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#153311 01/07/06 05:09 PM
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I'm looking for a term or terms--neologisms--meaning roughly "handle" (not "password"), as one's given or nickname in the author or topic column of an index.

Eg, I have two of them, Dale Hileman and dalehileman. David of WW has at least four, including Wizard of Oz and the abbreviations WoZ and Wiz. One has to know the difference between one version and another because the website algorithm treats them differently and each serves a different function in the overall scheme of things

Just as it is important to distinguish between contributions called a thread, a reply, or a followup, one might suppose each kind of "handle" would also have a different name

Thanks for all present and past help in straightening out such terminology--


dalehileman
#153312 01/07/06 05:44 PM
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log-in name, screen name, there are more that aren't coming to me right now. someone might mention avatar, but I believe that's really the picture used, as opposed to the name.

I don't see that the name for the name has much meaning beyond the need for a moderator or board administrator needing to be able to know what a particular user groups' privileges are.

I was thinking that we did this recently, but haven't searched for the thread.

here's the thread: handles

Last edited by etaoin; 01/07/06 05:45 PM.

formerly known as etaoin...
#153313 01/08/06 12:09 AM
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Eta: Thank you most kindly for that link. Now I suppose I shall have to look up a definition for each of the 14 terms


dalehileman
#153314 01/08/06 12:23 AM
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> look up

well, I think they all pretty much mean the same thing!


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#153315 01/08/06 05:39 PM
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In my book pretty much isn't good enough. For instance, "thread" used to mean topic. With the advent of the Web, however, it has also come to mean just the initial question or contribution, while the overall thread is further divided into the first answer or reply to it (which needs a name), or any followup to the answer or reply to the followup (which also needs a name)

Last edited by dalehileman; 01/08/06 06:00 PM.
#153316 01/08/06 05:44 PM
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thread in my understanding is, as you say, the first topic post, and all the subsequent replies.


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#153317 01/08/06 06:14 PM
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Eta: Nonetheless I think Fallible is fallible and they don't. As to "thread,", however,you are absolutely right. I had recalled instances where it was used to mean "followup", but don't remember where. Hence my editing

Last edited by dalehileman; 01/08/06 06:18 PM.

dalehileman
#153318 01/08/06 07:08 PM
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I take thread to mean the entire collection of posts. The first post in a thread is generally called the OP, for Original Post.

#153319 01/09/06 03:47 PM
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I think "avatar" originally meant a 3D, at least partially articulated representation on The Net. Think "Snow Crash" or "Neuromancer." That has been extended over the years to include both animated and static 2D representations. The extension to "screen name" is tenuous. At this point, it's probably okay to say that it is an incorrect usage. But it's not clear to me how wide-spread a misusage has to be before one just accepts it.

Are "web" and "net" synonymous? Of course not. But for many people they are. In my mind it's very difficult for me to not consider this an erroneous usage - and yet, for many people, they're the same.

#153320 01/09/06 04:10 PM
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Fal: Thank you for these synonyms, I will give you full credit for contributing them. Incidentally my No. 1 Son is an IT, says this about "net" v "web":

web – Network, Internet, E-MAIL =NET (DAS) Technically, however, “web” specifies traffic on port 80, SSL port, etc.; not, eg, email [Port 25, 110]. The WEB refers to port 80 traffic designed to deliver images and hypertext to user’s desktop. (WEB is technically not synonymous for Internet or network)–Lee Scott Hileman


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