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You are behind someone who is driving, they are doing 20 in a 40, not staying between the lines, etc. Later you pass them and you look to see who's driving.

Similarly, if on something like Facebook, someone posts about lizards ruling the world on a completely unrelated page, you look at their page to see what else they have posted.

Is there a general word for this?

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    Arguably you're looking to "dig up the dirt" on a person (unearth some more unsavoury facts about someone you already disapprove of). The activity is dirt-digging, muck-raking. Commented Oct 25, 2022 at 10:59
  • I've seen people on Twitter discussing this frequently (e.g. you see someone posting something questionable and look through their tweets and find it's a cesspit of every imaginable prejudice), although I can't think of any particular name for this. But surely Twitter users have a slang term for everything. It might be an instance of a deep dive although that's a more general term.
    – Stuart F
    Commented Oct 25, 2022 at 11:52

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Keep it simple: “investigating” or “inspecting.”

As in: “Someone was driving recklessly. As I drove past them later, I investigated/inspected who was behind the wheel.”

And: “Someone was posting questionable content on Facebook, so I couldn’t help but investigate whose account it was.”

The fact that they were doing something questionable doesn’t factor into this choice of word. I don’t have a word that specifically applies to investigating someone behind a questionable behavior.

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  • This answer could be improved by quoting some references to support your suggestion. Commented Nov 24, 2022 at 14:20

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