What’s in an E-mail Screen Name?

Your appearance sends a message about who you are before you even open your mouth to speak. That’s why your appearance is so important. Likewise, your e-mail screen name sends just as strong a message — and in fact, even stronger than a physical appearance — because not only can the other person who is reading your screen name not see your appearance, they can’t hear your voice or see your behavior. All they have is your screen name and your e-mail!

Talk about a lot of pressure on your screen name!

So what do screen names mean?

Anyone who uses their legal name is a pretty straight shooter. You won’t find many surprises with that person.

Anyone who uses words to describe their physical appearance is advertising for a physical relationship. They want you to know what they look like — or what they want to look like, as the case may be.

Anyone who uses a hobby or a some other word, wants you to know that that is how they would like to be identified. It’s how they think of themselves. For instance if someone uses Dadof9 as his e-mail screen name, he wants you to know that he thinks of himself first and foremost as a father of 9 children.

Then there are people who use non-descript numbers and letters. These people choose to remain anonymous. They’re not very interested in appearances or how they’re perceived — or else they care very much about how they’re perceived and they don’t want you to know much about them.