Forum curiosity- Why do so many register with such idiotic names ?

[Milacron]

I didn't pay much attention to this until recently, as registation on PM was automatic. But now (thanks to deluge of spambots) that I'm having to scan new member applications individually it's of particular irritation as it makes it very diffult sometimes to tell the spam from the legit registrations.

Names like rj8954 or Pantyhose turn out to be legit folks...but why choose such 'dumb' names in the first place ? Are folks really that paranoid about revealing even the tiniest hint of their real names, or is just some uncontrollable desire to be 'robotic', 'computerish' or just plain 'cute' or what ?

Having said that I can understand 'cute' names that relate to machining or other occupation somehow, like NCProgrammer or Millcat...but the others...why ? Just seems like there should be more desire on the part of posters to want to seem 'human' rather than an android I guess. Thoughts ?

[Lca078]

D. T.- I'm LCA078 which has significant meaning to me and my close friends. If you get to know me a lot better, you'll understand the background. I'm not paranoid about revealing my name or address or phone number or whatever, but I chose LCA078 as my handle. LCA078 is not 'dumb', just significant to me. Just like you chose D. Thomas instead of your full name. Sometimes, I "sign" my posts with Rex, which is my name. Usually I don't. There is no strict rule why I do this. It's just the flavor I prefer.

Now that I think about it, how about "stainlesssteelsliverinthumb" as a handle? Too long?

And yes, I, err, we, appreciate the amount of effort you put into this forum.

[Milacron]

LCA, I suppose my point is that you are dealing with hundreds of folks here that couldn't care less that your forum name has significant meaning to you. You should care that others think of you more as a real person and not a collection of electrons. LCA is ok, as it at least sounds, whether it is or not in this case, like initials of a real name, but why add the 078 unnecessarily ?

[Lca078]

my point is that you are dealing with hundreds of folks here that couldn't care less that your forum name has significant meaning to you

True and understood.

I'd wager a guess then that the answer to your original question has nothing factual/concrete to it. Someone trained in the human psychy might speak up, but I doubt there is a 'logical' reason.

Maybe there are numerous Brians, Johns, Davids, Daves, Dans, Daniels, Robs, Roberts, Bobs, etc. on this messageboard who all just trying to be indvidualistic? I mean, instead of Dave1, Dave2, Dave3, etc, there's DaveSC, Dave in VA, WACKO, etc. I'm making these up but you get the picture. Would we prefer to be identified by numbers only? Doubt it.

Rex

[Michael Moore]

Don, it is probably easiest to just consider Internet use-names as another foreign language/culture where the people have names that seem outlandish when compared to the usual Jim, Sally, Manuel or Abdullah.

I'm just happy that we aren't inundated with l33tspak3. [img]smile.gif[/img]

cheers,
Michael
(who generally doesn't have a problem using my full name on the Internet)

[bigais]

D. I often wondered the same thing, however when I started on this thread, I was new to the computer and Ebay somehow suggested my stupid handle and me like a dummy took it. Whatever it might mean?

[Dave A]

If I could change my forum name to some form of my real one at this point, I would. At the time I signed up it seemed like a good idea. However, I think the signup info said once a name was selected, it could not be changed.

edit - I see, as TruPo has posted, that you can change your online name, but not your login name. Will doing so cause your number of posts to change?

[Metal Slave]

Drycreek,,edit profile & change it

[Forrest Addy]

I've always used my full name in my internet dealings and never had a moment's sweat about bad guys or privacy intrusion.

Except in clean rooms, arctic temperatures, and operating theaters I wonder at why people wear face masks - sunglasses at night too for that matter. Seems to me that any obscuration of one's persona or person can be construed as a preliminary to skullduggery.

My AOL screen name OperaBass is the only screen name I hold. So if anyone wants to contact me or discuss me or mine, either will work for those who have heard of me.

People who wear shades at night, drive around in cars with blacked out windows, etc cause me to pay close attention to their comings and goings as though there's something sinister about them. Why are they hiding? Chances are they merely like the mystery it evokes; the "who IS that masked man?" vibe. Regardless the local kid who took to dressing up like Jack Nicholson turned out to be a local burgler with several hundred jobs to his cv.

Looking and being on the up and up seems to make for a far simpler life than playing a part that may lead to future trouble.

I dunno. Maybe I'm an ID bigot.

[willbird]

D. It's one of those things, if you don't understand, it simply cannot be explained .

Ask a guy who everybody even his kids calls "red"..or "whitey" even tho he is neither...same deal.

I have been "willbird" for geez....15 years or more...it comes from being named "william", and going by "Bill"...and people will call you willybird, or billybird...I guess . But it is just "me" now.

In some places I an "Anvil Jenkins"....thats from a book called "unintended Consequances" by John Ross..."Anvil" is a caracter in the book, and boy is he a caracter, he was a Sprint car builder before WW2 hit, the he got drafted, he is the kind of guy who can make wheel pants for an airplane from aluminum that are so nice it will make you cry to look at them ..but his mouth gets him in trouble all the time...and he is an ornery cuss.......once again I saw myself in the caracter, and chose his name as handle to sort of bring him to life...Anvil is who I would have been if I could CHOOSE a time/place and just become that person/place.

It's kind of like naming a dog or a cat I guess in some ways...

I mean if "wippin boy" was K. Krankbent would you know as much about him right from the get-go as you do when he is "wippin boy" and has that avator ?? just one example .

Bill aka willbird aka Anvil Jenkins <-- and I get mail as all 3, snail mail, the mail lady thinks my wife has a harem I guess hehe.

[BadDog]

Mine is historical. It started out that due to my somewhat obsessive hobbies, I stay "in the dog house" a lot. So, "Bad Dog" became my CB handle. I then used it for a handle on the first BBS I signed up on, and continue to use it so people I know on various boards can spot it and hopefully connect the dots. This worked well as I just met someone who realized he had seen me here and on some of the off-road/rock-crawling sites.

[Tumbleweed Tim]

I thought it was like CB radio.

[malbenbut]

I was gonna call myself Pudleg the Mighty Hunter but it took to long to type.
MBB

[andrewmawson]

I'm with Forrest on this one. I've used the internet and dial up resources since they first started and always used my own name. I've nothing to hide, nor anything to be ashamed of so why would I want a nonme de plume?

AWEM

[Booster]

Hi D.

As for user names in general, i think it realy is a cultural thing. I think it stemmed from the early days of internet chat rooms and online gaming. People were more apprehensive to give up real names on this new fangled interweb to total strangers. Especially after seeing what that kid in the movie War Games, or the real life Kevin Mitnik could do
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Mitnick

As for my name, it has double meaning. I think of myself as the observer here mostly. Afraid to ask dumb questions cuz im a machining "noob" and when i do i feel like a kid that needs a Booster seat around the adult table. I also have always had a love of space sciences and vehicles, ie booster rockets.

[Keith Krome]

For me, having the name Krome, and on a metalworking forum, I couldn't resist using my real name. I'm about to contact some plating shops, I hope they take me seriously.

I don't always use my real name online, sometimes I want to discuss things that may cause others to get the wrong impression of me, and I don't want it to get in the way of my professional life.

Sometimes on this forum, I hesitate to offer first hand opinions on topics not related to metalworking, because I don't want it to reflect poorly on me or people I may deal with. No big deal, I come here to discuss metalworking, not religion, politics, laws, sex, and the like. Personal stuff I try to keep to myself on this forum, unless it is metal related. That is why they have other forums.

I can still find old postings I made on usenet over ten years ago through a google search, even though at the time, I had put "no archive" in the header, because someone else quoted me and the header got stripped. For the most part it doesn't bother me, but it does give me pause sometimes and for that reason, I try to be careful not only what I say, but how I say it. Sometimes people say stupid things, I'd like to forget some of the things I've said in the past. These days, computers never forget.

[smallshop]

Seems to me that any obscuration of one's persona or person can be construed as a preliminary to skullduggery.

We're comin' to git ya Forrest....

This is the first forum I ever joined and being a social introvert by nature I tend to not want folks I don't really know being able to look me up. There are a few folks in the different forums here that definitely register high on my "quirky" scale (is it YOU... ) and make me wonder "what's up with that guy...?" and consequently make me glad they don't know my phone # or address.

I don't have any thing to hide...just not into being bothered.

I can't tell you how many different times when the old insommnia what acting up that I thought about calling Don or Michael at 3am just to see how their doing....

I do notice that some of the folks won't even list what state their from!

[John Stevenson]

"I do notice that some of the folks won't even list what state their from!"

Yes I love these.
99% of the time they are in the States and ask where can I get one of these gismo's ? but give no idea of where they are based.
I delight in finding one in the UK for pennies just to wind them up.

They can't help themselves but expect other to go out of their way for them.

Contrary to popular opinion Neil Armstrong was NOT the first American to go abroad...

John S. [ often abbreviated as it's hell on the typing finger having a long name ]

[BILLY-I.A.M.BL11201]

Mr. Thomas-

So a new member could chose "Pantyraid 69", but who would take anything they said seriously?

Some of these name may be abbreviations or amalgamations of names for businesses.

This is the computer age. My son's name is Wooleybooger, but unless you knew he rode the snots out of his quad (Prairie 650) in the mud, clay, and snow, and "Wooleyboogers"TM are some hellacious mud tires that he's got on his 'chine. you'd think he was just plain rude.

The daughter's name is Bubblegumtongue, and we'll just leave that as self-explanatory. She's still young.

My other e- name is Sirknightwilliam, as I was knighted several years back- but that's a different story and not an appropriate name for a machinehead forum. So I use my first name and my ticket number.

I'm sure the contributors to this forum use their real names in professional settings, but there again, like Forrest said, who the hell knows what's going on when people are given an illusion of remaining annonymous?

Diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks, I guess.

Billy

[BILLY-I.A.M.BL11201]

Booster-

There are no dumb questions for a noob, only the ones that you don't ask and you crash your machine.

Hell of a lot easier asking "how do I do this correctly" than to ask "how do I fix this?"

Hoping we hear a bunch more from you-

Billy