"...and I'm sticking with it!" - thoughts on selecting a username
 

During the interim between my becoming a user of Linux-based systems and my discovery of LQ, I became a member of several Linux help-and-support/discussion fora. I do not like to use my given (legal) name on the Internet except under very limited circumstances, so these accounts were created under pseudonyms; most of these were usernames which were unique to that account, e.g. not used for anything else.

I would like to centralize future signups under a single username which will be used for all websites relating to Linux and/or computers and technology in general. I also hope to establish a personal website/blog under that name - something, perhaps, along the lines of what knome has done.

"R3nCi" is an OK choice, but personally I find I only like it when it is formatted in specifically that case order. "r3nci" or "R3NCI" or "R3nci" just does not look pleasant to me, therefore I hope for this new username to be something more "case-neutral".

I know there are several users here who are known by a single username throughout the Linux community. I am appealing to them with the question, How did you decide on that particular (user)name? Do you have any suggestions for someone else trying to do something similar?

Many thanks in advance for any suggestions/thoughts given.

/L

I think you're over thinking this WAY too much mate. You have no control over what usernames are already used, and what constraints you may need to comply with. And life's too short to agonize over this.

I can understand the importance of an username. But at the end it's only a facade.

Anyway the choice for a name should come from heart without think if it's case-neutral, already used, long/short name, etc.
Obviously my 2 cents ;)

Thank you, both. Excellent points. :)

I agree.

IMHO not your handle matters but your actions.

Just pick something and go with it.

If you are looking for a domain with the name, then you better start making a list.

Just my :twocents:

I got my username from Yahoo email. I was setting up a spam email account, and the ID I wanted (based on my first name) was already taken. When this happens, Yahoo will of course usually suggest a few alternatives based on the original choice, probably with a bunch of numbers appended. This time, however, it threw out the handle I am using now as a suggestion. I thought, wow, that's random, and just went with it.

Like you, however, I am beginning to question the choice, and will soon change it. :)

I'm currently using names from my Worms team.
You'll have to accomplish something to, simply put, establish a name.

Heh, Nutria being some beaver-like creature, I always wondered where you got the inspiration for your handle from...

Ha! That's kind. I'd say the nutria is pretty much a giant swamp rat. I really don't know how to justify that choice, except to say it was just a place holder that sort of got away from me :)

Actually, another reason I want to change it now is that believe it or not, someone else is using it. He/she has an account on Twitter, which I do not.

Heh.

Nutria are not popular in my part of the world. They are considered an "invasive species," sort of like Asian carp in Lake Michigan:

http://hamptonroads.com/2012/03/hamp...swamped-nutria

As regards user names, I generally just use some form of my own name. It's plastered all over my website anyway and it's much easier to remember. I get it right at least half the time.

Edit: Although, I must say, I truly enjoy some of the creative user names I encounter as I traverse the innerwebs.

I go by my handle on several forums, LQ, Mepis, Opensuse, one of the Debian, FreeBSD. Of these LQ is easily my favorite forum, thus i have a lot more activity here (Opensuse is the worst, it's so slow). I also go by that handle on many other non Operating system related forums. I originally got that handle when i was 13. I was into gaming and had a friend whom also enjoyed gaming and she participated on a forum which was game orientated, neoseeker. She told me there was a person exactly like me on there, only a girl. I joined up, ultimately to find more about this person. The persons handle was 'ronknight' if i was almost exactly the same i thought it was quite appropriate to split the name in two and reverse the order, and cam up with 'knightron'. Ronknight was nothing like me for the record, and i stopped talking to her once i realized this. Neoseeker was the first forum i actively participated in and ever since then when ever i sign up to a different forum i choose the name knightron (so no one better bloody take it!). knightron is usually not taken, but sometimes, rarely it is, and under those circumstances i go by the name knightron_the_first. I can't remember any of the forums where i use that name though, but i know i've done it.

And that's the story of my handle.

Well I actually thought and agonised about my name.
Real names are not supposed to be used. Privacy reasons and ofcourse I do not think many people would be able to spell/write my name :)
I actually requested Jeremy to change my name to honeybadger because of a documentary I saw on discovery channel. I was impressed by the animal. Wait until something else impresses me for a name change :)

Hmm. In Louisiana they eat them. Eek.

Though I feel compelled to clarify that when I settled on the name, the association I had was of the several possible root words meaning something like "nourish," from which we get "nutrition" and "nutrient" and such, and not of the invasive swamp rat. It actually made me think of some sort of densely foliated plant.

But I think this is turning into quite an interesting thread. I am sometimes curious how people come up with their handles.

When I got my first computer in 1997 (2.5 GB Hard drive and 32 MB RAM for $800) I was nervous as a cat in a room full of mousetraps, sure that if I pressed the wrong key the computer would blow up. I went online for the first time and AOL asked me for a user name. All the ones I picked were already taken. I kept getting knocked offline because the NIC on the phone line was bad, but I didn't know that. I thought AOL was mad at me for picking the wrong names!

In growing panic I looked up and saw my husband's Japanese tiger print above the desk. He had taped a little American flag on a stick to the frame. I counted letters in my head and it fit. Typed in "tigerflag" and it worked. I've been tigerflag ever since.

My husband has since died, but the tiger and the flag are still above my desk.
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