Changing User name ?

[Chasing Caseys]

Can you, once you have subscribed to a forum or site like this change your user name ? I wish i had used a nickname as i am not too comfortable finding my name on the web when i do a search on my name and the search for me brings back mostly forums and other sites i use. The fact that i would want to change my user name wouldnt deflect from the info or questions ive put. I never even considered that i would find my name plastered over the web when i signed on to sites. |shocked|

[Diane Grant-Salmon]

Hi Tracey,
I think Rod prefers Members to use their 'proper' name rather than a nickname, but if you asked him if you could change it, seeing as you're worried about it ...... perhaps it would be possible?

[Chasing Caseys]

Morning Diane

Maybe it was a bit nieve of me to put my full name but i wasnt aware at the time being a newby. When i wake up a bit more i might be less worried !

[Copper]

That is why I started with a nickname. It is the usual form in forums so I am told by he who must be obeyed :) Rod knows who I am anyway so I was let off.

[Ladkyis]

Once you have signed up to the forum then that's the only name you can have unless Rod decides to chnge it for you. I wouldn't worry too much about having your real name out there on the internet, after all as soon as you used your email address for the first time there were hundreds of little tiny name grabbing programs that leapt on it and then sent you loads of rubbish and junk. The only way not to have your name on the internet is not to use it - and even then you can't be sure.

Just enjoy the good aspects of the internet and don't click on any attachments to emails even when you think you know who its from and you will sleep easy and not worry yourself gray.

Ann

[Chasing Caseys]

Hello Ann
Thanks for the reassurance - im not as paranoid as i sound about it - honest !|shakehead
My email address isnt my name just initials and a year. I suppose maybe im secretly worried about the evidence of how much time i spend on the internet and i try and assure everyone i dont ! ;)


Just enjoy the good aspects of the internet and don't click on any attachments to emails even when you think you know who its from and you will sleep easy and not worry yourself gray. Ann
Luckily you dont get much spam sent that aol doesnt get rid of. In all my years on the internet ive only ever caught that rotten virus that was around about 2 years ago the one that got nearly everyone and was a complete nuisance to remove. Too late for the grey bit though :( but expertly conceled by me !

[Patrisia]

Hi all,
Maybe it's ego with me but I am not too bothered about my name coming up in the ether, I reckon that somewhere something is going to find my name on something - just like all the data that some government big brother is likely to have on me!
As I don't go on any 'dubious' sites, I don't worry..... though if you Google 'Patrisia' you will find that I share my name with some kind of Latin American 'exotic' dancer! Heaven forbid that I suggest you do that but I wonder just how many of you will just have to give it a try! :D

[Chasing Caseys]

So far i notice its only me and Diane that atually have our FULL names on this ! ;)

[AnnB]

Hi all,
As I don't go on any 'dubious' sites, I don't worry..... though if you Google 'Patrisia' you will find that I share my name with some kind of Latin American 'exotic' dancer! Heaven forbid that I suggest you do that but I wonder just how many of you will just have to give it a try! :D
Well, I couldn't let you down, so I Googled Patrisia (that sounds painful) and when I saw the 'heading' for the link I think you are referring to, I decided NOT to click on it......... |shocked|
Best wishes
Ann

[Diane Grant-Salmon]

So far i notice its only me and Diane that atually have our FULL names on this ! ;)
:) Tracey ...... I think we're in the minority, as I have noticed that there are more nicknames! The first place I joined, years ago, was Genforum and I used my real name then, plus the surname interests sites too. The only time I registered with a nickname, was when I joined MSN Groups and I have three names with them! :D

[Chasing Caseys]

I just saw how i spelt actually and its "quote" :o but im sure i have done far worse in the past :)
Thanks Diane i am feeling more confident by the minute about not having to hide behind a pseudonym :D (brave of me but i did look it up !)

[mary elms]

So far i notice its only me and Diane that atually have our FULL names on this ! ;)I assume you mean on this thread Tracey since I can think of quite a number of full names using this site :) Since even my family nickname is only a fuller version of my given name I gave up worrying years ago. I am who I am and I don't like hiding - it takes way too much energy. :D

Mary.

[Chasing Caseys]

Hello Mary

Yes definitly only on this thread :D

[ChristineR]

Hi Tracey,

You could unsubscribe and then rejoin with the same details, just drop the surname - this will work if no-one else has Tracey as a user name.

ChristineR

RANDALL from Harwich, Essex
PARISH from Caldecote, Cambridgeshire
not hard for my kids to find me on the internet - evidence everywhere!

[Mark]

Can you, once you have subscribed to a forum or site like this change your user name ? I wish i had used a nickname as i am not too comfortable finding my name on the web when i do a search on my name and the search for me brings back mostly forums and other sites i use. The fact that i would want to change my user name wouldnt deflect from the info or questions ive put. I never even considered that i would find my name plastered over the web when i signed on to sites. |shocked|


Depending which search engine you use, you can put terms in the search query which you don't want ... for instance on Google you can enter this in the search box

+"Tracey Donaldson" -forums

or similarly

+"Tracey Donaldson" -site:british-genealogy.com

Mark

[GeoffD]

:D Having a surname that is also the past tense of a very common verb means that you are well camouflaged from the search engines. Just as well we didn't stick with Drogo.

(But someone with my name has been seeing big cats out on the moors.)

[Clive Blackaby]

Look on the plus side - if anyone else is researching your name, they stand a better chance of finding you. Follow the advice others have given, and you should be safe unless you're hiding from the feds!

In my case despite the fairly uncommon surname, most people surfing it don't find me - they get so many references to a prolific publisher of religious tracts, they get bored before they get to me :)

By a lot of rooting around, they're quite likely to also find my namesake Clive Blackeby, who is not me.