[clug] [OT] a pet peeve, was Re: does splice work?

[Daniel Pittman]

Eyal Lebedinsky <eyal at eyal.emu.id.au> writes:

> Here is how I see it.
>
> It used to be that you were at least at uni before you got any online
> access. By then the use of nickname/handle/whatever lost it's shine and you
> were confident enough to use your own identity.
>
> Today (and for a few decades now) one starts very early and as such
> continues the habit.

There are still a number of "serious" forums, and other reasons, in which a
pseudonymous identity is desirable, even if you are all grown up.

The most common one that I am familiar with is that folks who are likely to
get some degree of grief because of their name, or because of access to their
name, are much more likely to choose an ongoing pseudonym.


For example, women, who don't particularly fancy threats of death for
participating in public life on the Internet, or folks with foreign names who
participate in forums where that is not respected for various reasons, might
have very good reasons to choose a pseudonym.


So, while I agree that a bunch of the people out there are likely acting for
the reasons that Eyal gives, a bunch of other people chose pseudonymity for
other, fairly sound, reasons.


> Me, I am not bothered, but if I need to start a real discussion I will
> directly ask.

At least that saves you from the trouble some people get into with my partner:
that may not actually be a pseudonym, but their honest-to-goodness real name.

Telling someone that their real name, well, isn't, might tend toward annoying
them somewhat.  Especially if you insist when they tell you otherwise. ;)

> As for the OP, oferh seems to be a simple short (maybe IT mandated?) for
> "Ofer Heifetz" rather than a personal handle.

I would guess their IT department use first-name, first-initial for accounts;
it is one of the standard approaches.

        Daniel

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