Introduction
The first weeks material is rather light on content, but it briefly covers usernames in the activity. It got me considering about the methods I've used to select IDs for Internet services and what makes a good username.
I think a username should be easy to remember, unique and personal, but not necessarily short; short doesn't always mean rememberable. If someone asks me to remember their email address I find it very difficult if it contains numbers. That includes dashes or dots as they are extra.
Activity - Thinking about Usernames
I prefer to use my full name for usernames as this seems professional and people can more easily find me. However namechk (David Gosse) shows that some people who share my name have already registered LukeFranklin as a username on sites like Google, Facebook and Twitter. From now on I'm going to try and register my username with new and upcoming services before they gain in popularity.
I already have accounts for several sites under LukeFranklin and use my website address (www.LukeFranklin.com, or wwwLukeFranklincom) as alternatives when the username is taken. I will continue this strategy even though using my web address is not my ideal choice; it helps promote the site.
David Gosse, A. E. namechk Retrieved 14/08/2009, from http://www.namechk.com/