Why did you choose your Rootschat name?

[the happy granny]

'Cos it says exactly what I am!!

Sue

[piedstilt]

Thanks for the photo Stonechat - now we know what you look like! 

[jinks]

I thought I would show you what I look like!

[Grothenwell]

Great topic Tabitha

Grothenwell was the surname of my GGG grandad.
The name died with his three daughters and I can't find the name used before then.
So it's my way of keeping his name alive in some small way.
Anyone ever hears of another Grothenwell please let me know.

Thanks,

John

[Su]

Hi jinks (sorry I just love that)...that cartoon picture really took me back.  I absolutely loved Jinksie and I used to draw him all over my note books. 

Su
 
 

[casliber]

I have always been happy to use my name, which is what I use as teh first part of my email address. I never could understand why the preoccupation with all the 'noms de keyboard'.....................

 Cas Liber

[Berlin-Bob]

I never could understand why the preoccupation with all the 'noms de keyboard'.....................

Two reasons occur to me:

1) A lot has to do with "uses and abuses" of chatrooms, mailing lists, forums, etc.
Many feel that, the less you say about your "real" you, the better !

YES, the RootsChatters are (in general) a friendly, kind, helpful bunch of people who wouldn't abuse any information offered here.  But can you say that of every "Guest" who looks through all kinds of Internet discussion boards ??

This is also the reason why we delete e-mail addresse: not just because of the spam robots, that trawl the internet looking for them, but also to protect against persons who "spy out" e-mail addresses for abusive purposes.
It is also why we don't encourage the e-mail address as user name.
And also why we delete references in postings that provide information about living persons.

I don't want to sound paranoic, but it is a fact that just as the Internet has made lots of new possibilities for useful, peaceful purposes available, it has also made just as many possibilities available for the "nasty" people out there.

2) Ever been been fed up with plain, boring old you ??
Then think of a new name, and invent a personality to go with it ......  etc, etc.
There is a lot of this about too !!

Sorry, Cas, you got me on my soapbox again ! 
Bob

[casliber]

No probs - soapboxes are fine as long as your opinion is the same as mine

Agree with you 100% regarding age - only dawned on me recently as heaps of credit card/bank/companies use date of birth as proof of identity on the phone 

Also -  did agree with you about spam until about a month ago; I was getting more and more up to about 80-100 spam messages a night until a few months ago and now it has all dried up (not that I'm complaining 

In 10 years I have found virtually all message boards and usergroups fine with no flaming, though I think a large part of that has been luck and that I have only joined groups I have had a very specific interest in - the more esoteric the board the nicer the people and the lower chance of some idiot looking to cause trouble causing it. Funnily enough, the group with the most acrimonious exchanges has been a discussion group of Australian Psychiatrists....

(actually a few examples of silly people do come to mind now I think of it....)

And,no, I've never been fed up with plain old me - I'm just.........me
cheers
Cas

PS: Speaking of trolls on message boards I'll post a link in the 'even lighter side so go see............................

[ringwarrior]

I already use the 'handle' in a few other forums, the first being a martial arts board.
It comes from my (not very successful) career on the pro kickboxing circuit.
Retired last year for more sedate pursuits!