Not really. So many user names are just ordinary words; bolding them makes it clearer that the word is actually a username and not just any old word (which might make the sentence appear nonsensical).
Which answers the age-old question, Why A Duck?
I would count a username here as a proper noun even if it was chosen due to being a common noun. If someone nicknames himself “snake” it’d become “Snake”, wouldn’t it? However, I agree that capitalising the proper noun would make sense; indeed in all cases except where the capitalisation is obviously relevent. If someone’s called stUPiDcapTlIsTioN, capitalising it seems… redundant. Indeed, little short of a shotgun could solve the problem[1].
Also, I seem to recall reading somewhere in theslot.com archives that the famous lower-case using author thought lowercasing his name in normal print stupid, but I can’t find it now. Does anyone know?
[1] I’m joking. And I believe that name to be made up. And some names with unorthodox capitalisation work very well, it’s just that many are stupid.
So, at this point, I guess I’m lost. . .
Are we considering Doper’s names proper nouns or not? I myself always have. You’re referring to someone definite and specific. . .
Tripler
Man, I’m glad I opened this thread. . .
See my link in post #28.
DOH! Thank you.
Poor, poor Cisco.
–Cliffy
And just for you, Cisco, is this better, then?