Your User Name In A Forum

[Joseph Ratliff]

Why not use your real name?

I've always been of the school that using your real name was of some sort of importance, but notice hardly anyone does it?

I'm curious as to why?

 

[djbaxter]

In my case, I originally started using a pseudonym for webmaster forums to separate that "field of activity" from my primary professional activities, where I use my real name. To be honest, that doesn't seem as important to me any more but 10-12 years ago I thought it mattered. After a few years, people in the SEO/webmaster business knew me as minstrel so I stuck with it.

Other times, I think people choose a name to identify with a website or product as a way of assisting branding (e.g., Shoemoney, RustyBrick).

And sometimes it's to create a persona to hide behind for various reasons (e.g., spammers from certain emerging nations who register with female or American names hoping they'll slide under the radar).

 

[yvesfra]

In the beginning of internet (back in 1996) my yahoo email started with yvesfra. I was also a bit afraid of this new way of communication, so I preferred to hide my name.

Now I get use of it, it is easy to remember, so I keep using it.

 

[Joseph Ratliff]

I appreciate the input thus far...some interesting reasons for sure.

Keep em comin'...

 

[WarnerO]

my name is from a computer game i like, in my life all call me by name, i am tired of this so it is interesting to be somebody else.
by the way my second name is too long and difficult to write it.

 

[yanamk]

I personally have always avoided using my real name on the net in fear of loosing control over my privacy. The nickname I use on this forum, however, is my real name:

yanamk = Yana and mk stands for two letters out of my last name