When I signed up here, my choice of handle went through without any trouble. Other places (AIM for instance) I’ve had to try several times before getting one to take.
Questions:
If you could have any handle you want, what would it be?
How many tries did it take for you to get one that stuck?
What (if anything) does your handle mean? Where does it originate?
Mine came from an off-the-wall story I wrote on the old Commodore-based BBS’s back in the 80’s. I had no idea I would get hundreds of hits on Google when I searched for it – after I got it to stick here.
I’d have tried “One Person” if I had thought it might stick.
Handle = screen name = nickname = that thing in the upper left of your post.
I tried one other name and it wouldn’t take. That led to my current name. I think it’s all for the best, since I really like my current name. (And it’s the way people know me around here, so I don’t think I’ll change it.)
I wanted a²+b²=c², but someone already registered it. I thought about using another math formula, but nothing else seemed right. Finally, I realized my email address was “themanwiththegoldengun”, so I decided to just make my name match that. Thus, I am The Man With The Golden Gun. And the name comes from the 1974 James Bond 007 movie with Roger Moore. Ironically, it’s one of my least favorite movies, I just thought the title kicked ass.
AIM has a far, far bigger user base. I remember a buddy tried to make a name from a South Park character that appeared just once (can’t remember which) and he had to put a number like 35 at the end for it to be accepted.
I’ve never had any problem using my nick anywhere. It originated 5 or 6 years ago when an on-line friend and I were tossing names at each other. He tossed this one at me, and I liked it, so I’ve used it ever since.
Zebra
sevral dozen tries
You know what a Zebra is.
Only problem is that is really sex-less (much like me in HS). So people have no idea if I’m a dude or a dudette.
When i first played Civilization II as the Romans i needed a name, i thought:
“hmmm… what would my name (Gareth) be if i were a Roman?”
and the name Garius popped into my head.
Of course afterwards i realised that i’d actually been wrong. if anything it should probably be Garetius. But it was too late.
The name kind of stuck and became my standard “game identity” the only other one i ever used was Morat from one of my favourite books but Garius always felt more “Me.”
So naturally, when i hit the web, it felt right to choose that name for talking with the world.
Very rarely have problems with registering it anywhere. It’s always my first try and if i can’t get it then i simply expand it to GariusTheBrit
Truth be told i’ve been using it so long that i actually happily answer to it in real life too, since it feels perfectly natural and i never have to worry about people forgetting it or confusing me with someone else.
Several of my clients only know me as “Garius” as do (bizarrely) all of my second cousins.
The scary thing is its actually starting to feel more natural than my real name :eek:
GariGirlfriend thinks this is incredibly freaky, and she is absolutely right!
and for the record its not “Jerry - us”. Its pronounced:
GA - hard “g” short “a” - like “Cabbage” but with a G
I wanted Wretched Meritorious B when signing up here, an obscure reference to a song from The Mikado, by Gilbert and Sullivan. ‘A’ is the hypothetical bad person who good things happen to, ‘B’ is the hypothetical good person who bad things happen to. Hence, Wretched Meritorious B.
But the user-name, oddly enough, was taken. So I settled for an obscure reference to a They Might Be Giants song instead.
A pun on “Reality Check” and my name. I was posting on another board debunking a particularly nonsensical theory about Shakespeare and wanted to sign it “Reality Check,” but I made the typo and liked it.
1: Kn*ckers was my first choice
2: It stuck on the first try, because… uh… it’s my name (well, not really, but for here, it is).
3: It’s a Monty Python reference (from the Naughty Chemist sketch, if anyone cares). I’ve used it at other boards in the past, and kept it here because I wasn’t feeling especially creative when I registered. I’v no idea why I chose that particular word in the first place. Just struck my fancy, I guess.
The only concerns I’ve had with my name are frequent inquiries as to what the asterisk REALLY stands for (answer: I dunno. Whatever you want), and my own problem of how I would PRONOUNCE “Kn*ckers” if I ever said it aloud (so I don’t. Problem solved). But I don’t mind those things, so I like my name pretty well.
It’s the name of the A.I. in Neuromancer by William Gibson.
When I first started registering online, I used “Winter”. One of my sisters was living in Mendocino, Calif., and was toying with changing her name to Winter. I liked it and stole it, but it was getting harder to register without numbers, which I didn’t like the look of (hey, it’s my name, I didn’t want random numbers attached to it). So I stole one of her other names (FTR, she didn’t use either of them, so it’s really more of a borrow. And she borrowed plenty of my things growing up. Anyway, she’s not online.), and started registering as “Winterthyme”, but that is just a little too “organic-granola-and-Burkenstocks” for me.
When I decided to register here, I wanted something a little more intellectual. I loved all three novels in that series (actually, I like everything he’s written), and it had the “Winter” thing working for it, so I tried it, not thinking that I would get it, but I got it first try.
If I hadn’t, I would probably have used “Rebecca de Winter”. Not that I want to be like her, she was nuts, just that it would have been a cool reference, since it’s my name IRL. Not the ‘de Winter’ part, of course. And I loved the movie. The book was ok, but the movie was Hitchcock.
Flamsterette_X
I wouldn’t change it, coz it’s unique.
first try Here’s the explanation.
All the hits on Google are me, oddly enough… so y’see… it IS unique! MWAHAHAHAHA…
Well, FWIW, in my head I pronounce it “Knickers”. I suppose you could be “Knockers”, but that’s not how it looks to me. I would never call you “Knickers” IRL, though.
And I must confess disappointment you don’t know what the asterisk stands for.
I really don’t know which name I would want besides mine.
I got mine first try. Obviously. (I kinda wish I hadn’t…)
My story is long and boring…suffice it to say I am a proud uncle of an inventive niece.
