Glad to have two identities

[supergee]

theferrett opposes usernames. If I had one associated with attention whoring, refusing to use cut tags, and encouraging clueless boys to discuss boobs with women they don't know, I might feel likewise. I am fortunate enough not to need the relative anonymity a username provides, but I enjoy having one anyway.

Thanx to yuki_onna, who discusses good things about usernames.

Comments

[thistleingrey]

Indeed. Quite aside from that, theferrett seems also to be forgetting that legal names aren't unique. Even if my "username" were first-name.middle-init.surname, I'd shut out at least one other person who uses the internet actively. (Historically, I seem to have spread myself across parts of the net I find interesting before this other person has had a chance to do so.)

[andrewducker]

Having spent some time arguing through the thread, his problem seems to be with _unique_ usernames on sites. i.e. that LJ can have only one person with a particular username, because this means that a person cannot use the same username, if they so wish, across the internet.

I have some sympathy with that idea - but he put it terribly badly.

[thistleingrey]

*nods* I suppose that LJ could have unique IDs beneath non-unique usernames, but I notice that FB's customizable usernames are also unique. Why? URLs (e.g. to a particular user's profile) need to be unique; wishing can't change that.

As you say, he has put the idea (whichever one he had, exactly) terribly badly.