It’s interesting that Frodo posted just now, because that was my first choice as a username.
My second choice was Gandalf, but that was ALSO taken.
So I defaulted to Sauron.
Such are the vicissitudes of choosing a username on the Straight Dope.
That’s strange, I joined in September 2001 and you in 1999, perhaps there was another, earlier, “Frodo” that changed his username or something?
Dayglo Pterodactyl
I just keep adding i’s to my name until it works.
That’s actually the origin of my name. Some very ancient MMO game in which everyone was a king and so I wanted to be king Draco I. The game wasn’t clear that these were converted to UNIX-style usernames, that ignore capitals and spaces, nor did it let me confirm the changes it was about to make. Thus was dracoi born.
I’ve never had anyone try to take dracoi, but if I ever need to create alternate characters, I just keep incrementing the name: dracoii and so on.
(But just for the record: since I built my koi pond, I’ve ret-conned the origin. I really intended it as a clever fusion of dragon and fish. I also intended to have animated dinosaurs on a desert planet.)
My second choice would have been some other Elvis Costello album, or song, or quote. I’ve no idea what; I didn’t have to think about it.
I’ve given some thought lately to asking for a change back to my original.
Gallant
I thought we were only allowed 1 name change? Wouldn’t this count as 2?
Well, we’re not allowed to change on whims. My name change was 10 years ago. I think they’d let me have another change now, though I could be wrong.
Technically, this is my second name, but other names I considered at the time were Troy Tempest and Norrin Radd. Both of those names did end up getting used by drive-by posters over the years.
One of the reasons I chose this stupid name (which begs juvenile insults whenever I say anything contentious) was because nobody in their right mind would pick it so I’d never need a second choice. However, I have needed to twice - once for Flickr and once for Skype. In those instances I added a dot between the words.
GuanoLad: I always think of you as one of the less-powerful members of the Legion of Super Heroes. You probably hang out with Bouncing Boy a lot.
I think that was the case. I remember being very frustrated when I was trying to pick a name … I was one of the first 200 or so members on the boards, and yet my first two name choices were already taken. What are the odds?
Me and Beppo the Supermonkey, dreaming we were as cool as Squirrel Girl.
I vacillated between using my more common name elsewhere on the Webs and my present handle which is the most common tree in the area I live in (black spruce) which tend to live in muskeg.
Second choice was Syzygy.
Back in the 90’s The Joker referred to Batman as Guano Lad in an episode of Batman The Animated Series. I assumed you heard it there and were amused enough by it to use it here.
I have no recollection of whether I even had a second choice in mind at the time - not that I was likely to need one, given my join date.
But if I had to pick a new handle now, I’d go with Goodgulf Grayteeth (from Bored of the Rings).
No Amigo
I had to think long and hard about this – a decision that may well have changed the course of my life:
[spoiler]iiiandyiii
Who among you has the power to count i’s?[/spoiler]
I have several other handles I commonly used
“Legomancer” was taken
most of my gaming sites I am “Onesweetjedi”
I was also Pondering “Inventory Militia” (I was a supply chain analyst, and a kinda unpopular one)
*Tory Militia, american soldiers faithful to the king during the american revolution.
Alphonse N. Gaston
Don Doff