impacting his current persona, on and offline. “Chris Coons: The Making of a Bearded Marxist,” an article written by the politician in his college years, has been digitized, discovered and disseminated. Regardless of whether or not Coons has Marxist leanings, this association creates a tone for his search results that can handicap his campaign.

O’Donnell’s tone: 3:1:1 (negative, neutral, positive)–is driven by headlines of “craziness, masturbation and witchcraft.” Coons’ tone: 1:2:2 (negative, neutral, positive) reflects his political objectives.

Control: O’Donnell 1, Coons 4
Ever heard of cyber-squatting? Where someone takes your website or your name’s URL and sets up shop? The first page of O’Donnell’s search results reveal such an instance. An anti-O’Donnell campaigner has gone online and captured O’Donnell’s ’08 campaign page, using the site to reveal alleged hypocrisies and blemishes in O’Donnell’s political and personal life.

Beyond these guerilla tactics, O’Donnell is also up against the brute force of online humor. Funny videos mocking people of power have a way of going viral. Especially when they’re as mainstream as Saturday Night Live.

Campaign Coons on the other hand isn’t up against the same hurdles as O’Donnell. His web search checklist is in proper order: Chris Coons campaign page, Wikipedia entry, image results, recent and relevant political news, Facebook. He’s got a high level of control to prevent the unflattering “Bearded Marxist” talk from taking over and taking rank.

Message Match: O’Donnell 1, Coons 3
Just as Coons doesn’t want to be known as a bearded Marxist, O’Donnell would rather not be known for witchcraft. But a look at O’Donnell’s predictive search terms and a measure of her search results makes clear–she is not known for her tax plan or teacher reform, she’s known for her witching ways.

We’ll see tonight how the interplay of campaign slogans, fiery debate, television and social media play out in influencing voters’ Digital Decision 2010.

Stay tuned later this week for O’Donnell vs Coons updates and our Top 5 Worst online errs…O’Donnell, in no way are you alone out there!

Follow Michael Fertik on Twitter: www.twitter.com/http://twitter.