Screen names and first impressions

[Bullgrit]

A friend and I were talking the other day about screen names, and how they might/can influence people's image of the person behind the name. So now I'm interested to know your opinion -- does a person's screen name on the Web build expectation of a particular personality or attitude? Can a screen name influence how you read a post by the poster?

For instance, I'm curious to know what you expect from someone with the screen name "Bullgrit". What does "Bullgrit" lead you to think and expect? I'm not a prolific poster here, but I'm a regular reader (nearly every day), so you probably don't know anything about me other than my screen name. Based on my screen name, do you get a thought on my age, my personality, my appearance? Even if you understand and admit that there is really nothing real you can know about someone from a screen name, does an "image" come to mind for the name "Bullgrit"?

Feel free to use this thread to ask what people think of you based on your own screen name. How much thought did you put into your screen name? Did you pick your screen name intentionally to influence how people would think of you?

Bullgrit

 

[Mycanid]

Well .. I must admit that I did not pick my screen name to deliberately influence how people might regard me.

My screen name is simply one of my favorite DnD monsters AND the name of my favorite superhero (that I rolled up/invented) way back. Simple as that.

Interesting question though ... had never thought about it.

 

[Jeysie]

Honestly, unless a screenname is either a reference of some sort or obviously descriptive, I don't really think of them other than as simply names. I tend to be more influenced by custom titles and avatars.

As for my own screen name, it's simply a twisted off-shoot of my real name, and doesn't mean anything AFAIK, so I'd be surprised if anyone had any preconceptions from it.

Peace & Luv, Liz

 

[jonesy]

I tend to be more influenced by custom titles and avatars.

People pick avatars they like, so they are at least remotely representative of them. What that says about me and mine, I have no idea. Maybe it's "I like shiny".

As for my own screen name, it's simply a twisted off-shoot of my real name, and doesn't mean anything...

Same here. Though I sometimes get asked if mine has a connection to the calico from Aliens.

 

[Crothian]

I just went with an old character name. I had been using the characters first name on the net from about 95-99 and then choose to switch to Crothian as Eric's boards were coming alive.

Unless someone's name is in leet it rarely has any influence on me.

 

[DaveMage]

Screen names usually do not leave any impression - only someone's posts do that.

(The only exception is EN World user "Ogg" - I still think it's the coolest username here. )

All hail Ogg!

 

[Relique du Madde]

My screen name is based of one of my favorite DnD characters, Relic (Stamford) the Mad.

Relic was a CN mage who tended to rely on trickery. In one game I managed to con a store owner out of several magic items by playing a game of russian rulette using a bag of devowering and a bag of holding. The dm, of course, resolved this game using a coin toss (and I added spice to the game by creating an illusion of my character's head getting devowered)...


In my view, names on the internet are just names. For that reason, they don't impresss me.

 

[LightPhoenix]

Screen names usually do not leave any impression - only someone's posts do that.

(The only exception is EN World user "Ogg" - I still think it's the coolest username here. )

All hail Ogg!

I have to throw in on the Wandering Monster team. Especially his ever-changing sigs, just added to the flavor.

Ditto on the names not really making an impression, but the posts. It's not what you are, it's what you do, and all that.

 

[crazy_monkey1956]

My screen name is a hybrid, actually. My wife and I wanted to create an account here on enworld, jointly, so we pulled "crazy" from my yahoo and WotC community screen name crazy_monkey1956 and "pixie" from her yahoo screen name. Later, when I started my PbP, my wife wanted to play, so created her own account, using Shadowmask as a screen name, so Crazypixie became exclusively mine.

I actually find myself more influenced by avatars than screen name. If someone has an obnoxious looking avatar I'm less likely to take them seriously.

 

[megamania]

Should the user name depict one's personbality or at least an aspect of it? No. But we do still assume.

megamania depicts me well but it was based on a comicbook character I created my senior year that was "based" on me.

Many names used here are based on characters played by the user or read about so they have special meaning. Sometimes this special meaning is known to them alone.