Pondering UserNames and Avatars

[BudleyBare]

As I get more comfortable with this web site, I have started exploring some of the historical postings as well as the different capabilities. Two different but related thoughts popped into my head while looking at the list of registered users: (1) interesting how and what people decide what to use for a user name, and (2) avatars in general.

For my user name, I have always been known as "Bud". It is a nickname, not my legal name. The "bear" comes from the fact that I have more body hair than I would like, but certainly not as much as the word "bear" brings to mind. As a youth growing up in Texas, we used the word bear to describe a hairy person.

I had to look up the word avatar in the dictionary. I still don't understand the connection between the definition and the use of that term in this computer technology. The definition is "1. in Hindu religion, a god's coming down in bodily form to the earth; incarnation. 2. an embodiment; bodily manifestation." I just don't understand the use of that term as the name for pictures of various things that I see here.

In closing, anyone willing to share the background/rationale of their user name? Anyone able to help me understand the use of the word avatar?

P.S., re user names, I am really intrigued by "thefraj", "slammr" and "old softee" (hint).

[n3rf]

Dear Budley , It is interesting the pondering you present and the use of
hidden identity which the avatar is for, to hide your identity, I suppose.
In my own and personal philosophy I like to tell it like it is to the best of my ability so I us my own name and identy, like N3RF is my AMATEUR RADIO callsign and Johan is my first name and I always give out my professional address and so forth. So my Avatar is N3RF and You have seen my resl UGLY face showing up there as well .. HI - warm regards to all EA writers and ponderers / 73 de N3RF (amaterur radio code for "greetings from N3RF)

[Christina]

I haven't always had this user name. When I first joined the group here I was using the nickname CT212. That nick didn't hold much of a meaning except for maybe my initials and a group of numbers that were easy to remember. You may still run across some of my old postings with that nick. It wasn't until the Archive crash in the summer of '02 that I had to opportunity to change my name to the one I use now.

And yes, there are some very clever names that people use here. I find most to be descriptive of the person in some way, others make no sense at all. And since the reason I am here is for the reality of castration, I felt that using my real name was the proper thing for me to do.

As for the Avatar, to me they represent a visual presentation of that person. And once again I use a real picture of myself which coincides with how I feel I should present myself to the rest of the group. I've always thought that a real picture of someone is much more satisfying to me because it helps me to connect the written word with the person who wrote it. Even though some people don't use a real picture of themselves, they still seem to identify there self in a unique way. Sadly, too many do not use any such Avatar and they are probably just wanting to remaining anonymous.

[kristoff]

My User ID represents me: It is my name.

I suspect the term avatar waas adopted / adapted in computerese (at least with V-Bulletin) because an avatar is an iconic symbol.

[n3rf]

Well good to hear one other not hiding .. Hi
But what happened to my Picture ?? How do I put it back ??
My Avatar Picture is missing. I guess it got lost in the Reworks of the Server. WOW. Yes I think some AVATARS are real sexy and meaningful to me anyway.
73 N3RF

[Slammr]

Years ago, when I first got on the Internet (1992) I was "Grndslammr" on AOL. I signed my message board posts using "Slammr," so that's how I came by the handle. I change my avatar from time to time. The current one, other its being a character I use in some of the weird pictures I've posted on my website, has no real significance. He does look like a Slammer, though, doesn't he?

[bagman]

Folks I have had agreat time over the last months pondering the meaning behind the "call sign" it has been facinating when one is in private contact it is always a revelation to learn the reason for the name. My own "bagman57mt" comes from a desire for an empty bag hence "mt", "57" the number of times i did certain acts to destroy my orbs unfortunately still biologically a man "bagman57mt"

[bryan]

My real name is Brian. I misspelled it intentionally, wrongly assuming Google would be fooled. (Go ahead, say it. I know you're thinking it: "What a dope! What an idiot!")

Sadly, too many do not use any such Avatar and they are probably just wanting to remaining anonymous.

As anyone reading my life story can tell, I'm pretty open. I'd like to use a photo, but have to remain anonymous. I send out a newsletter as part of my job, and don't want EA life to meet work life.

[Sac_mec]

Bradley Bear Hi and another interesting thread you've got going here.
I knew very little about avatars at all and I managed to get one of Krister's predecessors here to "size down" a photo for me so that it could be added to my name here.
I chose a Pansy as I love plants and I'm Gay and sometimes you can undermine your oppressors nasty nicknames by throwing them back; as in using the word Queer. This Pansy I grew from seed in my garden and I feel that each time I add a post it adds a smile next to it, which I enjoy. Also, there is the play on words because the flower pansy comes from its French name pensee which literally translates back into English as "a little thought". I think that is rather nice too.
As for my nick, that was not well chosen. When we first register or registered you were/are(?) faced with the choice Username... and I thought I'll use the word "mec" because few English users would choose it as it is also a French (colloquial) word meaning 'chum/mate'. I used the word Sac because this is the Eunuch Archive and it was the first word I thought of. It was only after registering that I realised that being a 'friend of the scrotum' is not exactly a name anywhere in my vocabularly, but the act was done and folks generally like it. Some Americans are sure that I come from Sacremento, but they are way of beam there.
I assumed your "Bear" bit but I didn't 'stereotype' you over that, one way or the other There are some very well chosen nicks and some good avatars here too. (I'd never know how to download/upload it again, so it is good I am happy with it). As for Sac_mec well, I'll live with that now. If I'd spent an hour before registering I guess my nick would be different but I am loved or ignored by it now!!

[HairyHarry]

Hairy because I have shoulder length hair, harry is a variant of one of my names, my avatar is of my own crotch area but with something removed. (Photoshop)

[strassenbahn]

My user name "Strassenbahn" means "streetcar" (British "tram") in German. It reflects my hobby fascination with -- actually love of -- this form of transportation, and wish that I had lived in an era when it played the universal role that busses do today. I am not German, but as a former U.S. diplomat had two very happy tours there that totalled six years. My choice of the German term for my beloved streetcars reflects both this happiness and my gratitude for the fact that in Germany streetcars ("Strassenbahnen") have survived better than in many other countries.

As for my avatar, the phrase "woman wannabe" under it says it all. I am a man in late middle age who wishes he were a woman, and naturally a beautiful, sexy young woman. My avatar exactly represents what I would magically turn into if I could. It is from a pastel pinup picture by the great American pinup artist Gil Elvgren (active 1937-1972). I chose it from among the thumbnails on a site dedicated to his work. My choice reflected (a) my fantasy desire to be a brunette woman, and (b) the lack of background, which I thought would be too "busy" in a picture this size.

As for the use of "avatar" in this context, I would note that the Merriam Webster Unabridged Dictionary definition starts with Vishnu but then has "an incarnation or embodyment of another person". Now what are our avatars on the EA other than a visual embodiment of ourselves, chosen by us? Some prefer an actual picture of themselves, others a fantasy image (as I do), others an object that they feel represents their essence; all are an "embodyment" of the EA member, in terms of the definition mentioned above.

Actually, I think this adaptation of the term "avatar" to its present meaning on sites such as this should be regarded as a token of the flexibility of language, and the way new developments (e.g. Internet sites that call for identifying pictures such as these) can give an old word new life. Quite comparable is the way the old symbol @, which in pre-Internet days was used exclusively to mean "at" in commercial correspondence -- "I would like to order 20 widgets @ $50 each = $1000" -- and which almost no one ever used on his or her typewriter, has now become one of the most important keys on the computer keyboard.

[tugon]

My name Tugon was a nick name given to me by a young Airman. That in itself is quite a story. Of course tugon = two gone. I though about MTSak for empty sac but because of who first called me tugon it stuck. Some folks think it means tug on but I tell them that is past tense. In the past when I had something to tug on.

[Thorne1978]

Mine is just my email address. the reason even chose it in the first place has been lost to time.
p.s. slammr, what is that avatar anyways? vinyl model? wrestling figure? I personally like it, just curious because it looks very similar to a wrestling figure or a prototype of a superhero figure.( I am a toy geek.)

[Slammr]

Mine is just my email address. the reason even chose it in the first place has been lost to time.
p.s. slammr, what is that avatar anyways? vinyl model? wrestling figure? I personally like it, just curious because it looks very similar to a wrestling figure or a prototype of a superhero figure.( I am a toy geek.)

It's a figure I made up using a graphics program called Poser 6, based on a figure called the "Freak," created by "DAZ," a provider of content for Poser and other graphic programs. He's a mean dude that I've used in creating some scenes on my web site.

[Studlover]

I haven't always had this user name. When I first joined the group here I was using the nickname CT212. That nick didn't hold much of a meaning except for maybe my initials and a group of numbers that were easy to remember. You may still run across some of my old postings with that nick. It wasn't until the Archive crash in the summer of '02 that I had to opportunity to change my name to the one I use now.

And yes, there are some very clever names that people use here. I find most to be descriptive of the person in some way, others make no sense at all. And since the reason I am here is for the reality of castration, I felt that using my real name was the proper thing for me to do.

As for the Avatar, to me they represent a visual presentation of that person. And once again I use a real picture of myself which coincides with how I feel I should present myself to the rest of the group. I've always thought that a real picture of someone is much more satisfying to me because it helps me to connect the written word with the person who wrote it. Even though some people don't use a real picture of themselves, they still seem to identify there self in a unique way. Sadly, too many do not use any such Avatar and they are probably just wanting to remaining anonymous.

I am glad to know someone else uses a real picture of one's self.
I do it so that when Halloween comes around the person can print out my picture and scare people away!
Studlover