<p>Woot!</p>
<p>Such an exciting day. Except now I'm agonizing over what to pick. But yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.</p>
<p>An old blog post on what to pick. Any students/alumni with more to add?</p>
<p>I agree with that link…</p>
<ul>
<li>underscores are dumb</li>
<li>numbers are dumb</li>
<li>if you get involved with anything east campus-y, people will call you by your username</li>
<li>if you think your username is unpronounceable, you’re wrong</li>
<li>if you think you know how people are going to pronounce your username, you’re wrong</li>
<li>really though, don’t use numbers, not even ‘logical’ ones like ‘14’ or ‘1992’</li>
<li>silly usernames, no matter how well you justify them, will be made fun of (PM me for what my boyfriend’s ridiculous username is)</li>
<li>but seriously, don’t use usernames or numbers</li>
<li>if you have ‘silver’ or ‘gold’ (or pretty much any other sort of element) in your last name, a lot of people use the chemical symbol (aka ‘agstein’ or ‘auman’)</li>
<li>DON’T USE NUMBERS OR UNDERSCORES I don’t care what your reason is</li>
</ul>
<p>A few things.</p>
<p>-Don’t pick numbers, and for the love of things that are holy, DON’T pick underscores. Best to stick with all letters unless there’s some really good reason.
-If you’re going to pick something other than flast or firstl or firstlast, make sure whatever you pick will convey well for your professional purposes (for example, med school admission committees and comp sci grad school interviewers probably will be humored by different things).
-Make sure that you’re comfortable if people were to call you by your username on a daily basis. (spoken, typed)
-There’s an increasing trend I feel in the underclassman to pick things that are not their name, and there are a few I really like. My year overwhelmingly just used some combination of their first and last names, and although it did the job, I think it would also be fun to have a cool-er Athena handle.
-Although keep in mind that once you come here, you can use Web Moira (a mail list management site) to create mailing lists with @mit.edu. So for example, if I ever felt chrissu@ was too boring for my purposes, I could easily create a mailing list like mochi@ with me as the sole member of the list, so you’re in effect having a double, more “fun” Athena name. In that regard, there may not be a need to claim a “fun” handle as your permanent Athena name.</p>
<p>(btw, mochi@ is taken, and although I’m not sure whether the owner graduated yet (she’s either a '09 or '10), but that was one of my favorite Athena names ever : P)</p>
<p>Why are underscores and numbers universally despised?</p>
<p>Because they look like AIM usernames and are hard to type.</p>
<p>^ You have to hit the shift button :D</p>
<p>No, seriously, don’t use underscores or numbers.</p>
<p>I’m a personal fan of words as usernames. Joe Smuck picking jsmuck or joes as a username is just boring. That said, most people do it, and it doesn’t break any sort of cardinal rule. (For reference, my username is “wings” because I’m a pilot. Not boring. Nice 'cause I’d rather people refer to me as “wings” than “phunt” or something.)</p>
<p>But seriously, don’t use underscores or numbers.</p>
<p>Come on, underscores and numbers can be nice… Ic2U? oint_C?</p>
<p>
Quite widely – several of the very west campusy cheerleaders are called by their usernames. Including myself, I suppose, but I was asking for it by making my Athena username my nickname all over the internet. Still, I am getting my username on the back of this year’s cheerleading shirt. </p>
<p>
Numbers and underscores are also despised because they’re more difficult for other people to remember. My husband went with [initials][birthdate] for his Athena username, but wised up and picked [firstname][lastinitial] for his @alum.mit.edu account.</p>
<p>have any 2014s been successful in logging into their emails with the kerberos names? I made mine but I don’t think it works yet.</p>
<p>Alternatively, people who get to know you through others who call you by your Athena name might not always be entirely clear on your real name. Be prepared. =)</p>
<p>Also, various student groups are also into calling people by Athena name. EMS is a prime example of a group which does not have a disproportionate number of east campus residents but often refers to people by Athena name.</p>
<p>It takes a while before they let you log in to your email. Happened for me too.</p>
<p>Does anyone know how you register for FEE</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Hah. My first name is Melissa (and hence, that’s what my email says). I go by my middle name Piper. My username is wings. I cause so much confusion.</p>
<p>The best part is every time I get a, “Whoa, wings is a girl!” out of someone :D</p>