A while back on the TNT Babylon 5 chat server a poster named mab asked us how we chose our online names. The response was phenomenal. That post received the most replies any post has ever received at the TNT boards. There were 37 main replies with several replies to most of those. (I believe there were more than 160 replies total.) mab replied to each and every poster before it was finished and off the boards. This is the archive of that post.
If you are wondering why this post has so many names, well, it is partly my fault. mab originally titled her post The Naming of Things. (I personally call it mab's Post.) It earned the title The Golden Thread after I called for others to recognize mab for her insight and curiosity. It was her phrasing of the question that spurred us to tell our tales, rather than just give biographical data. It was a thought-provoking ( and for some a soul-searching) entreaty. Some, like myself, answered in a serious manner, while others took a more humorous bent. Either way, there will never be another post to which it can compare.
And no one else will ever earn that title again. (At least not in our posting lifetimes. :-} )
At the start, pookha or I just sent copies to everyone who requested it. And it occasionally reappeared at the TNT boards. pookha (a TNT poster) reposted The Naming of Things from time to time at the TNT boards. She also alphabetized the list for easy reading. At that point I decided to create a website so people could read and reread at their convenience.
And so people could post their own story.
I started this site during Thankisgving break in 1998. Initially only the original post with all of the replies in the original order were posted, but I knew I wanted more than just a copy of the original. I dreamed of others being able to post their stories for all to read. Soon I found myself looking elsewhere on the web for a site like this. I have yet to find one. (There are interesting sites on the subjects of names, but not online nicks. See the webring below.)
So over time I have expanded this site for others to enter the tales behind their online nicks. (It is under revision again and hopefully will soon have a frames page, which has been a work-in-progress for the last two years.) You may enter your story(ies) a la BBoard or use the Guestbook to enter your tale. Feel free to comment or respond to the tales of others. Since real life usually finds a way to intrude, I can only promise that your tales and histories will be archived sometime before the end of this millenium.
The Gardener
Revised Dec. 31, 2001
Post Script. As owner of this site, I must assume the responsibility for its contents. I have donned many hats, one of them being editor. (I am not a language major and consider myself to be language disabled. But I consider good communications to be essential and just as important as attire.) Most of the editing took the form of formatting text for easier viewing, removing or adding punctuation for clarity, and correcting spelling and some grammar. In some cases the sentences were restructured for clarity, but only when the writer's intent was clear and the restructuring did not change the message. I have not and will not edit for proper English when the changes affect the style of the author (thus affecting the message) or when the message is so garbled that its intent is unclear and uneditable (it will still be posted).
