is it ok to borrow cool user names?

[Bhaisahab]

i mean, a situation where you see a user name on a message board and go - "dude! cool nic!" and while registering in a new forum at another website, use that cool nic as your username... is that err.. ethical?

[RevolutionaryActs]

1. Bush does it. That answer your question?

:P

[Not_Giving_Up]

2. ba da bom bom n/t

[Robeson]

5. Well then its final. If...

...the Fuhrer, uh, I mean President does it, then that should be the green light. Afterall, he's God's Vicar on earth, and who are we to question His will...:shrug:

[RevolutionaryActs]

7. WHAHAHAHAHAHAA!

:P

[realisticphish]

3. weeeeell

some people use their user names in multiple places, and some might think you were them :shrug:

i don't really think it's an ETHICAL question, rather than one of confusion


:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[Dogmudgeon]

4. Not completely

It's a common word, sure. Otherwise, I'd avoid it.

I've noticed that since I've been using "Pigwidgeon" on this message board and three others, a number of other "Pigwidgeons" have emerged. Yet the word has nothing to do with pigs (or pigeons, for that matter), and is an archaic word meaning "commoner".

There are no laws or well-defined ethics behind screen name usage, but if you come across a truly innovative and "k00l" nick, you ought not use it, unless you ask first, and/or use it in completely unrelated fora.

--p!

[MADem]

6. Maybe not ethical, but understandable

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

In a perverse way, by appropriating the "intellectual property" of someone (who, on these here internets, may have stolen it from someone else) you are acknowledging their superior abilities of expression.

On the other hand, you could just be ripping them off.

Or, you could just be lazy, or not willing to commit to something you came up with all by yourself...

It all comes down to how you feel about it. Homage, or theft?

Supposedly, no one has an original idea--it's all be done, in one way or another! Only the accoutrements and situations change; the emotional content and relationships are all old news!

[starroute]

8. It could get the original user in trouble

It's not unheard of for someone here at DU to google on the username of someone they consider to be a troll and take finding that name at a conservative message board as confirmation of their suspicions.

So far, this hasn't gotten out of hand, but suppose somebody on the right wanted to disrupt DU by registering some of our most prominent usernames at FreeRepublic or whatever and then planting rumors about them?

What you're suggesting isn't quite as deliberately disruptive but could still result in undermining the credibility of the original user. And out here on the Net where no one may know us face to face, our cred is all we've got.

Who steals my purse steals trash; tis something, nothing;
'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands;
But he that filches from me my good name
Robs me of that which not enriches him
And makes me poor indeed.