

Ask HN: Do you still use the same online handle? - elliottcarlson

I am watching an episode of Criminal Minds and a comment was made that hackers stick to their handles as it's their online identity. I don't use the same handle I used 15 years ago, nor the alternate I used 10 years ago (though I have 2 I still use in addition to my full name which is a pretty recent thing).<p>So, the question is, how many people are still using their handles from years ago, and how long have you been using your current handle?
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nantes
As I entered my second career, as programmer, I made a very conscious attempt
to use a very personal handle for services that were even remotely
professional. For most, that meant something like 'jnovinger', which is my
first initial and full last name.

The reason was that I wanted build a professional reputation. I wanted to say
smart things and have them associated with me as opposed to some handle I used
long ago. I said some really stupid things when I was younger and much, much
more naive. Plus, seeing my real name at the top of the page reminded me that
what I was saying was public, permanent, and subject to making me look like an
idiot.

Having said that, I chose 'nantes' for HN, because, well, you all intimidated
me when I registered. It took a while reading HN before I really felt like I
had something useful and relevant to add to the discussion. Even then, my
experience was dwarfed by HN and I worried that I might post something poorly
thought out or downright dim-witted.

I've started to get over that. A little bit.

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bartonfink
I intentionally switch handles when I join a new service / community. I don't
think of my handle as my "identity" in any sense - rather, it's more like a
license to post whatever thoughts I have at the time. Barton Fink happened to
be the most recent movie I watched since I started posting here. It has only a
tenuous connection to my real identity, and I'm not particularly vested in it
at all. If HN generated random ID's for me on posting, for example, I wouldn't
mind.

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elliottcarlson
I find that an interesting perspective - most people I know have always had
some tie to their handle - even if they later discarded it or attempted to
keep it as a completely anonymous gate - but to be completely anonymous with
random id's I haven't come across before.

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veyron
You need to be a bit more specific regarding whether you mean:

1) using the same handle in new services

2) using the same handle in services that you have already registered with

I personally dont change my handles during the lifetime of a service [for
example, Ive used the same AIM screen name for over a decade]. It's a pain to
have to go back and inform others that the name has changed, plus id have to
change my personal workflows to match the new names ...

However, I do change the handle that i use when i register for new services.
veyron is the flavor of the month, but that will change at one point.

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elliottcarlson
Overall my question was really about your attachment to your handle - so even
if you carried it over across various services over the years i.e. from BBS to
IRC to web forums and instant messengers. Just curious if people see their
online identity as a reflection of themselves and do they stick with that
personification over time.

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veyron
Some people like to link their online identities to their real identity, but
others like to keep them separate.

Read this:
[http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/10/technology/10facebook.html...](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/10/technology/10facebook.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all)

tl;dr: 'One trait those sites have in common is crucial to Japan’s fiercely
private Internet users. The Japanese sites let members _mask_ _their_
_identities_ , in distinct contrast to the real-name, oversharing hypothetical
user on which Facebook’s business model is based.

Japanese Web users, even popular bloggers, typically hide behind pseudonyms or
nicknames.'

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elliottcarlson
It's interesting - I used to be of the mentality that my online persona should
be completely separate from my real identity and valued my privacy greatly -
but, as made obvious here on HN, I have moved towards using my real name in
what I do. I'm not sure what my reasoning for this change was, and it
intrigues me what makes people choose the route they go when using a handle or
not.

Thanks for the article :)

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hydrazine
Mine haven't changed over the years, but I have different handles for
different types of accounts. i.e. professional, casual, gamer, hacker.

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pacaro
I've used the same handle for most things for 16 years, but have others that
have also evolved over the same time period, like nicknames, these are often
less under our control than we think...

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jokermatt999
Yes, and I wish I'd used my real name here instead. My old AOL screenname
really doesn't seem to fit with Hacker News. I try to comment as if it were my
real name though.

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Hovertruck
Same here... I've been using this screen name for over 10 years.

And the strangest thing is that I feel like I keep seeing you everywhere on
the internet. I know I see you on reddit all the time, and I'm vaguely
positive I knew you on a Gamefaqs board years ago... TO?

~~~
jokermatt999
Yeah, I still post on TO regularly. Got rid of my reddit account though. Too
many memes. I still visit /r/Minecraft a decent amount though.

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cincinnatus
I've been using the same handle in _some_ places for 26 years, wow. Started on
BBS systems obviously. Notably it is not my handle on HN because it was taken.

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beatpanda
It took a very long while of careful consideration to arrive at this handle,
and I'm not giving it up for anything. It's unique, tasteful, and memorable,
much more so than my real name, which was the 3rd most popular the year I was
born.

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antifuchs
I've been using this nickname for more than half the time I've been alive.

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ohashi
For some things, yes, for others, no. My oldest handle is 15+ years old and
still active, but less and less relevant.

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solarmist
I've been using mine for longer than I haven't. I came up with in 1994.

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nostrademons
I've had mine for about 9 years.

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Mz
I generally go by Michele online. It is my actual legal middle name and I use
it socially offline as well. It is typically not available as a handle for a
board that has been around a while. I tried to sign up for HN as Michele but
it was already taken. My default if Michele is not available is to add a faux
"last name" of some sort but that tends to lead to very long handles which can
be annoying. So, to avoid the long handle syndrome, when Michele fell through
here, I opted to use initials of a familiar handle that felt to me like a real
nickname.

However, I kind of expected that to be too short and to be rejected (nevermind
that I already knew that pg goes by pg here) and was still in the mindset of
uppercase first letter followed by lowercase second letter so it wound up
looking like a feminist title rather than initials. I'm real quick: It only
took me like 6 weeks to realize that folks might interpret it that way, at
which point I wondered if I should change it. However, people seem to
routinely think I am some strident feminist strutting around in black leather
with a cat-o-nine-tails looking for some guy to whip into submission anyway
<eyes cross>, so "a rose by any other name" and all that. Y'all will
eventually see my handle as representing whatever you think about me, however
inaccurate I might think it is. <shrug>

tl; dr: yes, no, maybe, sorta.

Edit: Though, really, I don't think I qualify for the description of "hacker".
So maybe you didn't want to know to begin with.

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geuis
Yup. I'm geuis anywhere I go, and have been always. My name is Charles
Lawrence but it's a rather common name, whereas geuis is rather unique. I
don't make any effort to disambiguate between online and offline.

