Nooo! I arrived on Blogger 3 days too late to get my normal username, “skyfaller”. I’ve been here before, I should have registered a long time ago. http://skyfaller.blogspot.com belongs to someone else… I’m going to see if I can talk them into using a different name, has anybody had success in the past in talking someone out of using a username that you’ve been using for a long time? I’ve been calling myself skyfaller for a while now: if you google for that username, practically everyone you turn up will be me, the only other is the person who owns “skyfaller.com”. The most notable instances of me using “skyfaller”:
http://skyfaller.livejournal.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Skyfaller
Certainly the first page of google results is completely me. This new “skyfaller” looks like a nice person, I hope that we can come to an equitable and mutually beneficial solution!
(Cross-posted to my hopefully temporary Blogger page, http://freeculturist.blogspot.com/)
Do you think skyfaller2 will give up the blog name?
Dunno, as far as I know it’s the first time they’ve used it, and they probably don’t have much invested in the name. However, somebody other than me owns the AIM name “skyfaller”, and if AIM: skyfaller is owned by this person, then they may very well be very attached to the name.
Skyfaller
Hi, Nelson.
I believe I haven’t stolen anything. My choice of the name Skyfaller has been a simple case of affection-translating-into-inspiration; it has been derived from a movie (The Sky Is Falling, starring Dedee Pfeiffer) that I saw and liked.
My Skyfaller account with Blogger/Blogspot has been registered last July 2003. Yes, it’s a year old – although the lone blog entry (dated July 29, 2004) may suggest otherwise. I didn’t have much time for blogging then but since I really like the name I set it up and sat on it – just in case. (You could say my instincts were working pretty well?)
As for working things out – there’s really nothing to talk about, is there? If having an “equitable and mutually beneficial solution” means my giving up my bloggername and address, I’m afraid you’ll just have to live with someone else using your preferred name. I mean, this has happened to me, too. I’ve found out countless times before that someone has beaten me in the registration game. It sucks big-time but, hey, it’s not the end of the world. 😉
Anyway, I’m keeping my username. “I-got-there-first!” sounds childish, I know, but I have to admit that it’s running through my head right now. I honestly can’t think of any firm line of reasoning that would justify my being made to abandon a perfectly suitable blog. *a sheepish shrug*
It doesn’t bother me if the googled Skyfaller turns out to be you as I’m quite comfortable in my obscurity anyway. Also, I’m confident that there wouldn’t be much confusion with regards to this similar-username-hullabaloo. Look – you’re male, I’m female; you’re in San Francisco while I’m living it up here in the Third World; our writing styles, not to mention our writing subjects, are different – really, I don’t think anyone will ever mistake me for you. So no worries. 🙂
….
..
There you go. I hope you understand.
Bye now,
Joy
(“,)
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Oh, and I don’t use AIM, so that “skyfaller” is certainly not me.
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Re: Skyfaller
Hey there! My crusade for “skyfaller” ownership was actually intended to be somewhat tongue in cheek, although, as I am constantly reminded, lack of seriousness or irony is always hard to detect online. I don’t think that most people begin something supposed to be taken seriously with “nooo!”… but things do tend to get lost in translation. I think that we really need to start using a more blatant “ironicon” in online conversations. The grin 😀 that I used and the winky face 😉 seem to be inadequate somehow, they don’t seem to carry a strong enough suggestion of unseriousness to prevent a vague sense of insult.
Incidentally, just to confuse me, my login on Blogger is “skyfaller”, but not my blog name… you must have used a different login but chosen “skyfaller” as your blog name. Be consistent at least! 😉
I don’t really care that much if you have the same name as me. You make a good case that people will not mistake you for me, until I undergo my sex change operation and move to the third world (stranger things have happened). You could say that we live in different namespaces.
However, this IS a serious matter insofar as there can be only one “skyfaller” on each website/service. I have had an easy time getting usernames on websites for a while, because this nickname is relatively unique, and I’ve enjoyed this lack of competition and stress. If we are in competition for registering this name every time a new service opens up, then the name will begin to lose its attractiveness. If you’re not an uber-geek like I am, and you just want a Blogger account, then it’s not much of an issue. I think LiveJournal is infinitely superior to Blogger, and I probably wouldn’t use a Blogger account much anyway.
But if I have to rush to grab my favorite name when the next Gmail comes out… Well, think about it. If I win the race, then I can only assume that I’ve annoyed you, and made you less friendly towards me for inconveniencing you. I wouldn’t really enjoy that sort of victory; I like making friends. If I lose, then I’m the one inconvenienced and annoyed. In short, if you are going to become an active member of the internet community under that name, then I may have to start thinking about picking a still more obscure and original name. However, I don’t really want to do that, as I’ve invested a lot in this name, and a lot of people recognize me by it online.
I was suggesting that we swap names or something only half-seriously. As you say you got there first fair and square, and you have no obligation to surrender it to me. I was also working under the incorrect assumption that you had only chosen this name 3 days ago, and I was hoping that you wouldn’t care very much, that you might want to avoid a name that had heavy conflicts on the internet if you were only informed about it. Presumably a name which is already occupied by another person on everything from AIM to LiveJournal to Gmail to Flickr would be undesirable to you if you were in the process of selecting a name, and you would consider trying something else. As a matter of convenience, it would be easier for you to switch your username at that early stage, and tell your friends about the switch, if you were brand new to the game, than for me to switch away. However, if you are attached to the name, I certainly have no interest in fighting you for it, I was just trying to provide a service and warn away from a used name, and of course serve my own self-interest in the process 😉
Re: Skyfaller
To summarize, there are logical reasons why you might want to give up a name heavily used by one or more other people. An “equitable and beneficial solution” might have involved a name-swap and some kind of insignificant perk I might have been able to provide for you, such as one of my Gmail invites, if you didn’t really care that much. However, any such plans, based on the assumption that you are new and may not care, sadly become moot if you do care, as I don’t care sufficiently to try to bribe you with money or indentured servitude. Depending on your criteria for a “perfectly suitable blog”, you might have cared about the name collision issue, but if you’re fine with me existing in a different namespace, then I guess it is a perfectly suitable blog, it’s not like I broke it or anything.
The point is that my attempt to cajole you out of your Blogger account was not totally cynical and selfish, and I had reason to believe that you might be happy to swap away from it if you were new. Like all human beings with egos, I serve my self-interest, but I’m not a possessive jerk. I don’t mind you using the same name as me, but I feel that your comment paints me as a small, grasping man, who cares excessively about insignificant things such as an internet username, and I have to admit that I am somewhat hurt by your tone. I can easily live with someone else using my preferred name, but I am upset that you seem to have a false, negative impression of me. Alas, I know not how to dispel it, so I will just be emo and go cry in a corner while listening to something whiny.
[cross-posted to your blog]
Re: Skyfaller
Hi again. 🙂
First of all, I come in peace. 😀 Please accept my apologies if you feel that my comment painted you as a small, grasping man—I had no intentions of that sort, really. I guess I just reacted a tad too curtly than necessary? Be assured that I do not think negatively of you.. (you can leave the corner and turn the whiny music off now 😉
It was very nice of you to take time and present your arguments, all of which are valid and logical if I may admit. It’s not everyday I receive correspondence from a complete stranger about something as seemingly negligible as a blog name — getting cajoled out of a Blogger account is turning out to be quite interesting, let me tell you. You’ve made my day. 😉
Oh yeah, you have correctly pointed out that my Blogger-login-name is not skyfaller. It’s actually “backspaced” (the same name/address I use for my main blog). My plan actually is to use “skyfaller” as my, well, alter-ego(if you may call it that) for my more politically-oriented self. Since we seem to have no problem with sharing- as you put it, we live in different namespaces anyway – I’m assuming everything is cool if I go ahead with my plan. 🙂
Finally, I just want to say that I won’t be taking anymore bites of the skyfaller pie, so don’t you worry. 😉 I’m forfeiting my participation in all future games of skyfaller-username musical chairs in deference to you, Skyfaller-Nelson(what can I say? I’ve always admired uber-geeks, hehe). Having said that, I guess you can sit back, relax and consider one less competitor in me. 😉
That settles it, then? It was nice meeting you (formal introductions aside) and I hope to see you around. *insert a friendly smile and a friendly wave here*
Bye,
Joy
(“,)