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HOME TOPICS ABOUT ME "Screen names" aren't really "screen names." They are public e-mail address names. |
technofile Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983 Stop driving me crazy! Put your name on your mail!Aug. 22, 2001 By Al Fasoldt Copyright © 2001, Al Fasoldt Copyright © 2001, The Post-Standard When you send e-mail to people who don't know you well -- or who don't know you at all -- you're slipping something underneath the door of another person's life. You need to make a good impression; otherwise, you might be misjudged. This is a good idea. Nobody could argue with it. Yet many of you turn this sort of civil behavior on its head. Many of you seem to have lost your manners. Instead of putting your own good name on your mail, many of you send mail that has no visible identification on it at all. Of the hundreds of letters I get every day, I get at least a dozen from no one in particular -- from people without names, from correspondents who apparently can't be bothered to tell me who they are. There's no name at the top of these letters and no name at the bottom. In the "From:" portion of the letter might be an abbreviation that only a computer could understand -- "kimberj@aol.com," in one recent example, or perhaps a nonsensical "screen name" that would make a sailor blush. I am not exaggerating. I received a letter asking for help a few days ago. The writer wanted information about Windows. The letter itself was perfectly civil. At the top of the message was this information: "From: The Bootie Spanker [bootiespanker@hotmail.com]." This letter came over the transom. A stranger wrote it asking for help. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I can't imagine writing to a stranger for help and putting a salacious e-mail "screen name" on the letter. Here's another one. A guy handling publicity wrote to a newspaper editor with information for a coming event. He gave the editor his e-mail address so the editor could get back to him with any questions. This was a serious event, a cultural event. Are you following me so far? His e-mail "screen name:" Hotmale. (I won't give you the rest of the address. He's been chastised enough.) Hotmale? This was a business letter. Imagine calling a bank about a loan you are desperate to get approved. Your name is John Brown, but instead of leaving your name you tell the bank loan officers to ask for "Hot Tomato" when they call you back. This is precisely what you are doing when you choose a frivolous e-mail "screen name" and send messages to someone you don't know. You're advertising your own silliness. This is nonsense. It's time for common sense to prevail. "Screen names" aren't really "screen names," despite what America Online would want you to think. "Screen names" are e-mail address names. If you have an AOL account and you've made "Biddly-Drip" your "screen name," that's what shows up as your e-mail name when you send me a letter. In other words, you might think "Biddly-Drip" (or "bootiespanker") is just a cute name that your friends see when you send them an instant message. But that's not what it is at all. It's your full-fledged e-mail address name. You are "Biddly-Drip@aol.com" when you send a note to your friend Kendra and you are "Biddly-Drip@aol.com" when you send a message to your state senator. Part of the problem, no doubt, is that people who sign up with AOL or Hotmail or some other distant, no-help-offered Internet Service Provider aren't told what "screen names" really are. But the main problem is that most of us have no idea what is on our mail when we send it out. Most of us never look at our own mail. So do yourself and everyone you write to a favor. Send yourself a letter. Look at it. If it says it's from "bootiespanker" or something equally dumb and silly, change it. Change your so-called "screen name" to an e-mail name that makes sense. You might even consider using your actual name. I know, that's too old fashioned. But try it, then send yourself a note. You might like what you see. |