Why do so many DUers use aliases/ pseudonyms?

[karlrschneider]

Poll question: Why do so many DUers use aliases/ pseudonyms?

Please don't be offended by this question. I understand there can be perfectly valid reasons
to remain anonymous, I am just wondering what they are. Maybe a poll will shed some light on them.
:-)
If you care to respond, just reply as if the question is simply "I use a nickname because..."
(and feel free to use the last "other" choice and elaborate if you wish - thanks)

[skids]

1. Other: real names are for L4|VI3r5.

(EDIT: :-) )

[karlrschneider]

3. Oooookay..................?

?

[skids]

11. This should help.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leet

But if you want a serious answer, I'll posit you this question:

Why is your avatar an American flag? Why haven't you uploaded a photo of yourself instead?

[karlrschneider]

19. My photo has been in the DU gallery for 3 years.

My avatar is the upside-down flag which, as I'm sure you know, a sign of distress.

[skids]

25. And there you have your answer...

People's screen-names are like their avatars -- they signify something. Many of us carry them around with us from board to board (and some of those boards don't have avatars, to boot, so other than a signature, the screen name is the only personalization opportunity you get.)

It's a cultural thing. People who hale from the days of USENET are more likely to have a name not resembling their registered legal name.

[karlrschneider]

31. Well, I guess I don't see exactly why -both- would be needed.

I was on FIDOnet for many years even before the internets were "invented" (by Al Gore, of course) and I always just used my own name. To be perfectly honest, it was partly because of my experience back in the 1970s when I worked for a place that sold CB radios and I just thought the "handles" that people invented were puerile, juvenile and overtly real fuckin' stupid. Sometimes I get anal over stuff like that - time to read Camus again, I guess. ;-)

[skids]

55. Handles, yep.

Handles are great. I don't know why you think they are a stupid concept. Granted some people pick stupid handles, but that's what makes handles great -- they tell you more about a person than their given name.

[hyphenate]

65. Precisely my way of looking at it! eom

[papau]

71. old usenet user is also my excuse - I miss the overnight downloads!

:-)

[gkdmaths]

13. eh, nobody calls anyone that anymore.

got anymore?

:thumbsup:

My mommas so l33t her pc boots directly to WoW.

[tavalon]

2. I use tavalon because I use it everywhere

It is just a conjunction of my first and last name.

[karlrschneider]

6. Fair enough, but I still wonder why ?

I probably should have done more work on the poll.

[WatchWhatISay]

4. Because my real name just isnt very interesting

I have no reason to conceal it.

[salvorhardin]

I really am Salvor Hardin. Why won't anyone believe me!?

My real life name is pretty easy to find. I don't go to a whole lot of trouble to hide it. However, I use aliases to keep a little bit of formal distance between my online persona and real life me.

[Taxloss]

98. My approach also.

My real name is a Google search away. Or you could just ask me, it's not a secret.

[bahrbearian]

5. Your right we should never be allow to vote Anonymously

:sarcasm:

[karlrschneider]

10. Actually, I think your sarcasm is close to misplaced. Often i've thought

a PUBLIC vote might serve democracy better than a secret ballot. After all, we don't generally allow our representatives to do it...

[bahrbearian]

17. Sometimes I think that would be right .. but many people would be

intimidated in certain situations. That is one of the reasons why our Founding Fathers did it that way. We just need to Verify the Vote.

[kestrel91316]

47. You want an opposition party member voting against a possibly

violent government to be forced to do so without anonymity??????????

WTF???????

Yeah, right. I may as well just shoot myself, rather than waiting for the thugs to come do it to me.

Secret ballots are essential to a legitimate democracy.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

61. Public vote can generate reprisals if you vote "wrong", or be sold.

Think about it for ONE FREAKING SECOND and you will see why the negatives outweigh any positives.

What if the CEO of Halliburton could see the votes of their employees? Gee too bad that the employee evaluations of the people who don't vote for shrubco always seem to be lower than those who do.

If you could verify which way you voted by a public record then your vote can be sold, it would be worth it to the buyer if they can verify your vote but not if they can't.

[LostinVA]

73. Oh boy

Thank gods for the Australian ballot. Without it, this country's government would be even worse than it is.

[MrPrax]

7. It's a public forum...?

That's why...because we don't have an image of a person and we can't SEE who is talking, the name is simply to denote when one writer ends and another one begins...

When are you NOT anonymous in a public place?

If you GO to a political meeting or listen to speech or go to a ballgame or a movie...nobody knows your name except the people who know you...?

:shrug:

[karlrschneider]

15. Fair point, but if you're just out in public, you aren't putting your

thoughts into a semi-permanent record like here (unless the media people interview you).

[MrPrax]

78. Not semi...

but permanent record...but a good point.

Mind you, you meet and greet people all day and can strike up conversations with complete strangers and exchange a 'LOL' or 'cry' about the state of government, taxes, current bad guys, the war, some terrible crime, property values, etc...all the time.

One would have thought that the formalism and pre-mediated quality of Netizen communication would place debate on a higher level, but I find it interesting that people generally have simply assimilated the technology and basically do what they would usually in person...I don't think, say teenagers talking to teenagers, are anymore articulate in a chat room than they would be in a locker room.

But good point...people don't usually turn busses into soapboxes, like I have done ;-) ...unless they are crazy and sit in the back, talking to themselves, all the way uptown, just to have ANOTHER crazy person start yelling at them to shut up...then you got 'theatre' with your bus ticket...(kinda like DU...!!!)

[pinto]

8. I'm wanted by the French Foreign Legion for past dues.

[Taoschick]

12. You too???

:wow:

[karlrschneider]

16. Well, they still owe me back wages. Maybe we can zero it out

with a little cooperation from the U.N.? :D

[pinto]

22. I have this black falcon figurine, though.

[karlrschneider]

27. The Governer General of Malta is still looking for you.

:D

[pinto]

32. Give him my best, won't you? Tell him I got detained.

[karlrschneider]

34. He wants to hear it from Sam Spade.

:D :D

[pinto]

37. Pity, that. Maybe we'll meet up the next war. Or the next.

[sofa king]

9. Why be a peon when I can be king?

[Straight Shooter]

14. I live in a small community.

People in my town who know me are well aware of my political views, but there are many other subjects on DU that, frankly, I don't want to share except with other DU members.

DU is the one place where I can pretty much speak my mind without having to explain myself. I just post and move on. :)

[karlrschneider]

23. I understand. I live in a VERY small and very RED community.

Some people around here think I'm a Commie Pinko Fag but that's okay...they also have discovered
that my partner and I won't be fucked with - we have deep Democratic roots and enough guns and the know-how to use them that they never ever mess with us. In fact, we're quite well respected (and even liked by many if not most of the 'knuckledraggers' in our neighborhood. A lot of that comes from the fact that for 12 years we've done many many 'good deeds' for them. Maybe it's a Teddy Roosevelt thing.

[RoyGBiv]

18. Back in the day ...

My nick is a remnant of my youth that I've kept with me. In the days of the BBS, everyone had a nick, even if everyone knew who you were. Back then I was Rainbow Warrior and signed my messages RoyGBiv. I ended up liking the latter better and have carried it with me ever since. In some places a new nick has come into being, OldPete, and pretty much anyone in those forums who comes across the nick knows precisely who I am.

Pseudonyms did have a certain purpose in those days. Silicon Surfer and Cap'n Crunch, for example, were *trying* to be anonymous in an age when tracing a nick to a person wasn't quite as easy, especially for authorities, who were at the time mostly clueless. It was a hacker and cracker thing and those who wanted in on the revolution modeled the example of their peers, even if they didn't have quite the same need for anonymity.

I'm not anonymous here even though I post using a nickname. No one is. If I want to be anonymous, I use a different sort of communication mechanism and GPG to encrypt my messages. A web based discussion forum is the last place people wanting to remain anonymous should post. Anyone who thinks they are anonymous here is delusional. Although, there is something to be said for not making it any easier for the bastards, and by bastards I mean random idiots trolling these forums looking for people to harass who don't themselves have the first clue how, nor the resources, to trace people without a name or some significant identifying information. I reference here an individual who, a year or so back, gave out too many details of who he was and admitted publicly to doing something that could, and did, get him fired when said random troll came across his post.

OnEdit: And does anyone reading this remember the My Name Is thread after the 2004 election? A lot of people here don't care about being anonymous, but using a nick is a personal thing with varied reasons for different people.

[karlrschneider]

41. I remember the "My Name Is' thread well. I'm going to post a link to it

in a new thread in about one minute. Thanks for the reminder!
:toast:

[tnlefty]

20. Hello, my name is Lisa. I would've answered your question about

repurcussions or violent actions if you hadn't mentioned "afraid of". I have some in your face bumperstickers on my car, I have been harrassed on many occassions for same so it's not necessarily "fear", I just don't want to make myself anymore of a target online than necessary. Perhaps this doesn't make sense to you, but perhaps it does to me. :hi:

[karlrschneider]

29. Haha...well, Hi there, Lisa. Is there really a Ooltewah?

If so, you probably aren't as anonymous as you might imagine. :D

[tnlefty]

38. Yes there is. Ronald Reagan fucked up the pronounciation in a visit that

he made to an area closeby - he pronounced it 'OlTEEwah'. I know at least 5 other women named Lisa so it may not be quite so anonymous, but I'll give it a shot!

And you must be a profile searching somebody, eh! LOL!

[karlrschneider]

42. I used to work for a secret government agency. !!1!1!!

:D

[tnlefty]

49. Good for you!!! There are at least 3 other women bearing my name in

my neighborhood and the others are in outlying areas, but with the same mailing address (city), and there are probably more.

Perhaps I should just remove the city from my profile, Mr. Secret Agent Man? I've given you a number...:silly: But according to the song lyrics they've given you a number and taken away your name, so this won't work either! :dunce:

[ClassWarrior]

21. Because it's just like summer camp all year long!

:bounce:

And Skinner's the head counsellor!

NGU.

[rucky]

24. Other: Project X n/t

[skids]

28. SSSShhhhh!!

Didn't you get the "name of project is not to be spoken until after Nov elections" memo?

[cigsandcoffee]

26. Because I'm a quiet and suspicious loner.

So there.

[MercutioATC]

30. ..because it's the handle I use everywhere.

It's not a privacy issue for me. I've posted plenty of personal info here (including my name, the city I live in, my occupation, etc.).

It's just habit.

[karlrschneider]

33. Nyet problemski! I was just curious.

I use an alias myself sometimes, like when I call up KC Center or TUL RAPCON. :D

haha

[MercutioATC]

40. I'm really mysterious. I call myself "HL".

:P

[SeattleGirl]

35. Other: My real name is not very common, and I do not want

to take a chance that any of my clients, or the people who refer to me, would recognize me. As to my employer, nah. Probably 95% of us are flaming liberals.

[alfredo]

36. It's my nickname. I could have used

"mamo the talking glue gun" like I used to on Car Talk, but I didn't.

[TahitiNut]

39. My mother and father (Macadamia and Brazil) named me Tahiti.

What's it to ya? :grr:

[karlrschneider]

44. Be glad they didn't name you Coco

:D :D :D :D

Hey, my cousins still call me PeeGee....

yikes
;-)

[TahitiNut]

88. That's my half-sister who lives in Atlanta.

:evilgrin:

Her mother (my step-mother) is from the South and her maiden name was Pea Kahn (called Sweet Pea by her friends). She married my father, Brazil (a former Buckeye), after my parents were divorced (a volcanic relationship). My half-sister married a terrific cook, Al Mondine, but kept her maiden name, Coco Nut.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

53. I have nutty parents too, you just have to work through it...

...we're here for you, man.

[zalinda]

43. Some of my customers are rabid RW's

They would stop buying from me if they knew my politics, and I just can't afford that.

zalinda

[karlrschneider]

46. I understand.

...

[petronius]

45. A couple of reasons come to mind:

First, I never really thought about it - using clever or not so clever nicknames seems like such a tradition online that I never really questioned it.

Second, I like the privacy - we have no idea who is reading our posts, so with a real name it's possible that people we know in real life could be 'watching' us without our knowledge. It wouldn't really be a big deal, since I don't post anything here I wouldn't say elsewhere, but the idea is kind of creepy. If the audience is anonymous, then I prefer to be anonymous, too (except in cases where I deliberately choose to speak as myself, such as in a LTTE).

Finally, it's a way of maintaining a separation between between the online world and my real life. I like posting on boards, and I 'meet' interesting people, but I prefer to keep the two worlds separate.

[blonndee]

48. I think anyone could easily find me with my DU name

but I use it because my late grandpa (among others) called me blondie but so many others had used the regular spelling that a long time ago on my yahoo id I changed it to this spelling.

I'm reluctant to post my real name, although anyone who was REALLY trying could easily do so. Not that I would flatter myself enough to think that anyone would! Hah.

[Nabia2004]

50. Because I'm paranoid - nt

:hide:

[Horse with no Name]

51. Because at one time I didn't believe in using aliases

and ended up with some freak stalking me--at home and at work.
It isn't hard to start linking point A to point B together.
I have kids that live with me.
I don't want them to be harrassed by internet freaks out there (and there are plenty).

[LaPera]

52. You are overlooking the fact many have been "tombstoned" and have to

use an alias to be able to post.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

54. This is my real name!

Really! No, really! ;-)

[Shipwack]

56. Force of habit...

I've always used a nickname (usually this one, or variation thereof...) I used to worry about my views affecting my life at work (I'm in the navy), but I decided long ago that if "they" -really- wanted to know who I was, they could easily find out, so I stopped worrying about posting "identifying" information....

[magellan]

57. Kind of half didn't think about it, half did

I've been using the internet for 15 years so using a nickname online is second nature to me. But also, I have a nickname that I use everywhere except here...It spooked me to be involved in a political forum under a traceable nickname (back to a real name and address), so here I'm magellan.

:)

[Solon]

58. First, I wanted to use a nickname with some meaning...

even if that meaning is lost on way too many people(its NOT Salon, its Solon!) here. Second, I could say anonymity for myself, but really, its for my father, see I'm Junior, and legally, the only thing you can separate between us is our Social and DOB. Even that gets screwed up, when I opened up a Savings account at the SAME bank my Dad banks at, I checked my balance once and had 3 grand in the bank, no WAY did I earn that, they fucked up the accounts. Being the honest sort(I was tempted ;)) I told my dad, and we went to the bank, and I agreed to close my account and go to another bank.

[Armstead]

59. Other -- I use part of my real name

There's also a bit of "All of the Above."

Too many creeps out there. I just feel freer expressing myself on the Internet without disclosing who I am.

[LittleClarkie]

60. It just seems like the "internet" thing to do

but mostly I thought it was more of an identity theft thing.

[The Straight Story]

62. Cause The Straight Story says more about me than my name (nt)

[Kailassa]

63. My birth name never meant anything to me.

My family abused and rejected me, and my birth name is a reminder of that.
My married name is no better, I don't want any reminder of that asshole
on documents pertaining to me.

The name Kailassa was acquired in a weird way, and meant that at last I had
a name for my inner self that I could identify with.

Yes, it's a "nickname", but it's more my name than any other I've had.

So I would say there is no such thing as a "real" name anyway.
The essence of a person is not contained in any one bunch of letters like
a genetic code. A person's character is reflected by what they do and what
they write. A name that someone else chose for you means little.

"By their fruits shall you know them."

[hyphenate]

64. No real reason

When I got online, back in 1989, it was advised not to use your real name "out there" because you never knew who was out there, yada, yada, yada.

When I joined AOL in 1993, we had to choose screen names, and so I chose something to indicate that I was in the entertainment industry. (A hyphenate is an above-the-line person with more than one job on a production, like writer-producer, director-producer, etc) And all of my screen names are variations on different hobbies, aspirations, etc.

When I went away from AOL and onto boards other than AOL, I just carried my screen name with me because it was easier that way. If I'm someplace for any length of time, most people know me as my real name, Mary, anyhow. It is also good when I'm in a strange place online, because it's ambiguous enough not to know if I'm male or female. (That explains all the "enlarge your penis!" spam messages I get!)

But I was also known by another email address (which had my name in it) which was my at work email, but when I left the company, the email address went away, and I stuck with my screen name one instead.

[madokie]

66. madokie describes me to a tee at this point in life

I'm furious because of all the lying thieving all for me screw you type attitudes I see in the US body politic. Here we have everything to make our people very happy, you notice I use our as in all of us, and we allow a few to take advantage of it and push us around. many go to sleep hungry, many with no roof over their heads and I in all my 58+ years of living haven't met a single one who wanted to be hungry or homeless. To add to that I have never met anyone who didn't want to work either.

[orpupilofnature57]

67. Because it's cool ,I didn't get to name myself in 57' I like my name..

it was my dads , and no Shrub could make me afraid or ashamed of it,Edward Fregeau jr

[applegrove]

68. Because it is universal on the net. For most of the reasons above.

It makes no sense to use a real name on the net. Nobody else does it. Why is this a question or a poll? Ever heard of Identity theft? Not funny when somebody does shit in your name. Can ruin your life.

I don't understand where you are coming from. It is normal protocol. PMs are for getting personal if that is what you want. Nicknames are for keeping some distance from a whole pile of people you do not know.

Plus Rove hands out disks to the GOP listing all the people in their district and it lists: their income, buying habits, voting habits et all. Why would you want more? The direct marketing people already have the country's postal codes divided up into stereotypes like: "pick-up trucks, dogs & rifles" or "Used book stores, coffee houses & Volvo's".

Who wants to be targeted even more by spam, political hacks or stalkers?

[Vinca]

69. To make it harder for Agent Mike to find me. nt

[BlackVelvet04]

70. I was stalked by a bunch of rightwingnuts from one forum to another.....

that's why I don't use my real name.

[Hubert Flottz]

72. Because...

Nobody ever believes me when I tell them I'm really Elvis.

[LostinVA]

74. Posters have been fired for posting on DU, when their real names have

gotten out. Many of us could be fired, harassed, hurt, etc. It's why I would never, ever post a photo in a photo thread... and it's also why only a very few DUers know my real first name. There are alot of very dangerous people out there.

Sometimes I'm afraid I've given out more info than I should have.

[Omphaloskepsis]

75. Ladies love my handle...

And I don't want to mix work with whatever the fuck this is.

[TheMadMonk]

76. Customisation of self.

In my case, the choice came about due to a random ICQ encounter with a kid in Hong Kong at the time I joined DU. She hand an interest in Rasputin, who I coincidentally have a strong physical resembalnce to. My Avatar is becasue I am pro-nuclear.

Elsewhere I use an adolescent nickname, because that period shaped my philosophical outlook on life.

Choice depends on circumstance and the image one desires to project in that circumstance.

[OldSiouxWarrior]

77. Eight years ago, on a newgroup, I did use my real name.

It led to a nutcase who disagreed with me finding me and calling me at home. Lesson learned, regarding the internet.

[OxQQme]

82. I'm also:

metrognome,
flyonthewall,
hoosierdaddy,
bonedaddy,
depending upon the site.

OXQQME is also on my vanity plate on my teensy little 44mpg Suzuki Swift.
It pleases me to be sitting at a traffic red light, looking in the rear view at the people waiting behind me trying to figure out what it means, and the big smiles when it becomes clear that it say's
"Oh, excuuuuse me"

[seabeyond]

79. i use my name on some boards, dont on others, generally political

boards. i had one say they know the area i am and they dont live far. they ought to come up and buy me lunch because what i posted they agreed with. that was a friendly. there was a lot more they dont agree with. and also husband owns a business. may be repercussion with that. also some crazies out there.

[neebob]

80. Because the internets are a playground and a haven

for disordered people, many of whom are malicious, and the so-called normal people are way too interested in each other's bizness, and I have a really unusual name.

[ThomWV]

81. My Name Is Thom, I Live In West Virginia. What's To Hide?

[WA98296]

83. You wouldn't believe it's me anyway.

[TimeChaser]

84. This is the name I'm known by

:shrug: I honestly don't think it's a good idea to have your real identity easily accessible online.

[otherlander]

85. What's the point? I'm a stranger.

Nobody would recognise my name.

[datasuspect]

86. longstanding internet custom?

???

[etherealtruth]

91. That was my first thought ...

Couple that with the hatemongerring, vitriol spewing, (sometimes) violent nuts on the other end of the political spectrum ... I think I made a wise choice.

[datasuspect]

93. from early message board days

i remember seeing online spill over into real life: stalking; threats; physical violence; shit like that.

there are lots of nutjobs out there, i don't want to advertise my true identity online.

[mtnsnake]

87. because they're not fools

That's why so many DUers use aliases or pseudonyms, among many other reasons that ought to be obvious.

For that matter, many of the people claiming to be using "real names" probably aren't, and half of them are most likely just framing someone they hate by using the name of that person. Karl R Schneider could be someone you don't like for all we know. ;)

Besides, I don't know of too many message boards that ask you for your real name when you sign up. There's a reason for that.

[Richard Steele]

89. I only use my real name because I never thought of a cool UserName.

DU members have some of the best/cleverest/funniest
UserHandles anywhere...
'dicksteele' was originally just going to be a temporary measure,
until I thought of a good one myself. I never did.
DU just sets the bar too high, and I never came up with
one that I felt measured up.

If I had intended to use my real name permanently,
I would have capitalized appropriately.

[DemonFighterLives]

90. Most of the talk here is about a very large crime family

and we also have the rabid freepers to deal with.

I had a crazed righty threaten me on another site- but the distance between us cooled his jets. :rofl:

I know Agent Mike could find any of us in a snap but is the plausible deniability that keeps us small potatoes.

dubco has much bigger fish to fry and already have a plateful- they can't kill them all, but can kill enough to hush up the rest.

:hide:
:dem:

[treestar]

92. Is there any hope that ideas can be considered for themselves

and debate points made without the issue of whosays it?

If I tell you the melting point of water is 45 degrees Fahrenheit, are you going to actually consider it if I am a certain person?

[Zorra]

94. Hi, Agent Mike!

:hi:

[davsand]

95. Control, mostly.

I used to post at Salon and at ABC under my real name. No big deal--I always figured you never post on the internet ANYTHING you wouldn't tell a reporter. There really IS no privacy online, and you run a personal risk if you delude ourself into thinking there is. I still post to local political boards under my real name.

I only have one rule about internet use that is unbending: My kid is NEVER called by name online. She has always been called Material Girl and always will be. I NEVER want her to have some online freak after her because of my political activity online. It is one thing to have some "cyber warrior" busting my chops but my kid is a whole different matter.

Having said all that, I do not figure that it is my job to make it any easier for some random internet wackaloon who wants to find me. If somebody wants to--well, there isn't much I can do do stop it--but I sure don't have to pin a target on either.

My user name is one I use widely, and it is an amalgam of my last name and my maiden name.

Regards.


Laura

[El Fuego]

96. Personal security

It's probably more of an issue if you're a woman. If someone knows my name, they can easily google me and find out where I live and where I work, among other things. I'm on my employer's web site. And in the county where I live and own property, an astounding amount of personal information is available online as public information.

The world is full of wackos, you know!

[earth mom]

97. So I can cuss whenever the situation warrants it,

and the situation warrants it a LOT! LOL! :evilgrin:

AND because I just can't cuss like that in public! O8)