AIM Screen Names
Everybody has AIM (AOL Instant Messenger). And everybody talks to everybody else on AIM. It has been around since the dawn of online messaging, and since it was spawned by the most widely used internet service provider, it quickly became the most widely used messaging service. One who uses AIM is able to talk to any America Online user whilst keeping in touch with those who only have AIM. It is a great program, one that is easy to understand and follow and convenient and safe for all who use it.
The one vice with AIM and AOL is that when you first sign on to it, you must choose a screen name. This screen name is one that must be approved by America Online. It must not be already taken by someone else in its server. And furthermore, it must be your sole identity when using America Online products. This screen name sticks with you for the rest of the time you use America Online until you change accounts or change services altogether.
Now, when creating a screen name, it is similar to choosing the license plate on your car, save that you have a little bit more freedom. What many people do is try to put their name in there, only to find that some other person (surprise!) already has their name and is using it. The next thing to do is to keep your original idea, but just add numbers to it. This is a fairly commonplace strategy and typically involves the numerical representation of one's birthday (Leland93084) or the year of one's graduation from high school, which is typically the era in which you first got an AIM account (Leland 2002!! Yeah High School Diploma!!!).
These kind of names ultimately result in obsoleteness as when you signed up for this account you probably never realized that you would graduate from high school one day, and forever represent you online as LAME! or BORING! to all your friends and relatives and important people that you would meet later in life. Other people tend to opt for the other type of screen name. Of course I mean the kind of screen name where you think of something creative that only means something to you and maybe your close friends at the time of its creation, so that years down the line you meet somebody new and the first part of the conversation is always, "What is your screen name supposed to mean?"
Therefore, until AIM comes up with a system where one can update one's screen name, such as in ICQ or MSN, there is really no point in asking about a person's screen name, because you will most often be faced with an answer that is either LAME! or BORING! or DOESN'T MAKE SENSE TO YOU! To those people who, on the very rare occasion, create a screen name that is both clever and applicable for eternity, I tip my hat to you, as for the rest of you, here's to a listing of all my friends and their alternative internet identities that I can't remember most of the time anyway.
The one vice with AIM and AOL is that when you first sign on to it, you must choose a screen name. This screen name is one that must be approved by America Online. It must not be already taken by someone else in its server. And furthermore, it must be your sole identity when using America Online products. This screen name sticks with you for the rest of the time you use America Online until you change accounts or change services altogether.
Now, when creating a screen name, it is similar to choosing the license plate on your car, save that you have a little bit more freedom. What many people do is try to put their name in there, only to find that some other person (surprise!) already has their name and is using it. The next thing to do is to keep your original idea, but just add numbers to it. This is a fairly commonplace strategy and typically involves the numerical representation of one's birthday (Leland93084) or the year of one's graduation from high school, which is typically the era in which you first got an AIM account (Leland 2002!! Yeah High School Diploma!!!).
These kind of names ultimately result in obsoleteness as when you signed up for this account you probably never realized that you would graduate from high school one day, and forever represent you online as LAME! or BORING! to all your friends and relatives and important people that you would meet later in life. Other people tend to opt for the other type of screen name. Of course I mean the kind of screen name where you think of something creative that only means something to you and maybe your close friends at the time of its creation, so that years down the line you meet somebody new and the first part of the conversation is always, "What is your screen name supposed to mean?"
Therefore, until AIM comes up with a system where one can update one's screen name, such as in ICQ or MSN, there is really no point in asking about a person's screen name, because you will most often be faced with an answer that is either LAME! or BORING! or DOESN'T MAKE SENSE TO YOU! To those people who, on the very rare occasion, create a screen name that is both clever and applicable for eternity, I tip my hat to you, as for the rest of you, here's to a listing of all my friends and their alternative internet identities that I can't remember most of the time anyway.
posted by Leland J. Fischer at 3:23 AM
<< Home