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Discussion » Statements » Rosie's Corner » Are you the real-life you on internet social sites? Do you use your real-life name or a pseudonym? WHY not be you through and through?
RosieG

Are you the real-life you on internet social sites? Do you use your real-life name or a pseudonym? WHY not be you through and through?

The only name I've ever used is RosieG. My name in real life is Rosemarie G----. It's all I've been or ever will be. I never would use a different name. It isn't in my nature to hide who I am. I know everyone has a story. What's yours? Why did you not use your real-life name and why did you choose the moniker you chose? Inquiring minds wanna know these things!  :)

Posted - January 24, 2018
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Responses


  • 32697
    I would never use my actual name. There are crazies online and they don't need my name or location. 
      January 24, 2018 5:52 AM MST
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  • 113301
    Why couldn't you be JANE E? Do you live in a very small town of 5 people? I am RosieG and I live in Hemet, California. So now what happens? A mob hit to take me out? I mean the "crazies" whom I'd fear if I gave a sh** which I don't would be the mentally defective donjohn suckeruppers who are also the gun people who are obsessed with him. Should I worry that they will track me down because I despise doofus don with all my heart who is the same doofus don guy they love with all theirs? I'm 80 years old. I really doubt that anyone is gonna come gunning for me m2c but if they do so what? Honestly I don't get why folks are so paranoid. Thank you for your reply! :) Anyway if I get taken out by a GOP crackpot wacky nutjob I've enjoyed our tenuous friendship all these years. Take care. God speed. Have a good life! :)
      January 24, 2018 7:03 AM MST
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  • 6098
    I don't think it is a matter of being paranoid but just being careful and discreet, of protecting ourselves and our families and friends, employers. 
      January 24, 2018 7:11 AM MST
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  • 113301
    From what officegirl? Attack by some crazed nut? Extortion? Lawsuits? For what? Your opinions? I'm seriously stunned at the degree of fear that represents in my opinion. On Answerbag we had dozens of "Anonymous". You never knew to whom you were talking. It made for a very unsatisfying experience. I mean part of the fun of being here is recognizing your name from past encounters. Now I'm not saying that if you used your real-life first name I'd enjoy talking to you more than I do now. But it would be nice to know what that name is. Not your entire surname or your street address of course. I understand not doing that. I don't  do that. Just your real first name and maybe last name initial.Thank you for your reply officegirl! :)
      January 24, 2018 7:17 AM MST
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  • 32697
    There are crazies who could do that and there is also identity theft to worry about.
      January 24, 2018 7:12 AM MST
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  • 113301
    That boggles my mind. I am a victim of identity theft that happened years ago m2c. It was entirely my fault for being ignorant. I had closed out a checking account 7 years before. I had some checks I didn't shred and put them in a drawstring bag in the trash. A month later I was being called by folks telling me my orders had arrived! It caused a lot of trouble all because I was dumbly ignorant. The thief charged $900 worth of stuff and I never had to pay a dime because I proved it wasn't me. But it was a real pain in the butt. I had to contact the 3 credit bureaus multiple tines. I filed a police report and had to send copies to them. I also carried a copy of the police report for a few years in my purse just in case anything came up. It took about 3 months to get it squared away. How can someone steal your identity on the internet if you don't give your entire surname or your street address? Say you live in Los Angeles and your name is Jane Doe. If you use JaneD do you really think that puts you in jeopardy?  Especially if you aren't listed in the phone book? I'll tell you what I never do. I NEVER order online. No one can get to my charge accounts. I also NEVER bank online. I don't understand those who do. I'm VERY PARANOID about that. Anyway thanks for the further explanation. It's a really bizarre and stupid world at times isn't it? More's the pity! :( This post was edited by RosieG at January 24, 2018 7:26 AM MST
      January 24, 2018 7:25 AM MST
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  • 32697
    Identity theives are crafty they can get the rest of your information from just a little bit they know about you. Just a simple search can be all it takes.
      January 24, 2018 7:42 AM MST
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  • 44231
    Ya just had to bring trump into this. Sheesh.
      January 24, 2018 12:51 PM MST
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  • 13395
    I will start using my real name and location when I get my dungeon built.
      January 24, 2018 6:34 AM MST
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  • 113301
    Is that a reference to Dungeons and Dragons Kg? Apologies but I do not understand to what you allude unless I accidentally hit upon it. Thank you for your reply and Happy Wednesday to thee! :)
      January 24, 2018 6:58 AM MST
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  • 13395
    If anybody tries to pull off some kind of scam they may end up in my dungeon. 
      January 24, 2018 7:53 AM MST
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  • 6098
    I discuss and reveal on this site, as I did on answerbag for six years, things of a very personal and private nature.  Some of them things many people feel should not be talked about at all in public or that they do not want to hear discussed.  Yet I feel should be because they reflect the realities of our existence.  I would not discuss them with most people I know, some of them not even with my husband, because I fear the judgment and negative consequences that might ensue.  Net chat sites give me the opportunity to air and talk about these things knowing I may remain relatively anonymous.  Because I have a public persona as well being a wife, employee of a large corporation, director of an artistic group, and an appointed member of a committee in the town where we live.

    In private correspondence on here I do give my real first name.  Which there has been little of on compared to the old answerbag.  On neither site did I ever publicly reveal my last name (which changed when I married in 2011 and took my husband's name) nor the address (town and street) where I live, nor have I revealed my private e mail or telephone numbers, or specifically where I work. Because naturally I wish to protect myself as well as my family and  the company where I have worked for many years. 

    When I started on answerbag I was "Anonymous" and you may recall that in November of 2009 you took me to task for selecting that designation and almost demanded to know my name. being new to chat sites and relatively naïve about the net and wanting to make friends on that site I publicly revealed to you my first name.  Within days someone recognized me because of the information I had given and there ensued a very unpleasant situation where I was obliged to do some things I did not care to do in order to keep him from publicly revealing them. 

    "officegirl" reflects my occupation for most of the last 35 years and in fact I used it as my password formerly on answerbag.

    And I would point out that of course I am the "real-life you" - how could I be anyone or anything else?  Even if I were to deside to publish false information I would still be me!  Anyway my name is just a moniker and not the real me - just a name given me by my parents that I have lived with and now by my husband on my taking his last name.  Just as how can I NOT be me "through and through". This post was edited by officegirl at January 26, 2018 7:25 AM MST
      January 24, 2018 7:07 AM MST
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  • 53
    It's funny you should say all that, because the first half of what you said is exactly what I think and did. I was also on Answerbag, about that time. And I, also, gave my name to someone, a girl,on private chat. I got very close to her.
    Well,I live in France, she lived in America, but you know what I mean. 
    I shared a lot of intimate opinions  with her, but  as she was very young,  I was rather relieved that she gradulally stopped communicating with me. As, what with her being on Facebook and so on, she could have repeated my opinions  that I'd rather my family didn't know I had. All the same, I still miss her a little, and am sometimes tempted to contact her again.
    But, later, I had a second account that I used my real name on. And tried to keep it to more to everyday opinions, as I'll no doubt do on here.
     Winston Degaulle  is, if you haven't guessed, is 'cos I'm British, but I live in France. This post was edited by winston degaulle at January 26, 2018 7:25 AM MST
      January 24, 2018 4:12 PM MST
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  • 6098
    When I was on answerbag, early on, a young man I had corresponded with actually tracked me down and showed up on my doorstep.  I was still single at the time and I guess he found out enough information about me from my then boyfriend to be able to locate me.  Just the notion that anyone would travel across the country because of a few rather impersonal internet conversations, no matter how intimate the subject matter, was just incredible to me.  Of course I had gone crosscountry in my young years to spend weekends with friends or lovers, but just the whole apparent power of the net was rather frightening.  He expected me to be some kind of internet sexpot but found himself greeted by only a rather plain middle-aged woman.  He was immediately so apologetic that I felt for him and let him stay that night on my sofa. Which all goes to show that we are not all that protected and it can happen. 

    But still amazing to me after these years on the net how people ca form such seemingly deep attachments from so little. Which makes me conclude that people must ne very isolated from one another to reach our so abstractly for love.  Thank you.
      January 25, 2018 6:45 AM MST
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  • 53
    That's amazing that he should have done so much to meet you. But as long as he didn't insist, I don't suppose it mattered too much. As for the young girl I was talking about, we were friends for a few years so I have to admit, I did get fond of her. She had a very nice boyfriend, and cried on my shoulder when ever things were going bad. But she met her boyfriend on internet, and it was after a few months that she met him in flesh and blood, and yet now they're married, so it shows that there must be some positive side  to it. I know another young lad who is going out with a girl he was keen on, on internet for a long time. But that said, my daughters tell me that most of the guy's they liked of internet, when they finally met them, they were disappointed. I think the physical side plays an important part. It's better that it stays on a friendly basis. But I think what you say is very important. There are a lot of lonely people on these sites. And it's not here that they're going to find romance.
      January 25, 2018 12:36 PM MST
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  • 6098
    Yes I could never fall for anyone just corresponding on the net.  I would need to get to know them. I'm a very hands-on girl.  Yes I actually met a few people through the net who lived nearby and did turn out to be a disappointment.  In one case a younger woman I was close to on the net.  After we finally met I never again heard from her.  I suspect she thought her husband paid me too much attention.  I spent a couple of weekends with a couple who live about forty minutes away and their friends which were interesting to say the least and actually quite enjoyable though rather frantic. But I never really cared for their values and how they lived their lives.  Anyway I've never had any trouble meeting people in the old-fashioned ways. 
      January 25, 2018 1:58 PM MST
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  • 53
    Wow, you seem to have had quite a social life from it all. I think I haven't made enough effort to chat with people on these sites. it's probably a mistake because the few people I have chatted with... three in all...were good fun, and I think it was a different experience to meeting people in everyday life. My problem is, I have difficulty remembering to come back to see if they've continued to write to me. It's the same with Facebook. I tend to neglect my friends on there. But I do go back to them eventually. 
      January 25, 2018 3:33 PM MST
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  • 6098
    Maybe you have found better things to do than hang around on the net.  If so I think that is great. I was in my 50s before I ever chatted on the net.  But people often have better things to do and they drop off without a word. I missed several mostly women I had very good and interesting correspondence with.  Comparing notes and sharing our stories.  Also some I helped get into things they really wanted to do.  But there is always for me an air of slight unreality to everything on the net.  I guess out of sight out of mind.  Some people want to chat for a while but then they no longer want to do so I guess and they vanish. 
      January 26, 2018 7:21 AM MST
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  • 53
    As you say, there's a certain unreality to all this. And I think that's in the back of my mind all the time I chat on these sites. But we always hope that to a certain extent, we do get to know the people we chat with. I'm a "young" age pensioner. I don't feel I'm an old crony, but I think when I chat to young people on here, they'll probably think I am. whereas when I meet people in normal circumstances, I can suppose that they don't think so. Maybe I'm flattering myself.
      January 27, 2018 12:25 PM MST
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  • 1430
    nice story , rosieg. me too i use my name on here, franc. answermug isnt a big website which i uses , so i dont care about my profile on here... 



      January 24, 2018 11:01 AM MST
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  • 14795
    I use the pseudonym my family gave me when I was in my early teens...it was fitting and Nice so it stuck... :)D
      January 24, 2018 12:23 PM MST
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  • 44231
    I don't use my real name here because Element 99 sounds cool and reveals something about me. Most former ABers know my first name if they remembered when I used it a few times. as do a few others here. I say things here I would never say to my wife because, after all...nobody here can hurt me. 
      January 24, 2018 12:58 PM MST
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  • 14795
    That's right Rupert...I remember it well..... Ice sounds. Much cooler though....:)
      January 24, 2018 2:47 PM MST
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