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submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by thelsim@sh.itjust.works to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

Do you have a single username you feel attached to?
Or do you like to use different names for different occasions?


Edit two and a half days later:
Thank you all for answering my question! It was so interesting and fun to read all of your responses.
I really appreciate you for taking the time to write.

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[-] zkfcfbzr@lemmy.world 45 points 9 months ago

Deeply attached. If anything ever happened to it I'd be completely devastated.

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[-] aaaa@lemmy.world 23 points 9 months ago

I'd rather not have a recognizable persona online

This name is just the fewest a's i was allowed to register with

[-] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 4 points 9 months ago

The "Take On Me" strategy of choosing a name I see.

[-] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 19 points 9 months ago

By the ankle.

[-] Nemo@midwest.social 17 points 9 months ago
[-] yoo@lemmy.world 8 points 9 months ago

That’s so cool!

[-] PopcornPrincess@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago
[-] blindbunny@lemmy.ml 12 points 9 months ago

I have been this user name for seventeen years. I'm ADHD and forget friend on platforms. This makes it easy to find me.

[-] Fleur__@lemmy.world 11 points 9 months ago

I'm more attached to it then my real name

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[-] dreadpirateroberts@aussie.zone 10 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I inherited my name from the previous Dread Pirate Roberts...

[-] sploosh@lemmy.world 10 points 9 months ago

You can take it from my cold, slippery hands.

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[-] 1984@lemmy.today 9 points 9 months ago

Not anymore, since it's really valuable to not have fixed identity on the net.

[-] mojo@lemm.ee 8 points 9 months ago

Mine is a work of art

[-] chemicalprophet@lemm.ee 8 points 9 months ago

I just use my username to express myself until people who don't like me ban me and then choose another to continue being myself.

[-] nachtigall@feddit.de 7 points 9 months ago

Not at all. These days I just use random words when I sign up for new services.

I used to have a 'consistent' online identity, but at some point I decided I didn't want others to be able to make connections between them.

[-] Knusper@feddit.de 3 points 9 months ago

Yeah, one of the advantages of password managers that's not often mentioned. Aside from your password, it can remember what username, e-mail address, phone number, fake name or whatever else you used during signup.

[-] GreyShuck@feddit.uk 7 points 9 months ago

I have a couple of usernames that I have used - or, more often, used variations of - for quite some time over a range of sites. However, it is not so much that I am attached to them as such. It is more that I can't be arsed to come up with something new each time.

[-] Dirk@lemmy.ml 7 points 9 months ago
[-] Anamana@feddit.de 5 points 9 months ago

But why is it cursive? Must have a deeper meaning 🤔

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[-] Bill@lemm.ee 7 points 9 months ago

Pretty attached. My parents picked it.

If I could just be "Bill" everywhere I would but it really only works on the fediverse.

[-] neshura@bookwormstory.social 6 points 9 months ago

My username has pretty much become a nickname even with IRL friends at this point, I don't think it would have settled as solidly if I kept switching it tbh. I am not too worried about doxxing but that is definitely a concern if you're using a single username everywhere.

[-] JusticeForPorygon@lemmy.sdf.org 6 points 9 months ago
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[-] schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 9 months ago

Teenage me used the same or a similar username everywhere, but avoided ever mentioning his full real name.

Adult me realizes that this is stupid. Either I want people to recognize me from one place to the next, then I use my real name because why would I not want people from real life to find me too? Or I want to be anonymous, then I use a username no one from anywhere else will recognize, like I do here.

[-] lemmyBeHere@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I used to be attached to my username, it was unique enough to be used everywhere. I used it in the mindset of creating an online presence, so my friends recognize me in other games and such, but then slowly realized it makes you very DOXable and vulnerable in general.

Nowadays I use one username per hobby, except gaming. I want you to be able to find other stuff I created in that specific space, but I don't want you to find out everything about me.

EDIT: Also, my username was too unique, if you googled it, you would get hundreds of results, and almost all of them were me... Random accounts on sites, forum posts, etc.

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[-] danhab99@programming.dev 6 points 9 months ago

I use it everywhere. Google me. I don't care

[-] PracticalParrot@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 9 months ago

I use a new username for every account I sign up to.

[-] 0_0j@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago

Well, shite

[-] Komplekx@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago

Yeah pretty attached. It's just a thing I like using as a synonym for myself

[-] lvxferre@lemmy.ml 5 points 9 months ago

Enough to have been using it for 15~20 years. I only use it in a few sites though, where I feel like I want some sort of "identity" - otherwise I'll pick something random.

[-] natecox@programming.dev 5 points 9 months ago
[-] thelsim@sh.itjust.works 5 points 9 months ago

I've grown very attached to my username and see it as part of myself. I like to be recognized by my name, and try to keep it unique. Partly because it's a part of me that I don't get to express often in daily life.
However, I do keep my personas strictly separated from each other. I have one for professional use to ask questions that can be too easily identified with who I am offline, several for throwaway names and this one for social interactions. I don't care too much about the others, but do like to see myself as Thelsim as much as my other self.

[-] cyclohexane@lemmy.ml 4 points 9 months ago

I learned to enjoy multiple usernames. It's just more fun. Cyclohexane is cool also!

[-] ansik@kbin.social 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Very much so! There’s this other person who uses the same name online and whenever I sign up for a new service there’s a chance he’s been there first and I have to resort to an alternative. In my head we have a friendly feud about this but I’m not sure he’s noticed yet

And just like others mentioned, it’s very much become synonymous with my own identity, friends refer to me with it and at times I identify more with the nick than my actual name

[-] GetAwayWithThis@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 9 months ago

I'm not too keen on chosing names so I'm happy that I could

[-] slazer2au@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago

Not attached much. I misspelt this username for Yahoo Chat almost 2 decades ago and stuck with it.

[-] Serinus@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)
[-] thelsim@sh.itjust.works 4 points 9 months ago

:) No trap. Just curious to see how people deal with online identities. Feel free to not answer anything or to be as vague as you want.
The last thing I want is to intrude on anyone's privacy.

[-] RickyRigatoni@lemmy.ml 4 points 9 months ago
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[-] betwixthewires@lemmy.basedcount.com 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I drop usernames without a second thought if it suits me. I use different ones I think up on the fly most of the time. The only one that matters to me is one attached to my development activities in the FOSS community, and I might share opinions using it but primarily I use it to engage in discussion related to development so that people who know me in those circles know who they're talking to.

[-] i_am_hungry@meganice.online 4 points 9 months ago

Not at all, use random usernames on every service.

[-] slurpeesoforion@startrek.website 4 points 9 months ago

Not very since I had to shorten it from slurpees off the shoulder of Orion.

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[-] clark@midwest.social 3 points 9 months ago

I used to have specific usernames I felt attached to, but those depended on what kind of phase I found myself in. Nowadays it's hard for me to come up with a username at all, especially since I don't want to use my real name. But so far I like this username I have now the most.

[-] riley0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 9 months ago
[-] raptir 3 points 9 months ago

I've been using it since I was 8 or something so pretty attached.

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this post was submitted on 21 Sep 2023
74 points (96.2% liked)

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