Should I request a name change?

[oniman7]

I've been a member of the site since I was 13. As most of us growing up in a digital age know, we pick some pretty stupid names. My e-mail up until 6 months ago was quakegamer12@gmail.com. Now I switched it to my personal name. My Facebook is in my name, my youtube profile is dakota.potts, my gamedev.net profile is dakota.potts, my twitter handle is DakotaPottsBass, my soundcloud is dakota-potts.

I think you get where I'm going with this. I'm trying to establish my name as a personal connection so I can be seen on Talkbass and easily linked to Soundcloud where you can see things I've done for gamedev and vice versa. Once I get some legitimate recordings done and some other things (like free backing tracks I had considered doing) I will upload them to a personal website.

Should I request to change my name to my real life name to help establish this? Is it worth considering? Do I have any credibility under this name that might be affected if I change it? Or should I even be worrying about something as simple as my screen name?

EDIT: Nope, joined when I was 14, a month shy of 15. But I've had this profile name since I joined my first forum at 13 in 2008.

[MatticusMania]

Your name is Dakota Potts?

Thats a pretty sweet name. I think you should get a horse!

[Simo98]

Nope.


I never use my real name on the internet, and don't do it as young as you are, you really don't want to be held accountable for whatever you might say on the internet over the next 5 years for the rest of your life.

[slobake]

I like the name Dakota Potts too.

[elgecko]

oniman7 lives!

[MatticusMania]

Now to find him a woman named Pepper.

[Scott in Dallas]

That looks like Laura Benanti.

[bobba66]

Change your name to Onan and spread your seed upon the ground!

[oniman7]

My mother's first initial is T. My grandma wanted her to name me Clay

[geeza]

Originally Posted by MatticusMania

Your name is Dakota Potts?

That's nothing. He has two kids named Volume and Tone.

[oniman7]

Originally Posted by geeza

That's nothing. He has two kids named Volume and Tone.

Those are their middle names. Volume's first name is Max

[matante]

Originally Posted by Simo98

Nope.


I never use my real name on the internet, and don't do it as young as you are, you really don't want to be held accountable for whatever you might say on the internet over the next 5 years for the rest of your life.

+1000

[eyeballkid]

Originally Posted by bobba66

Change your name to Onan and spread your seed upon the ground!

LMAO!!

[Ripper]

Meh, This is actually the only forum that I have the name Ripper on. Ironic, as I don't own a Ripper bass, and didn't know they existed before I joined here, and you'd figure someone would have snapped that up before me (like, well, every other forum where I go by AxelRipper)

[oniman7]

I'll add a poll in a little bit. I don't mind my real life name being used but it's a very good point about being always associated with everything I say.

[Tat2dHeart]

You have to also remember that employers now do internet searches on your name when you apply for a job and if you use your given name as a screen name, posts for forums like TalkBass come up in those search hits. If you never ever say or do anything questionable in the history of the internet, then there won't be a problem, but you might want to think about how some of our friendly TBOT discussions might look to an HR screener who doesn't understand the context before you make your final decision.

It's less of a problem if your name is John Smith or David Jones, but with a unique name like yours and mine, there aren't so many hits and it's easier to match people up. Just sayin'.

[Bloodhammer]

No one wants to hire a musician. They're known for flakiness - not that that's entirely true, but that's how prospective employers see it.

[MatticusMania]

Come up with a stage name to use for your musician-stuff, that way prospective employers cannot find you.

I suggest "Dakota Springs".

[Bloodhammer]

Hannah North Dakota.

[MatticusMania]

Dakota Hammer

or

Chili Potts