user names

[Colin63]

How did Ferret Worrier get his name?

[hubgearfreak]

My forum name is based on my love of measurement systems.

Hahaha.

i wasn't aware that he was kidding

[thirdcrank]

How did Ferret Worrier get his name?

IIRC Ferrit worrier got his name through being so thin it would worry a ferret. (It's explained somewhere on here.)

[York Commuter]

my screen name

York Commuter

it sort of tells a lot about me!

I've used similarly derived IDs on other fora

Stephen

[Mick F]

Hello Stephen.
I'm a Stephen too, though more accurately a Stephen Michael.

[patricktaylor]

I'm a Michael too, though more accurately a Patrick something Michael.

I've always thought that one of the oddest aspects of the web is the almost universal use of nicknames. Of course only a few people can use their own name, but why not get as close as you can, eg: JohnSmith345? Some people do that already, so why hide behind a weird nickname? A username is different - used as extra security for logging on etc - but they've become primary identity.

In the early days of the web, people tended to be more paranoid about identifying themselves in person, so perhaps the nickname thing is a throwback to then. Now, users with a nickname sometimes sign off with their real name at the end of a post, so why not use it up front? I can see how someone might want to define themselves in a way that their real name can't - eg: cycletourist (or whatever) - but many nicknames mean nothing except to their user.

Incidentally, I do like the term 'user'. It's spot on, and probably one of the best nics there is. Users are now scrabbling to invest market value in their legally protected online usernames.

[mark_w]

S'funny - when I first started out on the internet way back when, I used a nickname I've had since I started work.

But in the main now I just use Mark W - after all that's who I am

[patricktaylor]

On reflection, I could perhaps have used my school number as my online identity: 4133. I'm proud of that number. It sums me up nicely. Not many people have a school number (I left school in 1965).

[thirdcrank]

Like so many people, I can remember our Co-op (LICS) divvy number - 149491 - from the early 1950's. I can also remember my wife's telephone number from the student bedsit she was living in before we were married. Come to think of it, I can remember my first real girlfriend's phone number, but that's not difficult because she came from a small place and the number was just 10 as in one zero.

Now, what did I have for breakfast?

[patricktaylor]

... I can remember my first real girlfriend's phone number ...

Me too. 43776. I can hear it now...

[mark_w]

Like so many people, I can remember our Co-op (LICS) divvy number - 149491 - from the early 1950's. I can also remember my wife's telephone number from the student bedsit she was living in before we were married. Come to think of it, I can remember my first real girlfriend's phone number, but that's not difficult because she came from a small place and the number was just 10 as in one zero.

Now, what did I have for breakfast?

I can remember my father's car registrations from the 70's and 80's which, when mentioned in conversation, always prompts my dad to remind me I remember the most inane things.

[Brian G]

I'm a Stephen too, though more accurately a Stephen Michael.

I'm a Brian Michael. My parents told me they added Michael in case I didn't like my first name. In the event I don't much like either of them. Unfortunately, when I was being named back in the Dark Ages, the range available to fairly unsophisticated families was a bit limited. It didn't include Tiger, for example...

Brian

[reohn2]

On reflection, I could perhaps have used my school number as my online identity: 4133. I'm proud of that number. It sums me up nicely. Not many people have a school number (I left school in 1965).

School number!! eek! that troubles me.I'm not a number!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[fimm]

I've always thought that one of the oddest aspects of the web is the almost universal use of nicknames. Of course only a few people can use their own name, but why not get as close as you can, eg: JohnSmith345? Some people do that already, so why hide behind a weird nickname? A username is different - used as extra security for logging on etc - but they've become primary identity.

In the early days of the web, people tended to be more paranoid about identifying themselves in person, so perhaps the nickname thing is a throwback to then.

I think the best reason for not using your real name I've read is so that your employer, or a potential future employer, or a person you don't want to identify or locate you, cannot google you and see what you have been writing (possibly in work time...).

My initials are fmm, and the second letter of my first name is i, so I add that and become fimm.

I always wonder why is thirdcrank, thirdcranK?

[groveller]

My name tells everybody what I do when I get on a hill

It might also say loads about your relationship with the boss!!!

ps - my moniker relates to my initials and a work number I used many years ago!!

I get your point about the boss relationship, -.-.-.-.-. but as a one time shop steward, grovel was the last thing I ever did!