# Hasty, hasty. Don't be hasty. **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [March 8, 2005, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hasty-hasty-dont-be-hasty/293498 "2005-03-08T04:28:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Hook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@The\_Hook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hook)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hasty-hasty-dont-be-hasty/293498/1 "2005-03-08T04:28:20Z")
Oh, yeah? Well, screw you, Treebeard! It is the quintissential arrival of the internet me, who, after desolate lurks before the comfortable warmth of the LCD pallette, decided to join just now as a tax-paying dope citizen. As all things of the like, I may have created my very first set of errors in the process of admission. And they are: Screen name. Will this be the definitive screen name? I’d have liked it for it to change somewhat. Don’t know if there is a precedent for screen name change or, if there is, its proper procedure. :dubious: I’m so screened. My address consists of two words (oh, simple, rushing me). I think this could lead to a problem with the subscription order? → Do I think that? Should I think that? 😃 Anyway, Hi, me! ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hasty-hasty-dont-be-hasty/293498/2 "2005-03-08T04:54:47Z")
Changing your screen name: Email an administrator and request a change. Keep in mind that name changes are somewhat frowned upon, although in your case it’s less of a problem because you haven’t established a persona under your current screen name yet. Also keep in mind that there’s generally only one screen name change permitted. Whatever you pick, be sure you’ll still want that identity in the future. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hasty-hasty-dont-be-hasty/293498/3 "2005-03-08T06:39:29Z")
Are you sure? **The Hook** is assertive, decisive, and rather cool. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hasty-hasty-dont-be-hasty/293498/4 "2005-03-08T12:22:13Z")
Right, we allow one screen name change per person, if it’s really necessary. Generally, we’re trying to build a community here (and I think we’re largely succeeding, although there’s a certain two-steps-forward-one-step-backward aspect.) You can’t build community relations if people change their identities every other week. Hence, the rules that allow one name change. Having two words in your name will not screw up the registration process. Take it from me. Of course, you may find people who become very friendly with you and want to call you by your first name, might call you “The”… \< grin \> ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hasty-hasty-dont-be-hasty/293498/5 "2005-03-08T18:41:06Z")
> [@](#): > > Oh, yeah? Well, screw you, Treebeard! Shouldn’t that be “pollinate you, Treebeard”? I mean, if we’re going to be correct about such things. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hasty-hasty-dont-be-hasty/293498/6 "2005-03-08T21:18:42Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Shouldn’t that be “pollinate you, Treebeard”? I mean, if we’re going to be correct about such things. Say Wha? ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hasty-hasty-dont-be-hasty/293498/7 "2005-03-08T21:40:13Z")
[volunteers to explain joke to Contrapuntal] It’s a joke, Contrapuntal. screw you have-sex-with-you pollinate you see? Except that many trees are wind-pollinated. And it’s doubtful whether Ents are pollinated at all. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hasty-hasty-dont-be-hasty/293498/8 "2005-03-08T22:05:16Z")
OK I just now saw the small print in the OP. It is becoming clearer. Help me some more. Who is Treebeard? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hasty-hasty-dont-be-hasty/293498/9 "2005-03-08T22:51:26Z")
(decides against snarky in-explanation which would only make sense to someone who already knew the answer) In Tolkien’s _Lord of the Rings_, one of the races of intelligent creatures are the Ents, who resemble large walking trees. They’re exceedingly long-lived (perhaps hundreds of thousands of years; I don’t think that an Ent had ever died of old age at the time of the story), and correspondingly, are very reluctant to be hasty about anything (after all, when you live for millennia, what matters a delay of a year or two while you consider a course of action?). Treebeard is the common name for Fangorn, one of the oldest and most highly regarded (and, of course, least hasty) of the Ents. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@The\_Hook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hook)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hasty-hasty-dont-be-hasty/293498/10 "2005-03-08T23:13:52Z")
Interesting. Right, **Dexter** , but I was referring to the address you must input in the registration process. I don’t know what this is for, but I think it might have to do with credit card validation. For whatever reason, I fumbled this line and was worried it might affect my status and, the reason being incompetence by moi, be banned even before I can set up camp. I figue that if anything turns out wrong I will be e-mailed and asked for the correct information. You heard it here first. The name change I will consider. It’s to protect my track record on certain internet message boards (the insanity must be kept for future reference), but in crowded places such as this one it is bound to be a poster named **Hook** that no longer posts and little did in his time. I was thinking, as I see is a habit when quoting OPs, that people would be quoting me as **The** instead of the practical and peer oriented **The** -less case. 'Tis but a silly nuance of mine. That’s pretty much it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must report for duty. ---
**Author:** ![Tenar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@Tenar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenar)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hasty-hasty-dont-be-hasty/293498/11 "2005-03-08T23:29:41Z")
Unfortunately, due to the fact that the Entwives wandered off untold millennia ago to follow their own pursuits, there hasn’t been any pollenation for a looooong time. Put that’s another story. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hasty-hasty-dont-be-hasty/293498/12 "2005-03-08T23:37:32Z")
Woo-hoo! I’m self-pollinating like a m **r f** r!