I generally like the creative opportunity afforded by the choosing of fictitious user-names, and the overall mystery and theatricality of going by an assumed identity, but my name for this site is a somewhat different story. It’s more real (to me) than the one on my birth certificate. My last name is Scott and my closest and oldest friends have always called me Scotty, or, sometimes more affectionately, Scotto.

When home computers first sprouted text-to-speech capability I wanted my alerts to say “Hey Scotto” but the best my computer could manage sounded something like Scoe Toe. After much experimentation, the spelling that sounded most like scotto was skado, and that has, in subsequent decades, become my most heartfelt identity in all spheres, real and virtual.

I have been using screen names since before the internet, when the big thing was IRC (Inter-Relay-Chat), via dial up modems. In that format, you were limited to a screen name of 9 characters.. For a logn time I used the screen name of damn_nice, which I meant to describe myself as a person and how I treated others. It wasn't until it was pointed out to me that I realized it could be taken as narcissistic.

So, I tried to think of other names. I now use shytiger6, because i am introverted, born the yer of the tiger, and the number 6, is just to avoid a possibility of thers havign though tof the name before me. I sometimes also use NiceShyTiger, but I liek the shorter shytiger6 better, just because it is easier to type.

I don't like to use my actual name if I don't have to mostly due to privacy concerns. if a system gets hacked, then there is less chance my identity will get stolen if they don't have my actual name. After having email accounts hacked, I am wary.

My name is Ben, Beethoven is one of my favorite musicians of all time. So I use the name Benthoven pretty much all the time. Sometimes I'll add Benthovens5th or Benthovens9th, my two favorite symphonies.

With one of the most common names, Chris, it'll rarely ever be available to me as a user name. My user name here is the most common one I use. I live in Montana and am a 49er fan plus I like to limit the number of user names and passwords I have to remember. I doesn't work though as I have stupid spreadsheets to help remember all of them.

[en.m.wikipedia.org]

I use my own name because I'm not hiding from anybody. I started with Thomas which is my legal name, but had some trouble with the site and wound up deleting my account trying to solve it. (didn't work, lost all my points) So I reopened my account with Tommy which is what my mother and all my friends call me.

Alrighty! Bucketlist bob. Im begining to better experience things in life that i had to put aside because of other obligations. I have had an eventual life. I can't complain. I wish to see things that mean something to me like very tall trees. The grand canyon. I have a wife that would love to see all this. I made a list. Pull them out of the bucket. One at a time. Go see and live it. I know its all an illusion, but hey. Why not. Good post.