The name is Foo. Mister Foo. January 17, 2011 7:38 PM   Subscribe

MeFi offers a lot of ways to format "the same" user name, thanks to the fact that spaces and caps are fair game. Mister Foo could also be misterfoo or MisterFoo or mister foo or MISTER FOO or.... So I'm wondering: has a namespace collision ever occurred? Have we ever had, say, a Mister Foo and a misterfoo active on the site at the same time?
posted by nebulawindphone to MetaFilter-Related at 7:38 PM (177 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite

I foresee the creation of a great many sockpuppets for commenting in this thread.
posted by Ghidorah at 7:43 PM on January 17, 2011


I dunno... limeonaire, Limeonaire, and LiMeOnAiRe all go to my profile. So some of those namespace collisions aren't possible.
posted by limeonaire at 7:44 PM on January 17, 2011


Caps don't matter. Jessamyn and jessamyn are the same username. I enjoyed when mathovvie was around, but I don't think mathowie did.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:47 PM on January 17, 2011 [5 favorites]


I dunno, but me and indubitable were participating in this thread the past day or so and it was starting to mess with my head after a little while. At one point we had even favorited each other's comments I think (this one was really awesomely hilarious, indubitable).

I suspect some day we will have a show down, anime style, and we will both disappear as my positive (negative?) energy stream collides with indubitable's negative (positive?) energy stream. Or, something.
posted by dubitable at 7:55 PM on January 17, 2011 [3 favorites]


There's a special-k & and SpecialK too.
posted by chiababe at 7:59 PM on January 17, 2011


Oh and then there was this.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:03 PM on January 17, 2011 [1 favorite]


Don't forget specialk420!
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:03 PM on January 17, 2011


There is a Rumpled, which makes me feel tense.
posted by Rumple at 8:08 PM on January 17, 2011 [13 favorites]


There's tracy and t r a c y. Searching for this kind of thing in the infodump data is hard because there are a bunch of outright duplicates.
posted by jedicus at 8:17 PM on January 17, 2011


Along those same lines there's rachel and R a c h e l.
posted by jedicus at 8:19 PM on January 17, 2011


I sent a welcome message to new user pecanpie the other day, but didn't receive a reply (*sniff*).
posted by pecanpies at 8:20 PM on January 17, 2011 [1 favorite]


Are you looking for a Foo fight, mister?
posted by effluvia at 8:23 PM on January 17, 2011


I imagine that you get a personal visit from Matt when you sockpuppet matthowie. If you did it to jessamyn, there'd be a calling card with a star on it.
posted by arcticseal at 8:30 PM on January 17, 2011 [1 favorite]


I dunno... limeonaire, Limeonaire, and LiMeOnAiRe all go to my profile. So some of those namespace collisions aren't possible.

I don't remember what DB Metafilter runs on the backend, but in MySQL's default collation, caps don't matter but spaces and other punctuation do.
posted by kmz at 8:32 PM on January 17, 2011


Oh and then there was this.

I pronounce it "math-owie" in my head and for a moment could not for the life of me figure out how someone pulled that off.
posted by griphus at 8:37 PM on January 17, 2011


I remember discovering a few years ago that very early on there was failure to check for some obvious collisions—possible caps were treated as significant during signups—and so we had both a judith and a Judith, for example.

Also, related, it used to be that in some bits of the UI the caps you used for logging in would be respected in the display of your username on the site, so if I signed in as "cOrTeX" that's how my username would show up, only for me, from that computer. It was cookie-driven, so you could have different caps on different browsers. There was a thread about it here, screenshot evidence here.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:44 PM on January 17, 2011 [1 favorite]


Similarly named mefites, sorted by how much I like them user id:

pzarquon, zarq, & mrzarquon.
blasdelf & blasdelb.
bicyclefish & FishBike.
posted by Pronoiac at 8:50 PM on January 17, 2011


Did someone mention my name? Yes, if you brought the IPA that one is for me.
posted by special-k at 8:53 PM on January 17, 2011 [2 favorites]




I sent a welcome message to new user pecanpie the other day, but didn't receive a reply (*sniff*).
posted by pecanpies


I wouldn't take it personally, she's probably baked.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 9:01 PM on January 17, 2011 [9 favorites]


To be fair when I first signed up I did not know there were other folks with similar usernames. It wasn't like Yahoo! asking: specialk is taken but perhaps you would like special-k, or special-k420.

It was never the case. I didn't even try to look for the other usernames. Had I known mefi allowed spaces I would probably have taken special k (it just doesn't sound right without the pause).
posted by special-k at 9:02 PM on January 17, 2011


Also, jacquilynne and Jacqueline, which seems mildly confusing.
posted by 6550 at 9:11 PM on January 17, 2011


I pronounce it "math-owie" in my head and for a moment could not for the life of me figure out how someone pulled that off.

I don't think how you pronounce it makes a difference... they pulled it off with a space, right?
posted by mdn at 9:12 PM on January 17, 2011 [1 favorite]


what are you all doing in my living room?
posted by The Bizzaro Whelk at 9:14 PM on January 17, 2011


I know that people have confused Edgewise and me on a number of occasions...
posted by edgeways at 9:15 PM on January 17, 2011




I was amused awhile back to see Obscure Reference and ObscureReferenceMan in the same thread. NOT SO OBSCURE NOW.

I've also been confused with Rhomboid at least once.
posted by Rhaomi at 9:37 PM on January 17, 2011


I spent a long time worrying that people were going to think I was some reaction to wendell. Luckily everything ended mel.
posted by mendel at 9:49 PM on January 17, 2011 [14 favorites]


I never thought to check but I see now that there is quiteliterally a nonliteral.
posted by unliteral at 9:58 PM on January 17, 2011


I've mentioned it before, but seeing a comment or post by knz always throws me a little bit.
posted by kmz at 10:13 PM on January 17, 2011


special-k: "18Did someone mention my name? Yes, if you brought the IPA that one is for me"

[aɪ ɑlweɪz briŋ ... ow]
posted by iamkimiam at 10:20 PM on January 17, 2011 [14 favorites]


I've been confused before seeing threeturtles in a thread. Thankfully neither of us are too prolific.
posted by threeants at 10:22 PM on January 17, 2011


bananafish and banannafish

The former and I are both volunteers with the same organization; the latter is on my tumblr friends list. Also in my first spelling bee ever I misspelled banana as "banna" (come on, I was six) and so the latter kinda just makes me relive that shame all over again.

But the more J.D. Salinger references, the better, I say.
posted by sarahnade at 10:24 PM on January 17, 2011 [1 favorite]


I'm still bitter about Nomad stealing the nice short login.
posted by restless_nomad at 10:33 PM on January 17, 2011


The I-jacking thread from early 2001 is amusing reading on the subject.
posted by judith at 10:39 PM on January 17, 2011 [1 favorite]


I admit to sometimes experiencing a mild twinge when I see a comment by bitteroldman.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 10:50 PM on January 17, 2011


Fortunately no one has registered 'saliva' yet.
posted by salvia at 10:55 PM on January 17, 2011 [4 favorites]


there is a thparkth that I was never quite sure about, though I have no reason to doubt honourable intentions.
posted by Sparx at 11:16 PM on January 17, 2011 [1 favorite]


Whenever I meet someone with the same name as me I challenge them to a duel.
posted by zephyr_words at 11:31 PM on January 17, 2011


ahhh they know you're just blowin' smoke
posted by Potomac Avenue at 12:23 AM on January 18, 2011


I have never had sexual relations with that zephyr.
posted by smoke at 12:33 AM on January 18, 2011 [16 favorites]


Please clarify.

zephyr_le
zephyr_words
zephyr325
zephyrbill
Zephyrial
zephyrian
posted by Elmore at 12:50 AM on January 18, 2011


Seems I am almost alone in having a distinct and non-confusing handle here.
posted by Brave New Meatbomb at 1:03 AM on January 18, 2011


Yeah, me too.
posted by Meatbomb at 1:04 AM on January 18, 2011 [4 favorites]


There is a tile shop near my house called TILES EXPO. There is a major annual sex convention in Perth called SEXPO.

Cop that, Amerikkaa.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 1:36 AM on January 18, 2011 [2 favorites]


As I say in my profile, I'm not related to IndigoJones or IndigoSkye. Dunno if we've ever been confused for each other, though.
posted by IndigoRain at 1:58 AM on January 18, 2011


davey_darling: " Here's a little blast from the MeTa past covering this very topic."

the 2nd comment in that thread is by null terminated and I very nearly started to cry.

posted by IndigoRain at 2:00 AM on January 18, 2011 [7 favorites]


There's me and then there's bardophile who seems like an upstanding person. And there's bardophile2 -- not sure what's up with that.
posted by bardic at 2:54 AM on January 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


I was quite pleased when box started collecting all the boxes in his contacts.
posted by bobobox at 3:45 AM on January 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


ShawnStruck always makes me pause and go....wait did I make that comment?
posted by ShawnString at 4:11 AM on January 18, 2011


I like to pretend that amtho and arco are distant relatives.
posted by amro at 4:20 AM on January 18, 2011


No fixed wheels or freewheels yet.
posted by fixedgear at 4:20 AM on January 18, 2011


I keep waiting for someone to show up claiming to be the original panacea.
posted by anotherpanacea at 4:45 AM on January 18, 2011


When I am tired I get quite confused by seeing matty show up.
posted by motty at 4:47 AM on January 18, 2011


There was this incident, which is why we can't have HTML entities.
posted by TedW at 5:02 AM on January 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


When ouke posts in a thread I want to post in I get this brief twitch feeling that the thread is too small for the both of us. That I unwittingly become part of a comic duo ouke and jouke and any gravitas I aim for in my comments is instantly turned into unintended drollness.
Well, at least there isn't a Frouke or Bauke on mefi. Which are real Dutch first names as well.
And I rarely go for gravitas on mefi anyway.
posted by jouke at 5:02 AM on January 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


This is part of the reason I went with my name, figured it wouldn't mixed up with anything.

However, blue beetle and I (and one another account I think) have the same initials and people have used them for both of us, so that occassionally gets confusing.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:06 AM on January 18, 2011


In a different sense, I quite enjoy seeing posts by Gamera. Not enough kaiju around here, if you ask me.
posted by Ghidorah at 5:44 AM on January 18, 2011


There is a sharkfu.
posted by smackfu at 5:51 AM on January 18, 2011


blasdelf & blasdelb are related.

There is no John Lewis as a username, for which I am grateful, although there are at least two users named John Lewis in real life. I stay out of threads they're in.
posted by OmieWise at 6:02 AM on January 18, 2011


MrZero and mrzer0
posted by ellenaim at 6:21 AM on January 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


BRB, off to register jɐssamyn
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 6:21 AM on January 18, 2011


or maybe jɐssamyn ★
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 6:22 AM on January 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


are you with me, dr. foo?
or are you really just a sock puppet of the mefite that i once knew?
posted by the aloha at 6:28 AM on January 18, 2011 [3 favorites]


Are you looking for a Foo fight, mister?

No, he's looking for a complication.
posted by octobersurprise at 6:29 AM on January 18, 2011


I know that people have confused Edgewise and me on a number of occasions...

I think this used to happen with zambrano and me, but that's less of an issue these days.
posted by zamboni at 6:34 AM on January 18, 2011


Oh, in addition to tracy and t r a c y there's also tracy! (exclamation in original).
posted by jedicus at 6:47 AM on January 18, 2011


Wasn't there some controversy over Unicode usernames a while back, which allowed usernames to appear to be duplicated, even though the actual characters themselves were different?
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 7:00 AM on January 18, 2011


Wasn't there some controversy over Unicode usernames a while back

I think so, yeah. Before the database was so robust [i.e. did error checking and the like] I seem to recall that we actually did have people with the exact same registered usernames, though it's one of those hazy memory things that I may have dreamed instead. But yeah there were ways of registering usernames that used letters that, for example, looked just like an a but were really something else weird in Unicode-speak. Hope my technical explanations aren't too confusing for people.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:18 AM on January 18, 2011


You can take my username but you can't take my FREEEEEEEDOM

(then a lot of dudes die in a fight)
posted by caution live frogs at 7:19 AM on January 18, 2011 [2 favorites]


There's me and No1UKnow
posted by nooneyouknow at 7:35 AM on January 18, 2011


GregNog and Greg_Ace (I haven't ever confused them, though)
Devils Rancher and DevilsAdvocate (I've gotten them mixed up before)
posted by ocherdraco at 7:41 AM on January 18, 2011


I have eyed infinite intimation like the eyeballkid when he/she/it first showed up
posted by infini at 7:50 AM on January 18, 2011


I own both anastasia and anastasiav because I was a dork who forgot she had a login, so made another one. Apparently the time between March and November 2001 was a very long time....

This was, of course, back in the very mists of time when accounts were free and available just by signing up.
posted by anastasiav at 7:52 AM on January 18, 2011


Devils Rancher and DevilsAdvocate (I've gotten them mixed up before)

So have I.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 7:52 AM on January 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


I always get Dermot Mulroney and Dylan McDermott confused and am glad neither of them are on Metafilter as it would get embarrassing to keep forgetting who was who.
posted by MuffinMan at 7:54 AM on January 18, 2011 [7 favorites]


Occasionally I see a MetaTalk about all these people wanting to meet up with me...
posted by Pax at 8:03 AM on January 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


I can't tell Bill Paxton from Bill Pullman!
posted by Mister_A at 8:09 AM on January 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


So I just call them both "The New Dennis Quaid."
posted by Mister_A at 8:09 AM on January 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


No one's been foolish enough to register twentyfour, twenty-four, twenty four, etc. If they do, though... it's on, man. It's on.
posted by owtytrof at 8:13 AM on January 18, 2011


I just now got what your username is. I assumed it was an acronym Oh Why The... something.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:17 AM on January 18, 2011


I still don't get it.
posted by Pax at 8:20 AM on January 18, 2011


fortytwo
owtytrof
posted by ocherdraco at 8:23 AM on January 18, 2011


Recently, someone tried to impersonate Jessamyn by putting posted by Jessamyn at 11:13 AM etc. in small letters at the bottom of the comment, and the only way we knew it was fake was because of the capitalization. Can't find the link. Can't do that anymore, either.
posted by Melismata at 8:27 AM on January 18, 2011


Can't tell Amy Adams from Isla Fisher. Constantly confusing those two. I feel like my mother-in-law who thinks every black actor is Denzel Washington.
posted by ColdChef at 8:27 AM on January 18, 2011 [3 favorites]


I spent a good deal of time Googling and looking at previous posts (and at least 6 years of lurking) to find some variation of my chosen name and I was shocked to find no others with the name, as far as I could tell.

It may seem an odd name, but to me it's not so I'm glad I was able to grab it.

I do look forward to the imposters, though I suspect they will never come, and with good reason.

I do appreciate the joke names when I see them, and I like to think I am astute enough to see most of them, but I'm probably an idiot....
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 8:29 AM on January 18, 2011


I've got a doppelganger who gives thoughtful advice on AskMe from time to time.

She's alright by me.
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 8:31 AM on January 18, 2011


I am pretty sure I win. In addition to me, there are users named:

norm_star
norm111
norm1153
norm29
normal
norma
normandean
NormandyJack
NormieP
Normjense
normp2613
normy69 and
thenormshow

I am sure I would have picked out a different name back in August of 2000 if I had the foresight that I'd still be active here in 2011.
posted by norm at 8:34 AM on January 18, 2011


And really, Isla Fisher and Amy Adams??!? I have nothing against Isla Fisher, but Amy Adams is the greatest thing the world has seen since the Unified Field Theory.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 8:38 AM on January 18, 2011


Actually, I should clarify:

As long as she doesn't post any really horrific relationship of hygiene questions on AskMe, my doppelganger is alright by me.

Not that I think she will. She really does seem like a solid citizen.
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 8:41 AM on January 18, 2011


I spent a good deal of time Googling and looking at previous posts (and at least 6 years of lurking) to find some variation of my chosen name and I was shocked to find no others with the name, as far as I could tell.

It may seem an odd name, but to me it's not so I'm glad I was able to grab it.

I do look forward to the imposters, though I suspect they will never come, and with good reason.

I do appreciate the joke names when I see them, and I like to think I am astute enough to see most of them, but I'm probably an idiot....
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 8:29 AM on January 18 [+] [!]


um... you're overthinking this maybeans?
posted by infini at 8:44 AM on January 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


Umm, I may well be overthinking this, but that's kinda what I do...
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 8:47 AM on January 18, 2011


Okay, after modifying my perl script to pick up some more interesting cases, here's what I have from the first several thousand usernames. There are quite a few, so this kind of thing is evidently pretty common. If anyone wants to see the full list when the (horribly inefficient) script finishes running, I'll throw it up on pastebin or something.

mathowie, mathowie?
dsandler, dsandler
jim, jim, !Jim
matt , matt`
Kobayashi, .kobayashi.
tracy, tracy, t r a c y, tracy!
Jeremy, jeremy
jason, jason
faisal, faisal.
Miked, Mike D, Mike-D
sashe, sashe
.jeff, jeff
pb, -[pB]-
Jen, Jen
Veruca, veruca
John, john, John, ___John
jason, jason
ajh, ajh_
geoff, geoff.
Brad, brad!
Jen, Jen
scottandrew, scottandrew
Jeremy, jeremy
another test, another test
sperare, sperare
ericost, ericost
sashe, sashe
Phil Davis, PhilDavis
mrpalomar, Mr. Palomar
judith, Judith
jay, jay
John, john, John, ___John
BigBen, Big Ben
jim, jim, !Jim
John, john, John, ___John
s.e.b., seb
Veruca, veruca
tracy, tracy, t r a c y, tracy!
mutagen, mutagen
spacecoyote, Space Coyote
.jeff, jeff
mutagen, mutagen
ericost, ericost
shad, shad
shad, shad
jenn, jen n.
mikel, mike l
apt820, apt820, apt820
apt820, apt820, apt820
apt820, apt820, apt820
sperare, sperare
a, a., A!
(alice), alice
~rschram, rschram
judith, Judith
jon, ...jon
tbreihol, tbreihol
tiaka, tiaka
scottandrew, scottandrew
Willy-Yam, Willyyam
zal, zal
zal, zal
snarkout, snarkout
bekligg, bekligg
ben-o, beno
ambereden, amber_eden
dsandler, dsandler
~rschram, rschram
jay, jay
tbreihol, tbreihol
quonsar, !quonsar
bekligg, bekligg
tiaka, tiaka
leo, leo.
zach, Zach!
db, d(-_-)b, _DB_
yo, yo!
DrMoreese, Dr_Moreese
b, b.
rachel, R a c h e l
tracy, tracy, t r a c y, tracy!
joek, Joe K
stanchin, Stan Chin
Mark T, mark_t
dave, Dave.
mikel, mike l
.:julia:., julia
who, Who?
jmo, J-Mo
DaveP, dave*p
Dr. Jazz, drjazz
re.becca, rebecca
The Dude, TheDude, the_dude
JR, J.R.
mistero, mister-o
s, .s, *s
persephone!, persephone
Poop(|)Head, Poop(*)Head
Poop(|)Head, Poop(*)Head
simon, Simon!, Simon_
paul, paul!
jan, Jan!
j@b, jb
Willy-Yam, Willyyam
jpoulos, jpoulos
alex_f, alex f, alex - f, alexf
alex_f, alex f, alex - f, alexf
alex_f, alex f, alex - f, alexf
c/j, cj, cj_
D.C., DC
m@, m, .m.
DrMoreese, Dr_Moreese
sam-i-am, samiam
::kemie::, kemie
Jon Dron, jondron
jen_nifer, Jennifer
George_, george
bytecode, byte-code
Rev, rev-
JF, -jf-
aa, _aa_
Rev. George, revgeorge
jade, JAD'E
Rev, rev-
eman, e-man
blah blah, blahblah
JParker, J Parker
adam_scott, adamscott
tweek, tweek!
single-blend, single blend
TinMan, Tin Man, Tin_Man
TinMan, Tin Man, Tin_Man
SAN04, SAN04`
SAN04, SAN04`
m_o_n_k, Monk
daniel, daniel_
Chairman_MaoXian, Chairman MaoXian
[p], p, P'
dig, DiG.
D.C., DC
.:julia:., julia
javaman, Java_Man
SC, S.C.
die katze, diekatze
ding, Ding!
mark_olson, markolson
Adam Greenfield, adamgreenfield
katyaction, Katy Action
almackey, Al Mackey
m_o_n_k, Monk
sam-i-am, samiam
allstar, All.star
cornbread, corn_bread
lowkey, Low_key
Brandon, Brandon!
jazz, *JazZ*
Jeff Howard, jeffhoward
plex-i, plexi
SpecialK, special-k
mr.black, mrblack
t.k., tk
die katze, diekatze
K i m, kim
KoPi42, KoPi_42
Dix Huit, DixHuit
pb, -[pB]-
ChrisJ, Chris.J
peace_out2001, peaceout2001
peace_out2001, peaceout2001
K i m, kim
thomasb, Thomas_B
adam_scott, adamscott
Chairman_MaoXian, Chairman MaoXian
Casper Woo, casperwoo
Casper Woo, casperwoo
k, k.
Dix Huit, DixHuit
kilgore trout, KilgoreTrout
mikeg, Mike G
::kemie::, kemie
some chick, Somechick
Big Dave, bigdave
blah blah, blahblah
breakfast, breakfast!
y, (-Y-)
t, -t
D., D, D+
(alice), alice
[p], p, P'
JohnDoe, john_doe
TinMan, Tin Man, Tin_Man
c/j, cj, cj_
y, (-Y-)
Dough Boy, Doughboy
A Guy, aguy
CarolT, Carol T
smooth_mover, smooth mover
kit kat, kitkat
lawtalkinguy, Law Talkin' Guy
Jon Dron, jondron
jam, _jam
jon, ...jon
mister zoo, misterzoo
skull, _Skull_
underdog, under_dog
b-rain, brain
jenn, jen n.
mister zoo, misterzoo
smooth_mover, smooth mover
bytecode, byte-code
tintin, Tin-Tin
ira, Ira_
tigerlily, Tiger_Lily
sie yin, sieyin
God, G.O'D
drgonzo, Dr Gonzo
D., D, D+
d-no, dno
George_, george
Slartybartfast, Slarty Bartfast
s.e.b., seb
drpepper, drpepper
drpepper, drpepper
m@, m, .m.
tata, t a t a
danG, dan g.
tweek, tweek!
jl, -jl
Domain Master666, Domain Master 666
jl, -jl
Wink, win_k
Jimi P, Jimi_P
posted by jedicus at 8:49 AM on January 18, 2011 [3 favorites]


Everyone thinks I'm a monkey.
posted by mokeydraws at 8:49 AM on January 18, 2011


jessamyn: "I just now got what your username is. I assumed it was an acronym Oh Why The... something."

Holy crap. I never saw that.
posted by zarq at 8:56 AM on January 18, 2011


There is this asshole.
posted by America at 8:57 AM on January 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


You missed the Astro Zombies.
posted by klangklangston at 9:03 AM on January 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


"tracy, tracy, t r a c y, tracy!"

I love the emphatic feeling as this goes on. PAY ATTENTION, TRACY.
posted by klangklangston at 9:04 AM on January 18, 2011 [6 favorites]


The first Astro Zombie isn't until user id 31765, and I think my script is only into the 20k range or so. Like I said, horribly inefficient. And there are a few other glitches. For example, there are going to be duplicates for each match (e.g. the tracy's (tracies?) will be in there four times eventually). When it finishes I'll run it through TextWrangler's "sort and remove duplicates" function to clean it up.
posted by jedicus at 9:10 AM on January 18, 2011


Apropos of nothing, I just have to say that I love the username BevosAngryGhost.
posted by kmz at 9:12 AM on January 18, 2011


The list is going to get less interesting as it gets longer. I was a little surprised that Jeremy and jeremy are actual diffewrent users, but this is an old and now-solved problem [well, except for [J|j]eremy] and so it will show up much less in later usernames.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:13 AM on January 18, 2011


Ah. I was gonna say you missed the hermitoses (hermii? hermitosii?) and of course the cortexes.

Plus this comment always cracks me up.
posted by zarq at 9:13 AM on January 18, 2011


Can't tell Amy Adams from Isla Fisher.

Me neither. I have a few others like that, too, but I can't remember. I think Christian Bale is involved in one of them.
posted by Pax at 9:16 AM on January 18, 2011


Cortices.
posted by mendel at 9:17 AM on January 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


The list is going to get less interesting as it gets longer.

Yeah that's why I was planning to put the full list on pastebin rather than pulling a Treaty of Westphalia. I might post a few outliers, like whatever name has the most quasi-duplicates.
posted by jedicus at 9:20 AM on January 18, 2011


Blasdelf is my brother.
If it helps you remember, I'm the cute one
posted by Blasdelb at 9:22 AM on January 18, 2011 [2 favorites]


My Mirriam-Webster Medical Dictionary says "cortexes" is acceptable. :)
posted by zarq at 9:24 AM on January 18, 2011


Errr. Merriam-Webster.
posted by zarq at 9:25 AM on January 18, 2011


Bah. What does the OED say?
posted by ocherdraco at 9:27 AM on January 18, 2011


There are a few of us who are clearly not as clever as we imagined.
posted by aclevername at 9:28 AM on January 18, 2011


ocherdraco: "Bah. What does the OED say?"

No idea. But it probably disagrees with me. :D
posted by zarq at 9:33 AM on January 18, 2011


I asked Miriam Webster of 22 Acacia Avenue, Croydon and she said that "cortexes" was a made up word.
posted by MuffinMan at 9:39 AM on January 18, 2011 [2 favorites]


OED just lists "cortices", though regularizing the suffix for nonce formations seems like an okay thing to do in general. Not quite as fun, though.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:45 AM on January 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


Blasdelf is my brother.
If it helps you remember, I'm the cute one


Yeah, f that other guy.
posted by nickmark at 9:46 AM on January 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


I pronounce your name Afrobianco, so I guess it's all good.
posted by nickmark at 10:13 AM on January 18, 2011


Dude, way to be headeronormative.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:18 AM on January 18, 2011 [5 favorites]


Afroblanco: "palmcorder_vagina"

"...and that's when Allen Funt jumped out and yelled, 'Smile! You're on Candid Camera!'"
posted by zarq at 10:19 AM on January 18, 2011 [2 favorites]


There's a lizzle on the site, which is what my husband calls me. And I was sorely disappointed to see it in use. So I resorted to zizzle.
posted by zizzle at 10:24 AM on January 18, 2011


It's a good thing he lost that speech impediment and didn't call it "Fandid Famera."
posted by nevercalm at 10:28 AM on January 18, 2011


Watch it.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:43 AM on January 18, 2011


jessamyn: "Watch it."

Some days, the discussions here fly completely over my head.
posted by zarq at 10:52 AM on January 18, 2011 [3 favorites]


No one has noticed this but methowie is still available. Srlsly, too much meth = owie.
posted by special-k at 10:59 AM on January 18, 2011


palmcorder_vagina

Interestingly, this is somewhat descriptive of part of a proposed performance piece by one the mefites on my contact list.
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 11:00 AM on January 18, 2011


cloudgazer
Skygazer
stargazer
stargazer360
fuzzynavel
posted by Navelgazer at 11:03 AM on January 18, 2011


Watch it.

A watched mod never boils.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:08 AM on January 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


The other "filthy" user is a quiet one, and there are a few other thieves: orchidthief, butterthief, HorseThief, and ThiefOfSweets, though all but the sweets thief are silent members. Then there are lots of "light" folk, but only one grubby nabber of luminous energy.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:11 AM on January 18, 2011


Which is why my live webisodic cooking show never took off.
posted by cortex (staff) at 11:12 AM on January 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


pzarquon, zarq, & mrzarquon.

What, no quonsar, quonsar, or Kwantsar?
posted by Sys Rq at 11:16 AM on January 18, 2011


I am surprised that there isn't a dollface or a d0llface or even a dahl_face.
posted by dolface at 11:27 AM on January 18, 2011


Was Kwantsar the same dude as quonsar?
posted by Mister_A at 11:31 AM on January 18, 2011


"There is a tile shop near my house called TILES EXPO. There is a major annual sex convention in Perth called SEXPO"

Here in Minnesota they hold a Horse Expo.

that is all
posted by soelo at 11:48 AM on January 18, 2011


There's a whole clowder of cat-related usernames, but I don't think any of us are easily confus---hey! string!
posted by catlet at 12:00 PM on January 18, 2011 [2 favorites]


cortex: "Which is why my live webisodic cooking show never took off."

I'm guessing there would also be a dearth of spam recipes on Cooking with Cortex.
posted by zarq at 12:20 PM on January 18, 2011


ummm whole chowder of cat...
posted by special-k at 12:20 PM on January 18, 2011


Everyone thinks I'm a monkey.
posted by mokeydraws


I'll admit to not realizing till you posted this that you weren't. I always pictured a monkey wearing underwear.
posted by MsMolly at 12:36 PM on January 18, 2011


I have to say that since Jess got her icon, I now think of her as Sheriff West or Jessamyn Starfish, lead singer of a classic rock band. If only you believed in miracles sort of thing.
posted by effluvia at 12:52 PM on January 18, 2011


Everyone thinks I'm a monkey.
posted by mokeydraws


MsMolly: I'll admit to not realizing till you posted this that you weren't. I always pictured a monkey wearing underwear.

That's drawers, though it could be pronounced with an extended "a" sound and less emphasis on the "er" portion, something like "draawrs". At least that's how the southern gentleman in my head says it.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:56 PM on January 18, 2011


Devils Rancher and DevilsAdvocate (I've gotten them mixed up before)

So have I.


I can hardly think of better company to be mixed up with.
posted by Devils Rancher at 1:08 PM on January 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


There's Joe Chip and joechip.
posted by Bookhouse at 1:14 PM on January 18, 2011


There's another joechip on here (with a space in his name, I believe.) It confused a couple of my relatives on here.
posted by joechip at 1:18 PM on January 18, 2011


Here they are, all 403 or so families of quasi-duplicate usernames. Most simply differ by whitespace and/or capitalization. Here are the largest families:

alex_f, alex f, alex - f, alexf
John, john, John, ___John
tracy, tracy, t r a c y, tracy!

Also, I learned that there's a group of users with the names What?, When?, Where?, Why?, WTF? and their question mark-less equivalents.

Also, my script didn't catch it, but here's a fun one:

maryann, Mary Ann, maryannwords, and notquitemaryann
posted by jedicus at 1:18 PM on January 18, 2011


Aha! No preview, beat by my own brother.
posted by joechip at 1:18 PM on January 18, 2011


I don't know who I am anymore:

IAM
iam2bz2p
iamabot
iamagas
iamash
iamays
iamboris
IAmBroom
iamcal
iamck
iamcrispy
IAmDrWorm
iamfeh
iamfelix
iamgivingyouthefinger-sockpupetrevenge
iamgoat
iamgood
IAmHumblerThanYou
iamisaid
iamjacksamnesia
Iamjoe
iamkevin
iamkimiam
iamkinch
iammissspelled
iamnotateenagegirl
iamrobotandproud
iamscott
iamsparticus
iamstillalive
iamthedivebomber
iamthefly
Iamtherealme
iamthetrend
iamyou
posted by iamkimiam at 1:27 PM on January 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


I thought there might be more than one Highlander, turns out there are none (in the metafilter world at least.)
posted by vespabelle at 1:50 PM on January 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


At least that's how the southern gentleman in my head says it.

Yes, I neglected to say that I grew up in Texas, so the voice in my head was saying a southern pronunciation of drawers.

And that I also assumed the user name was a Buffy reference. Which it obviously isn't, because monkeys have French accents.
posted by MsMolly at 1:56 PM on January 18, 2011


I don't know who I am anymore:

Don't forget the "i am" and I_am" combos!

I am Generic
I Am Not a Lobster
I am the Walrus
i_am_a_fiesta
i_am_a_Jedi
I_Am_Batman
I_am_jesus
i_am_joe's_spleen
posted by Devils Rancher at 2:02 PM on January 18, 2011


> I foresee the creation of a great many sockpuppets for commenting in this thread.

... well, I guess you just saved me five bucks.
posted by stp123 at 2:08 PM on January 18, 2011


My nemesis.
posted by qwip at 2:14 PM on January 18, 2011


Whenever I see Afroblanco's name I think of this
posted by P.o.B. at 2:35 PM on January 18, 2011


Not sure if I should be glad to have illuminated the mysteries of my username to so many of the uninitiated, or if I should just feel less mysterious.

Maybe both?
posted by owtytrof at 2:37 PM on January 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


So this is what it feels like when doves cry.
posted by cmyk at 3:28 PM on January 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


You missed the Astro Zombies.

Narf.
posted by InfidelZombie at 3:48 PM on January 18, 2011


You missed the Astro Zombies.

Oh and my final list still misses them because basically what my script did is look for matches while ignoring whitespace and punctuation characters. Adding numbers and letters throws it.
posted by jedicus at 3:55 PM on January 18, 2011


I still feel a strong affinity towards all citrus-based users.
posted by sonika at 4:13 PM on January 18, 2011 [2 favorites]


There are so many Amy/amy screennames (one of them even named herself "somanyamys"). We should start an Amy/amy army!

Amy
amiableamy
amy charles
Amy NM
Amy Phillips
amycup
amyflam
amygdala
amyh
amyharmon
amyhughes
amylicious
amylou
amylynn
amymargr8
AmyMay
amyms
amypenrose
amyscoop
amyshmamy
amysk
amysu1
amyswinningways
DrAmy
librarianamy
msamye
neznamy
radioamy
somanyamys
theotheramy
posted by amyms at 4:18 PM on January 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


amygdala

One of these things is not like the others...
posted by jedicus at 4:23 PM on January 18, 2011 [3 favorites]


There's MrZero and GuyZero, but we're unrelated. I'm sure there's another one or two that I can't bring to mind right now.
posted by ninazer0 at 4:26 PM on January 18, 2011


amro: "I like to pretend that amtho and arco are distant relatives."

Don't forget amyms!
posted by deborah at 4:40 PM on January 18, 2011


I still curse the user rufus who signed up in April 2001, but never made a single comment or post.
posted by roofus at 4:42 PM on January 18, 2011


What, no quonsar, quonsar, or Kwantsar?

Ahem.
posted by Kwanzaar at 5:20 PM on January 18, 2011


I still curse the user rufus who signed up in April 2001, but never made a single comment or post.

You have to admit he's got a nice web site though.
posted by dubitable at 5:23 PM on January 18, 2011


amygdala

One of these things is not like the others...


Don't rain on my Amy/amy army parade, jedicus! In my imagination, amygdala is a brilliant brain surgeon named Amy G. Dala.

And, yes, I read her/his profile page, but I like my theory better.
posted by amyms at 5:36 PM on January 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


I hope it's not tooo embarrassing that I keep confusing filthy light thief and two lights above the sea.
posted by galadriel at 6:51 PM on January 18, 2011


autoclavicle
clavdivs (dipstick)
Clave
clavicle
clavier
clavis

and

claudius
posted by clavdivs at 7:39 PM on January 18, 2011


When there's one light above the sea I know who I'm going to look for.

I've always liked "clavdivs" because back when I, Claudius came out on video, my cousin (the Butthead to my Beavis in those days) would see it on the shelf at the video store and go all "I, CLAV DIVS", which was hilarious for reasons I don't quite remember (but which might have been inhaled). So yeah. Instantly transported back to playing Castlevania on NES in a wood-paneled basement.
posted by mendel at 7:48 PM on January 18, 2011


Am I the only one who mentally "pronounces" amyms as uh-mims?
posted by Devils Rancher at 8:41 PM on January 18, 2011


No, I do the same thing.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:56 PM on January 18, 2011


I pronounce amyms "AM-ims" with the same sound as the word "am".
posted by Night_owl at 9:06 PM on January 18, 2011


Thanks, kmz. Maybe that'll encourage me to actually pipe up more often.

Aaaand back to lurking.
posted by BevosAngryGhost at 9:36 PM on January 18, 2011


jessamyn, you showed up in my search of "Amy/amy" users (jessamyn) so I'm going to start pronouncing your name as "jess-amy-n" and thinking of you as an honorary colonel in the Amy/amy army.

But, enough about me, the Amy/amy users are nothing compared to the Bob/bob horde!
posted by amyms at 9:58 PM on January 18, 2011


Represent!
posted by AsYouKnow Bob at 11:15 PM on January 18, 2011


a-meems.

infini: " um... you're overthinking this maybeans?"

I totally love maybeans. I'm stealing it.

effluvia: "Jessamyn Starfish, lead singer of a classic rock band. If only you believed in miracles sort of thing."

No, that only makes me think of Patrick Star from Spongebob.
posted by IndigoRain at 2:42 AM on January 19, 2011


floyd,
ffloyd

I think these may both be mine, but I'll be damned if I can remember the password and that e-mail address is long extinct.
posted by Floydd at 12:09 PM on January 19, 2011


Ding! After all these years, Hat Maui.
I'm a little slow, ok?
posted by ctmf at 10:35 PM on January 19, 2011


amy-ems. Like a plural Amy M.
But I was always pretty sure I was wrong and that it was really Amy from Mississippi. (Later relocated)
posted by ctmf at 10:41 PM on January 19, 2011


At first I was bitter at bannanafish but now that I've noticed her first name is anna, it's okay.
posted by bananafish at 11:55 AM on January 21, 2011


In light of this new information, I would like to apologize for all the terrible things I have said offline about bannanafish.
posted by jewzilla at 11:17 PM on January 21, 2011


« Older Mystery Hunter? But I hardly know 'er!   |   It seems we can't Memail disabled accounts, so... Newer »

You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments