I have had this username - all over the internet, not just here - for about 6 or 7 years. It comes from a comic strip I drew a long time ago, about PigeonMan the superhero, and his sidekick GuanoLad. In that sense, I’ve always viewed it as a joke name only on the superhero/silly/self deprecating sort.
But someone today made me see it a different way, and I realised it may put be on the back foot as soon as people read such a potentially insulting username towards myself.
What do you think? Ignoring those people who are used to it, what do you think the face value of this username has on me towards others? Consider also that I use it in my email address too.
I think it’s a pretty cromulent username, bird poo boy.
Seriously though, I don’t see anything especially insulting in your username. A whole host of people here bear light-hearted usernames, and no one takes their opinions any less seriously because of it. Also, you do own www.guanolad.com…
I think you should keep it, only because you’ve had it for so long. I changed my name (here) mainly because it kept being mis-read, and because it struck me as being a little long.
My original name on the internet is the one I should have used, but for some reason I felt I had to “stand out” here. Heh. Then I changed the “stand-out” name.
Keep it! I won’t be able to recognize you otherwise!
It’s not what they’re hiding, it’s what they’re expressing. In my case, I’m expressing pride in my comic character, and that I am slightly odd in a particular way.
I like your username because it’s instantly recognisable (in my case, anyway. Everytime I see it I think… ‘that dude in Australia’ ). I don’t see anything insulting about it.
I like your website by the way.
t-bonham: some people just prefer to remain anonymous on message boards, chat programmes and the like; in most cases they don’t have anything to hide, but just like to create another identity.
If you like the name, by all means keep it. It means things to you, things you take pride in. If someone uses or abuses it to put you down, to hell with them – says more about them than it does about you.
I changed my user name here soon after joining. My old one was boring; the current one offers a lot of light-hearted options, as well as expressing a part of me.
I do like your username… it reminds me of a certain scene in one of the books I own.
More seriously, though… keep it! It means something to you, and I’ll probably not know it’s you if it changes. Besides, you’ve had it for a long time… and it’s become inextricably linked to part of your identity, then it obviously.
Now you’ve made me curious. What could make you want to change your name now that didn’t influence you to reject it in the first place (in addition to kellibelli’s references to “shitboy”, her ex)?
GuanoLad rocks! I think of you, well the name and imagined cape oh and the stratigically placed beak whenever sprinkling my plants with Guano! Ha didn’t notice the Aussie local, now I shall sprinkle with a really bad faux Aussie accent …don’t change!! Guano is one of the few Poops with Purpose! Now off to peruse the offical site.
A coworker of mine, after I showed her my website recently, wanted to know the URL of it, and another of my coworkers overheard and pointedly asked me why I had such an absurd name, suggesting I change it, because being known as ‘shitboy’ is really quite crude and childish.
And well, I’m getting older and more cynical, so it made me stop and think. I didn’t come to any firm conclusions after that brief contemplation, so asked you, my fellow teeming millions.
I have decided not to change it, though I may yet change my email address to something a little less irreverent just for its occasional official use. I have no idea what my Bank thinks about my current one, for example.
However, few people comment on it really, maybe they think it’s Spanish for something.
Oh, and Primaflora, I considered using my surname as my username but it’s not anywhere near as unique. Apart from my immediate family, there are some long lost cousins spread throughout the place who could potentially use it. Plus it’s not anonymous.
Having said that, not many members of my family appear to be online.
GuanoLad is you, it’s your personality, and most important of all, you like it. I wouldn’t give a rip about the bank either. If you need a milque-toast email addy, just open a Yahoo under some other name. But by all means, keep this one, ShitBoy.
I’d keep it. It’s unique, has a history and describes a meaningful relationship. There’s damn little chance of someone supplanting you with GuanoLad2. By the way, if you have some free time, the membership list for the Legion of Super Heroes is pretty short now. Just fill out the application, delineating the super power that gives rise to the name, and they’ll get back to you.
). I don’t see anything insulting about it.