Real name, user name, or some nickname?

 

Though in reality, I prefer 'hey doofus'.

 

I have never used a nickname here. Way back when I joined, I decided to be "real," to mean what I say, and to attach my actual name to all of my posts, to show that I took responsibility for my words, and was not hiding behind some nickname or assumed "web persona." I am an actual person, not a "role" or "construct." (I also wanted my reviews to have my real name attached to them, as they are my original work.)

 

I had no previous experience with forums (this is still the only one I belong to), so perhaps naively I started out with my full name here (as Jim Garten still does). After a couple of years or so, though, and some particularly acrimonious exchanges with others, I decided to remove my last name, in the interest of my own privacy and security, and that of my family -- you never really know just how unbalanced an angry (or possibly lovestruck?) stranger on the web might be. I also did not want just anyone to be able to Google my name, and link to all of my posts here (some of which might not be the sort of thing I'd want a boss or student to be able to read and instantly associate with me, for example).

 

Thus today, I just go by my first name here. Much like getting a tattoo, a nickname would frankly feel silly to me, and "limiting."

 

 I have also often wondered why so many use nicknames, only to then get called by their (publicly listed) real first name anyway, by all who come to "know" them. I just can't keep track of all of those real names, if it's the nickname which I see on the posts on a routine basis. ("Logan" is Greg, "Dude" is Geoff, "Maani" is Ian, "Vibrationbaby" is Ian, "Easy Livin" is Bob, etc, etc, etc.) Why have a nick, if people generally and freely just call you by your actual name anyway, and you even encourage that by disclosing it in PMs, etc? I don't get it.

 

Anyway, I'd like to close with a general request: Many here know my surname from my early days here, but I would really be grateful if they would nonetheless respect my wish to now keep it more private and off the forum. It irks me when people write my full name (as some have done with Tony, above) -- I think you should not use someone's last name online, if the member himself doesn't use it. (Again, I dropped mine for a reason). 

 

So please, just call me Peter -- if you really mean Peter Gabriel, or Peter Hammill, then use their last names. Me, I'm just "Peter" -- for real.

 

Interesting topic!

 

 

 

I hate my name.