Post #20,022
12/3/01 12:26:09 AM
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Handle or real name?
Should I use my real name and risk attacks by those Mac/Yahoo thugs? Or should I stick to my Orion handle? My wife wants me to get rid of the Orion handle and name. I was using it as an alias, but she told me to get rid of it. I was planning to write programs in the name "Orion Blastar" to build up a rep in that pen-name. But with those Internet stalkers out there and Mac/Yahoo thugs, would I become a target for them?
A friend of mine listed his real addess on a web page he created. Then someone mailed him a 75 cent check for Mexican Food and no letter or note explaining why. He freaked out, wondered who had it in for him, etc. But has anyone else who posted their info on a public web page had weird things happen to them?
Should I go public with my real name, or continue to use handles to have a bit of privacy?
Picking up the pieces of my broken life.
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Post #20,024
12/3/01 12:40:36 AM
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I have had no problems
Mind you I don't advertise my exact contact details, nor am I listed in the phone book. Plus AFAIK nobody is out to get me.
But there is one data point for you.
Cheers,
Ben
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Post #20,029
12/3/01 1:08:28 AM
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Re: Handle or real name?
In the past, I've had my RL address, phone number, etc on my resume which was on my web page. That doesn't exist anymore, but it was out there for quite a few years. Never had anyone call me that I didn't want to. Never got any weird email/mudmail.
Besides all that, I (nominally) use a handle here, but still...all the regulars know who I am, and they know vaguely where I live (some less vaguely than others. ;-)
-YendorMike
"The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by the skeptics or the cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need people who dream of things that never were." - John F. Kennedy
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Post #20,033
12/3/01 1:39:36 AM
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Re: Handle or real name?
If there is a real need to avoid, I'd say keep the alias.
I sometimes post with an alias things I would not want readily connected with my job. wharris is, shall we say, very attributable to me.
"Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not tried it."
-- Donald Knuth
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Post #20,039
12/3/01 3:03:27 AM
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Re: Handle or real name?
I say real name - for a good two years I wandered around K5 with a link to my homepage, which has my CV on it, which has my address and home/mobile phone numbers on it.
I'm still not being stalked by a dangerously sexy netbabe who has a deadly thing for tall, handsome systems engineers.
Damn.
Real names (or nicks that have been used for a loooooooooooong time) add a sense of solidity to a person's posts. I don't personally recommend changing unless you absolutely have to.
Peter
Shill For Hire
[link|http://www.kuro5hin.org|There is no K5 Cabal]
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Post #20,167
12/3/01 11:18:15 PM
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Dangerously sexy netbabes
I'm still not being stalked by a dangerously sexy netbabe who has a deadly thing for tall, handsome systems engineers. Think again ;-) --
Karsten M. Self [link|mailto:kmself@ix.netcom.com|kmself@ix.netcom.com]
What part of "gestalt" don't you understand?
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Post #20,320
12/5/01 10:54:36 AM
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The only thing I get from them
is Spam mail asking me to visit their web pages. :)
Which, because I am a married man, get thrown in the trash.
I am free now, to choose my own destiny.
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Post #20,338
12/5/01 12:27:30 PM
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This is not true
I have never, ever, directly and personally, spammed you.
...somewhere here is a point....
--
Karsten M. Self [link|mailto:kmself@ix.netcom.com|kmself@ix.netcom.com]
What part of "gestalt" don't you understand?
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Post #20,062
12/3/01 10:44:06 AM
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Depends on the arena.
Should I go public with my real name, or continue to use handles to have a bit of privacy? Use handles on IWETHEY and any other newsgroups. Use your real name on your programs and websites. As far as IWETHEY goes, I don't think it makes a difference what you call yourself - we would accept you either way. Definitely use your real name for your web site and any professional material you produce that is accessible via the web. That way you have something which you can cite on your resume and have the credit given where credit is due. I agree with your wife that you should probably write your programs under your real name. I wouldn't put an address, though, as there's no reason to put them on the web. As for myself, I use variations of CrisR, ChrisR, ChrisRath, and Chris Rathman for my various logon names. I have been known to write some of my toy software under the title of "Critter's Underground Software", but since Critter is also a name that I am commonly referenced by, it might as well be my real name (though my accountant says the "Underground" in the name is probably not a good thing wrt to IRS audits). I've never run into problems using my real name, but then again I've never managed to piss off the Mac/Yahoo people. BTW, calling them "thugs" is probably not the most diplomatic way to avoid their targeting. :-)
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Post #20,117
12/3/01 4:23:39 PM
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Why they could be after me
Around 1995-1997 I had gotten into some Newsgroup arguments in the PC vs. Mac battles. I posted with my real name, and had my address on my web resume on my web site. If you search Google Groups you might find some of those old postings. I could mosh like the best of them, these where my dark days before IWETHEY when most everyone didn't like me. My pro-Microsoft days, my Anti-Mac days. I apologize for calling them thugs. What must I do to be left alone? Haven't they inflicted enough damage already for whatever it is they think I have done?
I am free now, to choose my own destiny.
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Post #20,123
12/3/01 4:39:21 PM
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What, are they actually still after you?
The attention span of that sort is often quite low, especially if you leave them alone for a while.
Has the Jihad shown up recently?
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche
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Post #20,319
12/5/01 10:52:50 AM
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Not here at least
but I still have a few of them at Yahoo Clubs. Which I would like to quit, but I have some friends who use those clubs and I can't contact them anywhere else.
But like Screamer said, I just have to ignore them.
I am free now, to choose my own destiny.
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Post #20,200
12/4/01 12:59:27 PM
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MacJihad is way over
I'm glad it was around for awhile.
The computer industry headspace *is* virtual reality. So called pudits write crap that they make up for drama impact and then it becomes accepted as "inevitable fact" which causes everyone to position themselves to make it fact. Self fulfilling prophecy man. The latest example of this is the lunacy over "web services" and xml processing.
If you recall, the pundits were gleefully predicting the demise of Apple Computer. This had the nasty side effect of further reducing Apple's already hurting sales and nearly making it true because they said it was true. This despite the fact that Apple's products were better than the mainstream choices and Apple continues to lead the industry in real innovation (as opposed to MS "Innovation (tm)"). If Apple didn't continually drive up the standard experience, you'd all still be using MS-DOS.
Mac users are already mostly non-conformists. They also understand the how the self fulfilling prophecy works and they've felt discriminated against for a long time. Something of an inferiority complex despite having a mostly superior system (at the time - I most certainly agree that MacOS was surpassed by Windows for a time and I'm happier than almost anybody to see it superceded by the BSD/NextStep system that is OS X). They didn't want to lose their freedom of choice and Mac-bashing looked to them like an effort to eliminate their freedom.
Anyhow - bottom line is that with the cross-pollination of Next and the really great OSX, plus the spiffy new products, Apple is no longer in danger of dying and is actually winning converts. After all, with the death of MacOS, Windows remains the only proprietary (non-Unix) OS left on the market.
Anyhow, I think you've got nothing to worry about because the Mac people are feeling pretty secure in their future and don't really care what you say about it. Even the press is good these days.
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Post #20,204
12/4/01 1:13:50 PM
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Nonconformists?
Maybe where you live, but not around here.
I remember about 6 years ago, sitting in a restaurant having lunch. A whole bunch of guys walked in who might as well have been in uniform. They all had the right hair, the right expensive footware, the right casual cloths with the right amount of fading and wear, and my mind immediately screamed "Mac users!".
Sure enough, they sat down at a nearby double table and started talking about Macs.
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #20,206
12/4/01 1:24:17 PM
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Sort of like those guys left on islands in WWII
thinking that the war was still going on after it was already over?
Around 1984 - 1988 I got into a series of debates on local BBSes on Mac/Apple Vs. Everything else topics. Around 1988-1990 I helped run an IBM PC based BBS from a local community college and the Apple based one at that college tried to compete with ours by having message boards named the same, etc. They could match us on everything except networked message boards and online games. Then the critical thing happened. One other difference between our boards, it seems we asked the Dean permission to run one while the other guys didn't. So their BBS went down and the computer system was reassigned for student use. Ever since then it seemed like the Mac vs. PC wars got stronger on the local BBSes here. Then the Internet became popular in 1995. But around 1988 - 1997 I had a series of people using my handle and name on other boards, and had a series of things happen to my property.
Over the years I have learned to forgive, as long as the nonsense stops. But it seems some of them do not want to stop. For those who do not want to stop, despite the MacJihad being over, I suggest professional help.
I am free now, to choose my own destiny.
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Post #20,218
12/4/01 2:28:43 PM
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So then.. have you suffered remorse for your
Billy-Monster assisting aid? Abjectly and painfully?
Or do we have to visit you at home..
Hmm?
Just admit to self:
Yes, I *WAS* a complete dupe of the nascent Beast, too $^@^! obtuse to see the comparison with.. e-coli growth in a fresh dish of agar-agar (or shit).
(You will feel better for that)
(which doesn't cancel out The Grygus Effect, mentioned above; just because Mac is superior techno, doesn't mean that assholes aren't attracted for Nike\ufffd reasons too - sheep are in the ascent all over)
The Enlightened Cabal, Ltd.
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Post #20,277
12/4/01 10:41:22 PM
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yes I have and then some
believe me I have paid greatly for my sins. I am more enlightened now.
I am free now, to choose my own destiny.
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Post #20,233
12/4/01 4:27:27 PM
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We are all individuals
just like everyone else.
Every group has assholes.
Yuppie scum are everywhere. You can kind of guess platforms by looking at people huh. I could spot a Windows freak a mile away too.
I do get your point though.
Still, there's the persecution thing. I used to work on a VAX doing F77 electrical powerflow simulation utilities. The director of IT spec'd DOS machines with VT100 emulators for clients - refused to acknowledge the new Windows 3.1 (said it was a plot by the memory makers to sell RAM).
Anyhow, I borrowed a Mac from a training room and built a suite of software analysis tools using HyperCard. Code browsers, debugger script generators, and such. I was able to automatically generate links to definitions and could load up a fairly large chunk of source code and click around it to learn it really fast. I had the highest productivity of the department working on a lot of different programs because my homegrown tools were so useful.
Still, the IT director caught wind that I was doing it with a Mac and (fearing an uprising and demand for adequate resources for all I'll guess) had the helpdesk people come down and confiscate it. Said I should be able to be just as productive with a VT100 terminal emulator to the VAX.
Moron. I resigned a week later.
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Post #20,236
12/4/01 4:35:57 PM
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The changing times.
I bring my iBook to work sometimes, primarily to use it as a somewhat over-sized MP3 player. (as my Rio is having angst :-( ,but that's another story).
Anyway, instead of 'Er! a Mac, what the hell's that doing here?', the reaction is usually 'Gosh, it's actually kinda cool. Hey, can you minimise that window again?'
On and on and on and on,
and on and on and on goes John.
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Post #20,237
12/4/01 4:41:42 PM
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..Living in our own private Idaho. (Omniscient LRPD sez) :-\ufffd
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Post #20,071
12/3/01 11:28:48 AM
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Re: Handle or real name?
I use my real name everywhere and have not had any trouble except for some spam email. Then again, nobody's out to get me either.
-----
Steve
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Post #20,089
12/3/01 2:07:27 PM
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Both. :-)
Of course, that's because my handle is a pun off of my real name...
Orion, we know who you are, and where to find you, and how to Inflict Vast And Righteous Suffering upon you - and of course, we wouldn't, because we aren't the MacJihad.
So yeah, it's cool here.
Now, there's a certain Squidley that I'd take issue with...
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche
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Post #20,114
12/3/01 4:17:21 PM
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You pick
I (obviously) have been using my real name for some time.
Haven't had any trouble. I am careful not to type my email address in such a way as to make it easy to pick up by crawlers.
Using my real name I think makes me somewhat more thoughtful about what I write (I hope). Since I own my words if you know what I mean.
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Post #20,130
12/3/01 5:30:46 PM
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Always, always, use your real name :-)
That way us Mac thugs can stalk you out more easily!
I've used my real name (until the third IWETHEY change - just my alter ego - danreck, dreck, etc...) for over 13 years on the inet and few folks have given me much grief. If you can just learn to let the "detractors" slide off your back like water from a duck, you'll have no problem. If you put up your email address, you best have a good spam filter...
By the way, just always wanted to go by the handle SCREAMER for SAG's. I felt like screamin so much lately that it just seemed apropo... I gotta watch what I say a little less as the "screamer" but I still follow the policy that I never post anything that I won't fess up to. YMMV.
Just a few thoughts,
Screamer
"I'll tip my hat to the new constitution, take a bow for the new revolution, smile and grin at the change all around, pick up my guitar and play, just like yesterday..."
P. Townshend
"Nietzsche has an S in it"
Celina Jones
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Post #20,133
12/3/01 5:56:54 PM
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But.. but, Dan
While the temperature might rise at times.. it's a dry heat.. y'know? :-\ufffd
[Shut up! private.]
As Aliens take over the running of things; as Corp drones take Them over; as Corps merge into MegaCorps and homogenize the tawdry crap that's left - while Tee Vee's vast wasteland becomes as silly as SNL...
Always remember, Cheer Up! things could be worse.
And then..
Ashton Pollyanna
(Hey even McCarthy was a bit of a hoot: he got his eponym Tailgunner Joe because, in the Army (air corps?) in the Pacific -- he'd sit in back seat of a plane on the ground and machine gun the coconut palms.. See, there were no video games for the deranged - back then. All they could do to act out their demons was: get elected to Congress. er Like Now?)
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Post #20,139
12/3/01 7:21:43 PM
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if your wife says change, change
Easier than upsetting yer wife. Dont let the little stuff sweat ya. nanking is close and we know ya. Or Nammie after the cheers character.
thanx,
bill
tshirt front "born to die before I get old"
thshirt back "fscked another one didnja?"
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Post #20,304
12/5/01 8:39:35 AM
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Yes. You should use one of them.
When I visit the aquarium, the same thought keeps running through my mind;
Leemmmooonnn, Buuttteerrr, MMMmmmmmm good!
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Post #20,339
12/5/01 12:43:53 PM
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I absolutely agree
We've commented on this at II. There are a couple of classes of folk here -- those who stick to an ID and those who've hopped. The hoppers have their reasons, some have tried to obscure their identity, some haven't. In this particular group, the obscuring doesn't last too long, there are personality traits that show up pretty quickly. The reasons seem to basically break down into two schools: trying to change (or hide) from a past ID, and somewhat incidental changes. As with other examples of name changes (think the KGB, now know as something else, various lables applied to dark-complected persons in the US, corporate name changes (eg: Acenture, Phillip Morris, Experian (formerly TRW), and other institutional or cultural transitions), changing a name doesn't change the fundamental nature of the beast.
The incidental changes tend to fall to other reasons. Scott's now know as admin, because, er, he is (personally I'd mildely prefer he posted as ScottA or malraux, and reserved "admin" for admin purposes, but it's not a big deal). Ashton's been known as "aston" or "ashton2" variously , which is pretty easy to figure out (forgotten passwords, Mr. Brown?). A few folk in professional life have elected not to use their professional names to represent themselves as a mild bit of protection, but haven't gone out of their way to hide who they are.
As I've said before, being well-known has generally served me well, and I've managed to deal with the occasional critics I've encountered. But that's a personal choice.
I'm very confused as to why ones partner would have any say on the matter.
--
Karsten M. Self [link|mailto:kmself@ix.netcom.com|kmself@ix.netcom.com]
What part of "gestalt" don't you understand?
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Post #20,370
12/5/01 4:25:03 PM
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Simpler.
'aston': someone's typo, not ever my post-name.
ashton2 - I initially used at zIW, imagining that the PW list from EZ had been incorporated into Zope. Someone mentioned the redundancy, so I dropped the 2 (apparently there's another 'ashton' on EZ somewhere.)
Of course too, a one or two of the handle changes have (apparently) been prompted by er clear and present danger of being tracked-to source by a baddie in one's civilian life. Understandable, maybe even effective for any mere 'name' searches.
As you say though - personalities will win out, so such changes are unlikely to confuse any regulars. But that wasn't their intention anyway.
\ufffdrhennius Ashkenazy, Esq.
What's in a name, Genghis? Why.. they'll love you for your good heart!
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