Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: pseudonyms (Cheney?)

Author:David McCusker
Posted:9/26/2000; 12:02:52 PM
Topic:Cheney?
Msg #:21732 (In response to 21722)
Prev/Next:21731 / 21733

Dave Winer:I am tired of people I don't know

Gully Foyle is the main character in Alfred Bester's classic The Stars My Destination, which invents one of the most interesting teleportation memes in science fiction, besides the one in AE Van Vogt's Null A series (starring Gilbert Gosseyn -- "go sane" get it?).

After Gully gets rich, he adopts an alter ego named Geoffrey Fourmyle, where he spends money like water in the infamous "four mile circus" to demonstrate his gauche neauvou riche ways. (I see Gully took my suggestion and picked up the Fourmyle name at hotmail as well.)

I'm only telling you this so you can see the funny silver lining in an experience you might otherwise have considered a total loss. Gully's survey was very funny by including a suggestion the he take a blue jaunte, which is a concept from the novel. But if you haven't read the book, I can see why none of this would interest you at all.

I've never used a pseudonym before, but I'm tempted to assume the identity of some character from science fiction, and then write from their point of view even when this makes no sense. It would be funny to act like a bewildered fish out of water who cannot understand what's going on, and expects to see instead the situation from the source novel. :-) But I guess it might wear thin fast too.

I suspect folks like to use pseudonyms so they can play Scarlet Pimpernel, or so they can dissemble their message by distributing parts of it to make it look more like a grass roots effect. (But if they do the latter, the pseudonym should not be used in the same forum as other identities, unless a rather different writing and thinking style is used.)

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