It’s a fine username but I’m not overly attached to it.

I use different usernames for different services and try not to use the same one twice. I do tend to follow a “theme” (though how they all relate is a secret) with them but that’s about it.

I think that having a “consistent” online identity across different services isn’t very safe but I’m sure that’s coloured by my own personal experiences. 🤷‍♀️

@thelsim

Some people call me by my username (“reiver”) when they meet me in person.

To me, it is as much my name as my given-names are.

…

When I consider signing up for a new platform — if my preferred username isn’t available, I often won’t join.

…

Which never used to be a problem — as it is an obscure English word using its archaic spelling —

But, there are a lot more people on the Internet now, than there were two or more decades ago. So sometimes it gets taken by someone else.

I’d kill to keep it.

I’ve been using it since I was 8 or something so pretty attached.

Not at all, use random usernames on every service.

Not very. I usually make a different username per website, but they are usually a portmanteau of various characters I like. So several names I use are fairly similar.

I’d rather not have a recognizable persona online

This name is just the fewest a’s i was allowed to register with

I’ve grown very attached to my username and see it as part of myself. I like to be recognized by my name, and try to keep it unique. Partly because it’s a part of me that I don’t get to express often in daily life.
However, I do keep my personas strictly separated from each other. I have one for professional use to ask questions that can be too easily identified with who I am offline, several for throwaway names and this one for social interactions. I don’t care too much about the others, but do like to see myself as Thelsim as much as my other self.

I have been this user name for seventeen years. I’m ADHD and forget friend on platforms. This makes it easy to find me.

By the ankle.

Nope. I have some that I used as a kid, and sometimes I reuse them when I can’t think of a new one for some throwaway service.

The idea of having an alternate online persona doesn’t appeal to me at all, nor does the idea of being well known or recognized in general. I don’t go out of my way to remain untraceable or anything cool like that, but switching up usernames every once in a while is easy to do.

Kinda. For example, here on Lemmy I accidentally didn’t use my main username, but it’s not worth making another account for it. I just set it as display name. Not perfect, not terrible.

I use a new username for every account I sign up to.

Enough to have been using it for 15~20 years. I only use it in a few sites though, where I feel like I want some sort of “identity” - otherwise I’ll pick something random.

not at all