Need advice - Should I change my DU name and start over with 1 post and as a brand new name?

[kerry-is-my-prez]

I need to get a star and don't want it applied to a name I want to change. Obviously Kerry-is-my-prez is out of date, chosen when Bush stole the election from Kerry.

If I change it, I need some name suggestions. I'm a female who lives in Florida, graduated from the University of Michigan, am a Social Worker/therapist and changed from being an Independent to a Repub. (ugh, so embarrassed) to a Dem. for good after the Clarence Thomas nomination.

How hard is it to change your name under your current account?

[royable]

1. Just a thought for a user name...FL4Ford?

I could probably come up with others as well...

[kerry-is-my-prez]

5. Good suggestion except that might also be time sensitive too.

[royable]

8. True.... I wasn't thinking.

See my other comment below.

[Harker]

2. You might wait...

Who knows?

[Algernon Moncrieff]

3. I did

I thought Skinner would do Name Change Amnesty in 2012. He didn't.

My word of warning - those first 500 posts or so get a lot of hostility and suspicion.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

4. I used to be gore-is-my-prez back in 2000 or 2001 with a LOT more posts but had to change it

Lesson now learned.

[royable]

7. I've been on here for 10 years, with just over 200 posts, and following it for years before that.

The suspicion seems to have died down after about 50 posts. On about my third post I was very harshly accused of being a troll, which really soured me, and has kept my posting to a minimum, and always made me extremely wary of what I say when I do speak up.

It seems that people are even more accusatory these days, and probably with good cause, what with all the real trolls out there.

If there is no way to change your user name in your existing account, I guess I'd say to kerry-is-my-prez, why not keep a user name you are known by? It's an indicator of your history, your background and experiences, as you indicated in your OP.

On the other hand, if you post very frequently, the first 500 posts will be over quickly and you'll be more in the clear if you decide to create a new account name.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

10. Maybe I should change it back to gore-is-my-prez because that's my REAL history and the reason

I joined. The Gore Vs. Bush debacle.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

18. Under my old name, I had 10,000 posts (I stopped there on purpose)

Going from 10,000 back to zero is eye opening. People here can be real jerks to low post count posters.

[uppityperson]

6. If you change, 3 pieces of advice

1 pick something you will like that won't age poorly, obvious advice to you.
2 abandon your old account totally, admin instructions
3 put your old name in your profile for at least a bit, explain why you changed. This can help overcome newbie nastiness. Or let someone in mirt know.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

9. Thanks.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

19. I'd say let MIRT know

It doesn't sound like it applies here, but part of what factored into my decision was that my IRL identity had been compromised because I didn't realize the photo sharing site many DUers use to post images makes all of the profiles public -- or at least they used to. Lesson learned.

[red dog 1]

11. Why don't you post this in the "Ask the Administrators" forum?

Maybe they'll let you change your user name without starting over, who knows?

Otherwise, I think I'd keep the old name, since you have nearly 8,000 posts.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

12. Wow - didn't notice I was so close to 8,000.

I used to have over 10,000 before changing it before. I was kicked off for being argumentative during the Dean vs. Clark wars so that time I didn't have a choice.

[red dog 1]

13. You're as close as you can get!

Congratulations on reaching 8,000!

[kerry-is-my-prez]

14. Thanks! Whoo-hoo!

Guess I'll have to put off the name change thing.

[WhiteTara]

17. so? Dean? Clark?

[sarah FAILIN]

23. That takes forever

It is rarely checked imo.

[safeinOhio]

15. "Thirdnamechange"

Might just work.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

16. Lol! Then for my signature line "I actually have 18,000 posts, assholes!"

[NotASurfer]

20. Or you could roll the dice on a different Kerry running in 2028 or so

For example,

https://www.kerry4staterep.com/

State rep candidate now but still better than who we have in WH now

Best (or lamest!) thing I can come up with

[smirkymonkey]

21. Why can't we change our names and keep our post count?

Does anyone know? My name is pretty outdated as well (reference to W).

[JimGinPA]

22. Yeah, I Lived In PA When I Chose My Username

I lived there 35 years & used this username on several sites. I moved back to Illinois a couple of years ago so it doesn't make sense any more. Not that it makes much sense to people now. A lot of people think I like Gin, they don't see it as Jim G in PA. I could probably come up with something much more clever if I could change it, but I really don't want to lose my post count.