Thinking in Your Online Handle

[Shadsie]

We all have our little names online then we have our own names (sometimes they are one and the same, but not usually). "Shadsie" is a varient on the name of a cat I had, not my own given name (though a few people have asked me if it was), and my fiance' swears he saw a "Shadsie's Deli" once...

Anyway, in my case, it's not my real name.

And usually, in our thoughts/minds, we call ourselves by our given names by default, right? Perhaps it shows that I'm online too much, but..

I was hunting for job applications yesterday. I was walking through a store, headed onto my next destination, fearing rejection and thinking things like "do I want to bother? I just keep failing," and trying to get up my grit to go ahead and do what I need to do... (I've been feeling horrible about my life lately, which, since I'm manic depressive, means I've been feeling really, crippling-level horrible, it was a feat to even be out for me).

And a thought came to my head just like this: "Courage, Shadsie, courage."

Then I caught myself.

"Did I just call myself Shadsie?" (rather than my actual name).

I did.

Anybody else do this?

Sign I'm online too much?

 

[DisappearingMist]

I don't know that I think in my online names, but sometimes I do get called by it. As "Disappearing Mist" Caleb and I sometimes mock it by making wise cracks about disappearing and such. But I don't think I've ever really called myself by an online username before. Although, I can see how you might call yourself Shadsie. It resembles more of a real name than "DM" does

 

[basement24]

I have never referred to myself as basement24 in real life, but I do use it often since it's my URL and my business is registered under the name. I will also sometimes click into alertness when I see the number 24. I suppose it's a bit of a good luck charm to me.

Once on the way to a concert, my friends who bought the tickets gave them out to those attending. My girlfriend got seat #24, and I #22, so I told her we had to switch "because hey... basement24."

Other than that kind of instance, I've never caught myself referring or thinking to myself as my online identity. I can definitely see it happening though if I use it more and more.

 

[Shadsie]

I'm glad your name is "24" and not "64."

In one of my other fandoms (other main fandom), I wrote a fanfic that I titled "Hotel 64." It's a Trigun fic that I wrote years ago that, in hindsight, I no longer like (could have been plotted and characterized better). One of my very few attempts at yaoi - written to appease a fangirl friend I had at the time - though certainly not hardcore, nor lovey-dovey (a dark fic involving one of the series villians coming on to the series hero to emotionally manipulate him and creep him out). What saddens me is that I do leave it up at my fanfiction network account precisely because it is... *wince* one of my most popular and best reviewed fics for any fandom I've written for. (I don't like "being mean" and taking down work that others enjoy, even I do not).

 

[Akiranon]

I don't think I ever thought about it that way. And to be honest, I never really thought about it either until now. Yes, I have a weird name in real life, but in that regard Akiranon sounds even stranger.

 

[Vincent]

If I told you Swiftblade was my real name would you believe me?

Anyway, I've never gotten my personal name mixed with my online alias. Swiftblade is everything that I want to be, and not everything that I am. So it's a little hard to confuse the two.

 

[Y2K3]

I never have, and I don't think I would. I think just it would be weird calling myself Yoshi. I've used the name for almost 6 years, but it's somethign that stays on the internet.
When I start to talk to people online enough, I find we start to call each other by our real names anyway.
And like Akir, I've never actually thought about that before.

 

[basement24]

I'm glad your name is "24" and not "64."

LOL! I'll keep that in mind as a number to avoid in case I ever change my handle.

 

[Zeruda]

Maybe. Sometimes I think to myself, "DAMNIT, ZELLY!" or something or other. Most people I know online call me "Zelly" because "Zeruda" is either too hard for them to bother spelling or too hard for them to pronounce (especially in voice chat). BUT, while "Zelly" is short for Zeruda, it's also short for my name, so sometimes when I refer to myself as "Zelly", I'm just thinking in my real name and not my online handle. So, I guess sometimes I do and sometimes I don't.

When I was into MMOs, I do know I often thought in my character's online handle... even though it was Zeruda there as well.

 

[Shadsie]

Well, "Zelly" is more than forgiveable, considering that your real name *is* actually Zelda.

... It would be awesome to find a "Legend of Stacey" somewhere... (my real name). Anyway...

My fiance's nephew calls me "Shads" in real life by default. I first met him, like I met my fiance' - online. He's very much an online person, so he sees me under "Shadsie" a lot, anyway. Besides, I really like my nicknames/online handle - it's what I would prefer people who know me from the Internet call me, anyway.

 

[Skull_Kid]

I usually call myself either Luna(my first ever online handle), SK or Soma(another online handle)
It is something that is very usual, cause I really dislike my true name

 

[Petman1325]

Wouldn't it be weird, going onto a job application form, writing in the name/nickname section "Petman1325"? I mean, you wouldn't expect to see 1325 in someone's name unless it was an extremely long line of Petmans/Petmen from the very beginning of common name. I do, sometimes, refer to myself when I speak in 3rd person to myself (Yes, I talk to myself. Not in full blown two way conversation. That would be creepy, no offence to those who partake in those activities.), but I wouldn't walk up to a person I have never met before and say "Hello, my name is Petman1325" unless I was meeting a person from Zelda Dungeon in real life (I would highly doubt that would ever happen in my lifetime.). Yet, I won't refer to myself as Petman1325 unless needed to.

 

[MrMosley]

I never think in the name DarkLink01, and really don't consider myself any different on here than anywhere else. This is the only place that I use that name, but the 01 part carries from place to place. My Xbox Live Gamertag is MrMosley01, which is my last name. The first time I used this kind of handle was on Mortal Kombat Online, which I named myself Smoke01. The "01" usually comes into play because someone else has already taken the name DarkLink or Smoke, so I one-up them with the added numbers.

On a side note, I often think of how people think of me based on my online handle on this site. I wonder if they think of me as someone that I really am not in real life. I also think a lot of times about how many of the people here even pronounce DarkLink01, because its probably different than I pronounce it.

DarkLink01= "Dark Link Oh One"

I got kind of a country accent/dialect to me, so I rarely say "zero"; in a series of numbers, I'm likely to just say "oh", like the letter. I think sometimes that there's people who are like "Oh well there's Dark Link Zero One online.", or "Hey there's Dark Link One".

Outside of the net though, its mainly just Caleb. A lot of my closer friends call me Mr. Mosley, though I can't quite remember why that was.

 

[Vincent]

I often think of how people think of me based on my online handle on this site. I wonder if they think of me as someone that I really am not in real life. I also think a lot of times about how many of the people here even pronounce DarkLink01, because its probably different than I pronounce it.

DarkLink01= "Dark Link Oh One"

I got kind of a country accent/dialect to me, so I rarely say "zero"; in a series of numbers, I'm likely to just say "oh", like the letter.

That's how I've always read it as well. That's how everyone says 0 on Long Island. When just saying zero, I call it zero, but yeah... if it's in a phone number or something, I usually say oh one. </random>

 

[Dabombster]

Do I verbally call my self Dabombster/Bomby in my physical existence? No. I do use the alias 'Bomby' quite a bit though. It's my profile on my friend's xbox, my Mii's name on a friend's Wii, the name I usually input for myself when bowling or other such activities like that. My friends will call me Bomby from time to time as a form of them trying to mock me, but it doesn't bother me too much.