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A naive, but genuine, question

andrew p long

Very well known Exeweb poster
Joined
Jan 6, 2006
Messages
12,548
Location
Hagley, Stourbridge
Why do most people posting on Exeweb use a made up name?
 

Pete Martin (CTID)

Very well known Exeweb poster
Joined
Apr 1, 2004
Messages
11,384
Location
Here and there
Not one for WoWS I suspect?

It's not peculiar to Exeweb. Most football forums (indeed most internet forums of any kind) are peppered with aliases.

Not so much in recent times but in past years a lot of people wrote letters to newspapers under an alias and asked the papers to withold names and addresses.

Obviously the main reason people do it is to remain anonymous (especially the keyboard warriors) but a few with aliases do become well known over time if they're prominent within the club.
 

PeteUSA

Very well known Exeweb poster
Joined
Mar 9, 2004
Messages
18,435
Location
Avondale (Near Phoenix) Arizona, USA.
Not one for WoWS I suspect?
So do I....!
 

Mr Jan Yeo

Well-known Exeweb poster
Joined
Apr 8, 2008
Messages
9,427
Location
Bored
If you use it at work then it can be bad :D That was one of the reasons that I asked Mr E to change my username, sadly he declined.
 
Joined
Dec 16, 2004
Messages
619
Location
Fez Army HQ - somewhere behind enemy lines ..
I guess if you did use your real name it's just yet another web based reference point with your details - particularly if you have a slightly more unusual surname that can be more easily traced. Much the same reason why I sacked my facebook account - Way too much information in the public domain.

Not that I have anything to hide mind you ;) ( .. for the benefit of police, HMRC, CSA .... etc )
 

Grecian_Jay

Very well known Exeweb poster
Joined
Oct 24, 2009
Messages
12,125
Location
Hanging up the boots.
For me it was just to change my extremely boring name. I didn't think being called James was that interesting and probably quite common, and I wanted to personalise it to Exeter City a bit more.

Some of the usernames on here really interest me though, some I just don't understand but hey.
 

LOG

Very well known Exeweb poster
Joined
Nov 25, 2006
Messages
27,573
Location
Not currently banned
As i've made known before, mine is my initials.
 

LammieLammieLammie

Very well known Exeweb poster
Joined
Jan 4, 2005
Messages
32,793
Location
Just like the old days...
I think there are more connections to "real" names now than there used to be. When I joined, there were more people either 1) posting stuff that was a bit confidential about people and / or the club 2) wanted to be critical of the club without giving away their identity 3) wanted to recognise their City heroes of days gone by .

Hunterwasmyhero used to post quite a lot back then, and Fred Binneys Head, and Cliff Bastins shorts, so I thought I would use one of my favourite terrace chants of all time, linked to one of my favourite players.

Besides, the username andrew p long had already gone.
 

Boyo

Active member
Joined
May 5, 2004
Messages
4,024
An I interesting topic and no doubt the material for many a thesis!

Clearly these forums would be very different if posters used real names. Anonymous names give people the freedom to speak their mind which on one hand can be liberating, on the other it can lead to a lot of drivel that we see on here.
 

rightwing

Well-known Exeweb poster
Joined
Mar 9, 2004
Messages
5,997
Location
Plymouth
Just check the personal profile of each poster. Many give your actual name - I know mine does.
 
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