A Note On Pseudonyms

[redbrunja]

 nimblnymph  was commenting about sexism in language, and it got me thinking about usernames. Specifically, (and I know I have people on my flist who do this and I don't mean to be insulting, this is totally just my opinion) how much I hate it when people use some part of a character's name in their username.

You know.

Mrs_Hatake

I_heart_hakkai.

Anything with Snape or Severus.

Even more subtle references: blooming_sakura or whatever cause me to twitch.

First, I always wonder how long you are going to like that character enough that you want them to be the most visible part of how you present yourself online. Secondly, I make the assumption that you are fourteen and feel the need to wave around your fictional boyfriend or (also fairly common) your OTP like a banner. I also (despite knowing really excellent writers who do this, and often aren't writing about the character referenced in their handle) assume that your fanfic is not worth my time.

Comments

[plural-entity.livejournal.com]

I do the exact same thing. >_o;

Also, if I look at a story, and somewhere in the story there is an OC (I don't read stories where the main pairing includes an OC, but every once in a while, people put side-characters with an OC just so that they are obviously paired with someone) and it just so happens that that OC is your username. I immediately start thinking self-insert and completely ignore the fanfic.

[superduperotaku.livejournal.com]

I totally agree. Any fic with an OC pairing makes me want to skip over it entirely...especially since not even the summaries for most of those fics seem well written, let alone the story.

And I have several reviewers who have fictional characters as part of their username. It automatically makes me assume they are young and immature. Unfortunately, what they've written often confirms my suspicious. Why is it so hard to write in proper English online? How much time do you really save writing thanks as "thnx" and with as "wit" and why do people write in all caps? It makes me feel like I'm being shouted at.

[plural-entity.livejournal.com]

Somebody corrected me one time. Completely FLAMED my entire Picture Trends. And attempted to tell me what I was doing wrong. Okay. I understand. I'm not the best writer. Sometimes, I write in cliches - but hey, sometimes, cliches are cliches cuz they work. And at least my stuff is original. I didn't steal anybody else's ideas.

However, I completely flipped shit when she effing spelled "critique" and "criticism" wrong. I blew up like a freaking puffer fish.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Oh, word.

It's like, save those fantasies for your daily commute - not on ff.net.

[plural-entity.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm sure they have little diaries, you know. They write little lemons about themselves and the characters. -gag-

If you fantasize about yourself and a cartoon character, you need a reality check.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think fictional character -animated or live action- are fantastic fantasy material.

It's just that what makes a good fantasy does not equal what makes a good fanfic, or a good first impression.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

This. Fantasy is fantasy, and so long as you know the difference between imagination and reality, spinning yourself a hot little fantasy about doing a fictional character isn't at all equivalent to the whackos who think they're actually married to Snape on the astral plane and so forth. Even incorporating selected elements of that fantasy into a creative work isn't intrinsically a problem, if it's done with careful thought. But just putting your totally unfiltered private self-insert fantasy up as a piece of fanfic is the sort of oversharing that really doesn't tend to make a good impression on people.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Fantasy is fantasy, and so long as you know the difference between imagination and reality, spinning yourself a hot little fantasy about doing a fictional character isn't at all equivalent to the whackos who think they're actually married to Snape on the astral plane and so forth.

No, it's not. And I would argue that fantasizing about fictional characters (either live action or cartoon) has HUGE advantages over fantasizing about, say, that hot barista or your BF's hot boyfriend. There's no change of running into them outside your head and there's no chance of discovering that they, like, eat the link from between their toes, thus utterly decimating your fantasy.

Even incorporating selected elements of that fantasy into a creative work isn't intrinsically a problem, if it's done with careful thought.

Also true.

But just putting your totally unfiltered private self-insert fantasy up as a piece of fanfic is the sort of oversharing that really doesn't tend to make a good impression on people.

It really doesn't. And, if you think about it, you're telling strangers on the internet way more about yourself than you probably really want them to know.