namechanging

[sparky159]

i was wondering why people namechange?
MN is a place where you are basically free to say what you want
so to me it dont make sense to as why people namechange.

Well,I've never namechanged,but some posters name change because they know that people they know in RL have identified them here - or because they've posted personal info which would make them easy to find in RL.

Also,people name change to talk about some subjects,more personal stuff, because they don't want all the posters they "know" on MN knowing about whatever it is as well,IYSWIM?

Hopefully some namechangers will come along and say why they did it!

Why don't you just use your real name then, instead of Sparky?

i namechange periodically - i have done since the twitter/ facebook buttons were an item. i have fairly easily identifiable circumstances and being of cold war military lineage, it's part of a well-worn security habit. i also have a different user name for each forum i'm on.

that said - i don't have any particular issues people knowing who i was/ am (on here). (and a fair few do - i'm not very incognito lol) i just don't want to be instantly searchable to anyone.

I don't use my real name because I want to be able to post on here freely and live a normal life. What MN gives me is a chance to interesting people/nicknames/robotrons in an atmosphere where no-one is going to judge me by my name or (I hope) track me down and look at my personal circumstances or my job etc. If I posted in my real name I would probably post about once a week :o because that's how often I talk about stuff on here that I would want to talk about IRL. Anonymity is very protecting.

interesting that you still choose to use your rl name sparky (seriously) - and are happy to discuss intersex etc. i've used a few closed tg forums where people use their adopted rl name, but i'm used to in rl folk trying to 'pass' as one gender or the other and their names reflecting this... i think it's great that you are out and proud about who you are. very refreshing, but i'm sure it's not been an easy road.

thankyou ElephantsAndMiasmas
yep-this is what im trying to get at

i find it all interesting because
i can see what youre saying but im wondering
about others who would want to do things like this[judge by nameor track others]
basically peopleminding other peoples buisness.
i can never understand why people would want to harm others like this.
people are very strange sometimes arent they.

i started the thread because i was thinking about mn being a place for[mostly]women and things like oppression is often talked about
but i noticed that people name changed and i was thinking it a bit odd really[although i can see why]
because if people namechange for this reason
surely this is another form of oppression?

BTW-im not arguing about people name changing and im not saying it is wrong at all-im just finding it interesting.

thankyou Nickoftime
well-im as open as i can be in my life.
its difficult as society doesnt reconise people like me.
society just sees someone as being either female or male-nothing else.
im open because after a lifetime of being ashamed-imnot ashamed no more.
i havent actually done anything wrong by being me-just the way i was born.

"because if people namechange for this reason surely this is another form of oppression?"

Well I know what you mean, and sometimes I see people have namechanged because they're "ashamed" of something bad that someone else has to done to them, and it makes me really sad and cross on their behalf.

But I think that what this kind of forum offers is a rare freedom from the oppression of being judged on your face/clothes/name etc. If I give information away on here (and I do) it's because I choose to.

I completely see why people do it though. Most people have a day to day persona on here that is not always terribly serious. And many people have "friends" on MN (not me I don't think!), some of them have met in real life too. So maybe in these cases they might not want all their friends to know about your sexual practices or your slightly icky illness or whatever, but you still want to be able to ask advice about them.

yep[nodding]this makes me feel sad aswell
[namechanging because theyre ashamed]

yes i can completly see why people do this aswell-just find the concept a bit odd-
there again-it might just be me thats a bit odd.

i dont bother namechanging-when i do a post that makes me look rather silly[as i often do]-i just report my own posts.

It's got me thinking ,sparky - I wouldn't post under my real name because I'm quite a quiet private person in RL (I'm quiet here too!),and I was thinking that it would feel odd to me that someone I didn't know well could come here,read my posts,and they'd know things then that they wouldn't have learnt from me in RL because we didn't know each other well enough...
It is different talking to people anonomously on the internet.

But thinking a bit more it isn't as if I would mind what people thought about most of what I post - and it might make RL more interesting!I think your way of being as open as you can be might be better.
I would feel differently about an employer being able to search and read my thoughts though.

I'd namechange if I had something going on in my life which I desparately needed to talk to someone about,but which in RL would then mean that whoever you'd discussed it with would know about it forever,whatever happened,and here might mean you'd be associated with it forevermore,some sex and relationship stuff for example.

I don't think it is oppression - I agree with Elephants,I think it gives freedom from being judged on face/clothes/accent etc

Have I just contradicted myself?!

This is why :o

I feel that way about employers too Pogle, if it weren't open to all and googleable I would feel more open. But I still love the anonymity, it's all the freedom that I mentioned without really impinging at all on me. I mean, I don't feel like I have anything to gain by using my real name.

And even if I'm not posting about something embarrassing, like you Pogle I just don't like people knowing everything about me. It would feel weird to me knowing that I could meet someone one day and they could go home and google me and find out loads, from quite boring stuff like what kind of computer I have, to what my DP got me for my birthday, to some elements of my sexual history etc etc. And I would never know what they knew. Facebook stalking is big I know, I have done it with people that I fancied back in college , and I already got enough weirdos charmers contacting me on there on the basis of nothing more than the fact that I'm a woman.

yes-i can see what youre saying Pogleswood

hmmm-yep-im quite a privite person in rl but quite open[does this make sense?]
obviously i cant always be completly open
like for instance-i couldnt walk into the local catholic church/mosque and start talking about the "joys" of transsexuelism/intersex
but on the other hand i dont walk about with my head down either.[i look like what i am]

i dont usually talk about things like rape
because i know it would upset people around me but on the other hand i will openly talkabout things like this on here-not because im not bothered about upsetting people on here-but hoping it will help others.

actually-i think my openess could be probably a "kick back" at society because of the oppression i have had in my life-does this make sense?

ha ha ha ha ha -ive just seen youre post ElephantsAndMiasmas[this is why]

er-yes.
good point[rofl]