Why do you use a screen name?

[Johns]

Johns and I have met many times...I call him Johns, he calls me Optical24/7.

Actually, we're so close that we're almost on...like a 1/2 name basis. Sometime I just call him optic7.

[oopsmyeye]

In the 8th grade computer/typing class (1997 to give you an idea) my teacher had us all sign up for this new email service called HoTMail but we couldn't use our real names because there were pedophiles out there that would find us and kill us. I only have one eye because my neighbor shot me with a bb gun... and so OOPSMYEYE was born. It's been my online presence ever since for nearly everything (unless I really want to remain anonymous). It's easy to remember when I tell people to email or message me, especially after they know I'm cycloptic.

[thelittlestnixon]

In the 8th grade computer/typing class (1997 to give you an idea) my teacher had us all sign up for this new email service called HoTMail but we couldn't use our real names because there were pedophiles out there that would find us and kill us. I only have one eye because my neighbor shot me with a bb gun... and so OOPSMYEYE was born. It's been my online presence ever since for nearly everything (unless I really want to remain anonymous). It's easy to remember when I tell people to email or message me, especially after they know I'm cycloptic.

Best reason yet!

[Chris Ryser]

Originally Posted by Steve Machol

Honestly I don't think anyone is questioning why people use pseudonyms. It's when they hide behind pseudonyms to anonymously attack others that is the issue.

In the 12 years of posting under my real name I have never been in hot water. I have made some mistakes, but, have set them straight after thinking them over or being reminded of them.

Nobody ever chased me because of using my own real name. However I do not participate on Facebook and Twitter and there is no input there that comes from me as the source.
There was an intruder who broke into my e-mail account a few years back over a New Years period some years back, but it got stopped and closed the same day before any real harm was done.

I must have done something right, because I still enjoy being here and watch whats going on.

Chris Ryser

[Browman]

Because I work alongside someone who is, quite frankly, hostile. The individual holds a higher position in the office than I do by virtue of this person's having worked here longer and having more experience, and feels that any attempt I make to improve my knowledge of the optical world is somehow an affront to them, because I am not "allowed" to advance beyond this person's level of expertise. In my brief time here other individuals have indicated that they are impressed with the amount of work I have put in to my own education, and every time this individual has responded to me in a hostile/passive-aggressive manner to me; at first I believed they were just moody, until I realized that every "incident" was a direct follow-up to someone complimenting me. Although this person does not have the power to terminate me, they do have the ability to make my job insufferable (which it has been for some time now, due to this individual's treatment of me in the workplace), and they do hold influence with someone who does have the ability to terminate me. So until this individual is no longer a force in my workplace (which I do not forsee), it's the screenname route.

[NCspecs]

Because I work alongside someone who is, quite frankly, hostile. The individual holds a higher position in the office than I do by virtue of this person's having worked here longer and having more experience, and feels that any attempt I make to improve my knowledge of the optical world is somehow an affront to them, because I am not "allowed" to advance beyond this person's level of expertise. In my brief time here other individuals have indicated that they are impressed with the amount of work I have put in to my own education, and every time this individual has responded to me in a hostile/passive-aggressive manner to me; at first I believed they were just moody, until I realized that every "incident" was a direct follow-up to someone complimenting me. Although this person does not have the power to terminate me, they do have the ability to make my job insufferable (which it has been for some time now, due to this individual's treatment of me in the workplace), and they do hold influence with someone who does have the ability to terminate me. So until this individual is no longer a force in my workplace (which I do not forsee), it's the screenname route.

That same situation happened to me at my last office. Some of the crap they pulled was pretty twisted. I didn't tell anyone about taking and passing the ABO, I just added it to my inner-office email signature and watched them have a mini meltdown.

Sorry you deal with that.

[Wes]

Because I work alongside someone who is, quite frankly, hostile. The individual holds a higher position in the office than I do by virtue of this person's having worked here longer and having more experience, and feels that any attempt I make to improve my knowledge of the optical world is somehow an affront to them, because I am not "allowed" to advance beyond this person's level of expertise. In my brief time here other individuals have indicated that they are impressed with the amount of work I have put in to my own education, and every time this individual has responded to me in a hostile/passive-aggressive manner to me; at first I believed they were just moody, until I realized that every "incident" was a direct follow-up to someone complimenting me. Although this person does not have the power to terminate me, they do have the ability to make my job insufferable (which it has been for some time now, due to this individual's treatment of me in the workplace), and they do hold influence with someone who does have the ability to terminate me. So until this individual is no longer a force in my workplace (which I do not forsee), it's the screenname route.

That same situation happened to me at my last office. Some of the crap they pulled was pretty twisted. I didn't tell anyone about taking and passing the ABO, I just added it to my inner-office email signature and watched them have a mini meltdown.

Sorry you deal with that.

Arrogance and ignorance go hand in hand, with the former directly proportional to the latter. Don't let "them" get to you.