Eclectic Views

    
I came upon my name through no fault of my own. Back in high school, I
decided to take a shot at applying to Princeton. The town that I lived
in provided a full-ride scholarship to anyone from the town who got
accepted at Princeton. Alas, I did not get accepted. 

But, after finding out that I actually applied, a buddy of mine
decided that my real name, Michael, was too plain-sounding for a
Princeton-bound student. He then christened me Biff. Within a year,
that had been expanded to Biffster.
  

    
I was going for the shortest possible email address, back when they were 
still giving out two-character ID's. There might actually still be a few 
left. 
  

    
They're still letting people have two-character IDs.  Someone who joined
last Christmas Eve has one.
  

    
As a pimply, geeky youth, I spent many hours sequestered in my bedroom
listening to "static": radio transmissions from wonderful, far-away
places on an old shortwave radio. 

(Radio Australia, BBC, Radio South Africa, The Voice of Vietnam, etc.)

It all seems so quaint now, but my earliest posts on the Well (that I
can find) have to do with shortwave radio, a hobby that is now pretty
much gone throughout the world. 
  

    
The first userid I noticed was <mkapor>. <mcarpenter> was too long, so
I settled for <mcarp>. I don't remember where I saw <mkapor> used. I
guess it was the same <mkapor>, but I don't think it was on the Well.
  

    
And that's why I call him Laddie Mc Arp. 
That, and the fact that he wears kilts and blows pipes. 
  

    
i was southerndisc as a non-picospeaking member after my then musical
satire troupe southern discomfort. (there is an inkwell.vue topic about
that part of my life) when i got picoeyezed by ms. pellmell i wanted a
short login because i was impressed that pico logins COULD be shorter.
so i just abbr'd. i have referred to myself as el <sd> on one occasion
and some goofy friend of mine <izzie> still refers to me as el cid
once in a while.
  

    
<verve> introduced me to the WELL.  I remember he was teaching courses
on the Internet at Modern Times bookstore.  <slf> had written a book
and she came to talk about it.  <verve> asked for some suggestion of
what we should go looking for on the world wide web.  I suggested the
Maya.  We found, if I recall correctly, one or two websites.

Now, of course, there are hundreds.  And the userid <maya> which I
claimed early on in The WELL is nabbed everywhere else I go.  I can
remember when <gail> told me that if I wanted to, I could change my
userid to <jaguar>, but, I'm so glad I stayed with <maya>, four little
letters.  And all these years later, it sometimes amuses me, certainly
delights me, how some people call me Maya, not Michael, they have
identified me with the handle.
  

    

oh.  your name is Michael?

nah.......
  

    

Even face to face, I tend to address Wellperns by their id when I know
them primarily thru the Well.  Not on purpose, mind you, it's just how
my twisted mind works.

<evan> is obvious, it's my first name, but I had to wait a few years
to snag it since there was some other Evan when I joined.
  

    
Well, at least your twisted mind *works*!!  <g>  I hate it when they
go on the blink.
  

    
Yah, I think of people by their userids.  You are definitely maya to me.

When I went to Enrico's to see <nboy> play, I introduced myself to him as 
Cecilia and there was no recognition in his face so I said I'm also <hex> 
on the Well and he was mighty pleased!
  

    
My friends started calling me "Jeffrey P." in high school. I think 
"jeffrey" was taken when I signed up here, dunno if it's still being used. 
But I'm jeffreyp here forevermore, I suppose.
  

    

I still have a printout of the session in which I logged into the Well as 
"newuser" and signed up for my account, back in June of 1994.

Because my first name (Stephanie) is nine letters long, I couldn't use 
that. My full last name is only eight letters long, but for whatever 
reason that didn't seem friendly or appropriate. Nevermind that I had only 
the vaguest idea what the Well actually was!

History (in the form of the printout) shows that I had several different 
ideas about a login ID, actually went most of the way through the login 
process with a different ID, then switched to vard at the end.

It's a nice short friendly pronounceable ID and I have been pleased with 
it. Very few people on the Well call me anything else, even when we are 
physically together at a party or something. Almost no one from the Well 
calls me Stephanie! More people call me "vardley" or variations thereon.
  

    

Obviously, first impressions based on text can be way off.  When <vard>
first popped up on my screen, probably in the <weird.> conference, it didn't
occur to me she might be a she. The login ID (which reminded me of "Vlad,"
as in "Vlad the Impaler") and her skewering wit led me to immediately
believe she was a Western-educated antiquities professor logging in from
Bucharest, probably from the university teletype machine.

Now I know her well enough to call her Steph (not Stephanie).  I don't know
how she feels about being called Steph; all I can say is she's never slapped
me and yelled, "I've told you to stop calling me that!"

My login Id is my initials.
  

    

What's the 'g' for, Jack?
  

    

"are my initials."

"am my initials"?


My login id derives from my initials.
  

    

Slippage!  Slippage happens when somebody sneaks a posting in before you can
send yours.

Dear Viv,

What does the "g" stand for?  Use your imagination.

Jack
  

    

Gandolf
Geronimo
Gadzooks
Grappa
Grabass
Gefilte fish
Gigantor
Gigahertz
Gladtameetcha
Ginnantonnix
Growler
Gnatsass
Godzilla
Glissando
Germkiller
  

    

"Grappa" has a certain je ne sais quoi about it.
  

    

Hunh.  I was betting on Growler.
  

    

Could fit.
  

    


Jack, sure could.

Dear viv.
  

    

I like Jack Gandalf King.  Has a nice Ring to it.

.y
  

    

(that would have to be Gandalf Jack King.  The G comes first)