How long does it take you to choose a username?

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Since I was born with the name teacake it is easy for me.

Well not really but might as well have been since I relate to it more than my other name.

 

[Timewalker]

I have a few favorites, so I usually choose one of them, unless none of them fit the theme (or seriousness) of the site. It usually takes a couple of minutes to set up the account, but validation is at the whim of the forum admin, so that could take a minute or a day or two...

 

[MacLeod]

The only time I have to think of one when you register at a site and the one(s) you want are already taken.

 

[bbjeg]

It takes a couple of seconds now. I've been using the same username for awhile. It's simple and I've only come across a couple of others on the internet that have used it. A little history, back in the 90's in my early teens, computer hacking was the rage for me. After idling a couple of movies, I read up on some tricks using various Linux boards and private server chat rooms but they're are all outdated now though I still know my way around a command line. Every hacker needs their handle (hacker name) and after playing Bomberman while my father watch a video of a Muhammad Ali match, I came up with BoxerBomber. Some time later in a chat room, someone pointed out it sounded like I crapped my pants and he was totally right. I switched around handles but for some reason stayed with the "BB" motif, from BountifulBeast to BadBollocks. Then I left the hacking scene after making an idiot hacker mistake, hacking from a public library and getting caught, and all thanks to a dare. Later while making a Yahoo account, I paid homage to that part of my history and went with bbjeg, "jeg" being my initials, and have been using it ever since with small variations here and there.

 

[Kirby]

My dad is 63 and computers have been a passion of his since the '70s. He actually bought a Commodore PET when they came out in 1977!

Growing up, my best friend's parents owned a computer store, which sold mostly Commodore products, so he had access to all of the latest and greatest stuff all the time.
I wish I would have kept my old Vic 20 with attachable cassette drive.

 

[RoJoHen]

I've pretty much had this username for the last 15 years.

 

[1001001]

It takes me a long time.

I like to be very creative with my usernames.

 

[Captain Ice]

Since i use variations on the same ones, it takes me about 5 seconds. Figuring out which password to use takes me longer.

 

[Naira]

The issue is discomfort and lack of experience, not age. Some of us who are older than your parents -- by just a little or by decades -- are very comfortable with computers, thank you. Last week, I helped a 30something open her first email account, including picking a username and password. It took forever. I've been using computers since she was a toddler. Setting up a new account for myself would've taken me five minutes.

I was stating that my parents are both in their 50s and not comfortable with computers. I didn't say that they are not comfortable with computers because of their age.

My father had been working in a sysadmin office for years. He can do lots of admin/unix stuff and he is great with that. However, when it comes to simple, every-day computer/internet use, it takes him ages to do a thing. He has to over-think and doule-triple-check everything before pressing a button.

My mother was an accountant. However, she is only comfortable with her accountant applications. Once she presses the "x" and is back to seeing the Desktop, she is afraid to even move the mouse.

Go figure.

 

[Orac Zen]

The only time I have to think of one when you register at a site and the one(s) you want are already taken.

Same here.

TBBS and LJ are the only places I use this username, but there are two or three others - or variations thereof - I use everywhere else. So unless those names are already in use it doesn't take long at all to choose one.

 

[PlainSimpleJoel]

For this site, it took me less than a minute, as I used a variation of another name that I used on another forum. I have a list of names I can use on certain sites.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

I was stating that my parents are both in their 50s and not comfortable with computers. I didn't say that they are not comfortable with computers because of their age.

I know you didn't actually say "because", but I assumed, because why else would you have mentioned their ages. We all know what happens when one assumes. Sorry.

 

[BennieGamali]

Use the same one mostly. I have later come to realize that it's not really that smart seeing as you can easily be web-stalked that way. It's relatively safe for me to do this though, my weblife is boring enough that any webstalker would fall asleep before what he/she was doing could really be classified as stalking.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

It takes me longer to choose an avatar.

Longer still to choose a signature.

 

[Gil T.Azell]

Sometimes it seems like ∞,

 

[Melakon]

I rarely use the same username on different forums. It took three tries to come up with a name here, since I wanted something Star Trek specific. I was rather surprised that Melakon wasn't already taken, though maybe most people don't care to name themselves after a villain. And a Space Nazi, no less.

 

[FPAlpha]

I use the same on nearly every message board.. it should be Alpha as it was the codename of my first true RPG character (pen&paper you perverts! ) but since Alpha is nearly always taken i added a prefix from a chat website i used to visit often ages ago (also RPG related).
​

 

[Sakrysta]

I chose my username back in college as my Star Trek alter-ego, and have pretty much used only it ever since. There have been couple others along the way, but I always regretted it and switched back. If you Google me, nearly every result is some part of my trail over the last 15+ years, with the exception being a StarCraft Mining Base that has my name. And frankly, that's either a huge coincidence or someone saw my name online and used it, because I made up my name before StarCraft existed.

*further peruses Google search results*

There's someone with an AOL Lifestream account named Sakrysta Summers. That's not me.
What in the world is IMVU Mafias?

Yeah, the name has popped up a couple other places now. But still, the vast majority is mine. I'm finding things I completely forgot I did. LOL

 

[Kronos]

For this site it was about 10 seconds, was so happy it was available.

I use a variation of it on most other sites, on sites I don't want anyone to ever know I posted at I use a totally different gibberish name

 

[JayOwl]

It didn't take me that long, I like owls because they're cool and the first syllable of my first name is pronounced "Jay". I used to have the username "Jaytrek" here, for obvious reasons. Honestly though I've been thinking of changing it for a while, I just can't think of what to change it to and I don't post nearly as frequently as I used to so I'd just confuse the people who remember me. For Steam, in games and a few other places on the internet I tend to just use my first name with my middle name initial now, which seems incredibly boring but I can't think of what else to call myself any more.