I have never been taught it, and have really thought about it, except to say that I try to be polite, I never intend to offend, but like to keep it light hearted.
One faux pas I have been making though I realise, is because some of the people on this board are friends, I find it difficult to call them by their Nicks, and end up using their proper names.
Lets call them Beer names as opposed top christian names.
When I read the thread later, I realise that many will have no idea that I am relying to 4eyes when I call him Colin, etc. It might make others feel "left out".
I will try to do better. In the meantime, what other faux pas have you made :)
I had a couple of people at Webmasterworld get upset when I used their real name. They didn't want to make it any easier than possible to be linked to the Nick. So now, unless people sign their name in the sig, I try really hard not to use real names.
>what other faux pas have you made
I try to make at least one notable one per thread. More, if I get a rise out of anyone. I like the awkward, the second glance, the look of someones face when the the wheels are turning fast. Call me bored. 'I am Jack's wasted life':)
You're doing a good job of being polite Rupert. You are welcome to use Rasmus when replying to my posts :)
But yeah, I've seen it more than once that people get annoyed when you use real names. They probably had a reason for using a nick?
I think most people here have been thoroughly 'outed' with these Nicks anyway. But yes, always good to be careful.
I have made a million blunders. I'm sure I abiused many people for spammers when they weren't. Offended many others either intentionally or by saying something I thought funny which they didn't. My most concious action is to tak a deep breath before getting offended myself - for reasons outlined in the American/English thread and because I realised one day that someone who I'd always had down as an arrogant tw*t was in fact a nice guy who was speaking english as a second language.
And concious not to link drop in other peoples forums, unless that was my reason for joining, of course.
Pick your hand depending on continent...
Sorry...coudn't resist..I knew if I didn't do it, Colin would..
I'm sure I've made plenty of mistakes. I do try to stick with forum nicks on forums just so I don't out someone. Problem is that when I meet one of you in person, I'll probably still call you by your forum nick.
Heh, you should see the looks we've gotten at restaurants doing that.
Seriously, I never thought about the "use forum nicks" only...I never thought that people would care if real names were used..so good tip
What Drastic, using your fingers like Grnidone? ;)
I get your drift though, a bunch of geeks, using funny names. Enough to get thrown out!
>Enough to get thrown out!
Actually, it's funny what staff will put up with for multiple hundreds worth of food and drinks.
i agree with Jason, keep it simple
when i joined webmasterworld many years ago I used the reg plate off my first motorbike as a nic which just happed to be NCW164X.......how complex is that
now i use my name and if thats been used already i will add my year of birth to it..........mickg1978 :)
wow Mick, are you that old? Dont you mean 1987?
8)
QuoteNCW164X
I always just thought of you as NCW. ;D
A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away...
When we first started getting new members at WmW I made the mistake of using a mod's real name out in the public threads. I was asked to change it quickly because the mod was being stalked by an abusive SO. I can also tell you with 100% certainty (multiple logs from top blackhats) that there were instances of nic 'manhunts' conducted by the Plex and the other se's before them. So, yeah, there are some reasons for not outing a nic.