Re: Name Space

[dmmiller2k]

Whenever I've needed a login somewhere, I've always preferred [what I've thought of as] the UNIX terse philosophy, in which one's initials (in my case, 'dmm') were one's login name. As a consultant, I've found, however, that nearly every potential client has their own scheme for internal email and logins, nearly none of which would accept 'dmm'. I've been 'dmiller', 'dmmiller', 'millerd', etc.

Of these, I started to prefer 'dmmiller' since 'dmm' is sort of a prefix and I can never seem to keep my fingers from typing the second 'm', and there's slightly less chance of a name clash than with 'dmiller'. In 1999 (when many of my colleagues -- other software developers -- were consumed in varying amounts with Y2K issues), I happened to try signing up for some web-based service, which wouldn't accept 'dmmiller' (already taken!). In frustration, I appended '2k' and it was accepted.

Since then, I've used 'dmmiller2k' it more or less everywhere; using anything else would be just one more new thing to remember...

dmm