Topic: Has anyone here ever changed their net indentity?

[TerraEsperZ]

You know, I've been using TerraEsperZ for so long (ever since I came online, which means close to 10 years), it's become difficult to refer to myself as anything else on the net. And yet I've always found that name incredibly generic, in the sense that it doesn't have anything to do with me aside from a character I liked in a game I played long ago.



Well I'm thinking of changing my alias now, and I'm happy to say that I've found a name that's both quite close to my real name and yet different enough that no one except close friends would make the link between the two.



But in a way, changing the name I've been using for years on several different forums makes me feel as if I'll lose whatever visibility I had manage to gain. Those people who know me do so under the name TerraEsperZ, and I'm not that popular or a regular enough poster (except here) that people would wonder where I was gone after changing my name.



Also, it would mean that all the maps I've done so far with that name would, in a way, fall between the cracks and lose their creator. I also have a great piece of fan art someone did on a Transformers board with my name on it that would end up the same way.



I guess in a way, I'm saying that I'll most likely not change my name, but mostly because it doesn't seem practical enough.



So, getting back to my original question in the thread's title: has anyone here ever changed their alias like that, and if they felt it was difficult for them and why?



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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me

[DarkWolf]

I've used an alternate nick a few times, but most of the time I use DarkWolf or some slightly different form in the case that the nick is already being used.  Most people don't connect me between different forums or internet places anyway, so even if I changed it, it might not make a huge difference.

[TerraEsperZ]

Well I've always kept the same, it's like a second identity (in name only, since I pretty much act the same way online as in real life). I'd hate for something as awesome as this to lose its meaning:







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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me

[bustin98]

If you Google 'bustin98' I think you'll find every board I've ever posted at. There is one place that I used my real name, but I have my Xbox gamertag in the sig so you can still make the connection to bustin98.



I can also be reached at any of the free email services using the nic (Yahoo, Hotmail, GMail), and my messenger ids are the same too.



So yeah, I have a set identity and I don't think I feel like changing it. Though originally I started using bustin96 but I lost the password and didn't feel like going through the process to find it again. I guess that means I've been using this Internet thing as long as you, Terra.

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Cool beans

[TerraEsperZ]

*groan* My pic doesn't show up anymore, and it looked so cool... Had I known that insulting a fan character would lead to getting sexy fanart, I would have done it a long time ago!



Anyway, although I'm not encouraging it, you can take a look around for my net activity for the last few years. You're bound to encounter excessive amount of nerdiness, mostly in Transformers and Daria fandom, with a tiny bit Futanari once (warning, weak minds might be irreparably damaged by this knowledge!).





---

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me

[Grizzly]

I always used the nick Grizzly since I am online. And I never thought of changing it.

Additionally there are some connections between this nick and some real life experiences so I don't think I would ever change it anymore.

For example my first ride alone away from home was to a city named Greiz whose license plate number is GRZ, the three-letter abbreviation for my nick. And I did not choose that destination on purpose but because a friend I got to know years before in the internet lives there. I took an old license plate back home from that visit:



A nice side effect is that my internet activity is not trackable via Google by just typing in my nickname

[Revned]

I've never changed mine. I'm bad at thinking of names, so I doubt I could ever think of a better one. I didn't even think of this one in the first place. I like how this name isn't associated with a game or anything I'll eventually lose interest in, yet it's not as boring as using my real name.

[JonLeung]

My name, as you can tell, isn't very original.  It's usually JonLeung, though there have been variations like JonLeung1, JonathanLeung, or JLeung...



Which might be a concern, but if you look up my name in Google, you would find a large number of Jonathan Leungs that AREN'T me...including a white guy, a wrestling fan, some guy who knows Jet Li or Jackie Chan or one of those Asian actors, and more.



I've often recounted the story of another Jonathan Leung at my high school who was a foreign exchange student who didn't renew his student visa.  They were asking me about it, and at the time I didn't know what that was, so I was like, "I don't have a credit card!"  >_>



I may change me name one day, but only if I find one that I know I'll like enough to stick with for a long time.



On a side note, "VGMAPS.COM" was the name of my Nightmare character that I worked on in the Conquest Mode of Soul Calibur II (arcade version exclusive mode) that eventually racked up over 10000 wins (a feat that took over 80 hours).  I've mentioned that before in a topic in the Gaming board but I thought it was worth pointing out that at one time this site was my name, so to speak.

[Grizzly]

When playing games, I nearly always name my hero Tom. Although it hasn't got anything to do with my real name or anything, I mostly use it out of habit because I once needed something that would fit when only having three letters available. And for some time now I tend to call heroines Nina - must be because of Breath Of Fire where that was the name of the winged girl who joined your party in every part of the series.

[DarkWolf]

Life would be weird if we called each other by our internet handles in reality.  "So Mr. DarkWolf, I see you're applying for a job.  Our CEO KillTheN00bs57 is looking for only the best employees."

[TerraEsperZ]

I think it's more the idea that my present handle represents everything that I've done on the net over the years. It's not my real name, but I stand 100% percent behind everything that alias means and ever did.



For example, if someone got into a fight with TerraEsperZ two years ago and decided to settle things with him today for some reason or other, I would still be the same person. Keeping the same handle creates continuity of sorts. If I ever changed it, sure I'm still the same person in front of the screen, but for the net at large, I've become a new person, and unless there's an obvious link between the old and new screen names, few people will follow with the change.



In short, I wish I could have a name that was more original than my present one, but I also prefer to able to claim ownership of all the maps, posts and quotes I've done over the years. So in short, I guess I won't be changing it.



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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me

[Dan]

All my internet identities are essentially just Dan.  I've had a few variations, such as Dan_ and CleverDan, but that's about it.  I guess I'm just not creative enough to think of something cooler.

[JonLeung]

"CleverDan"?  Where's that from?  I think I remember Strong Bad referring to someone as a "Clever Dan", is that it?

[Dan]

Yeah, that's basically it.  There's a longer story involving IRC and Ryan Ferneau (he probably doesn't even remember) but I won't go into it now.