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

[korinacaffeine.livejournal.com]

Judging someone based on their username seems ten kinds of petty. That said, I can say with absolute certainty that 95% of us do it (myself included), and have no shame in doing so.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

An online handle is (often) the first impression someone makes online. It's no more petty than making assumptions about someone based on your first impression when you met someone IRL.

[korinacaffeine.livejournal.com]

Right. I equate that to something like "S/he is wearing a shirt with an anime character on it, so they're probably just a rabid fangirl."

Like I said, plenty of people do it, myself included, and that's just the way life goes. But I think that they're both equally petty.

_{Misread your comment at first, soz}