5 ms·

My full first name is Tal. While I'm far too busy with work to engage in any meaningful fundamentalism, this doesn't stop my friends from giving me irreverent n

by taliban 13y ago

My full first name is Tal. While I'm far too busy with work to engage in any meaningful fundamentalism, this doesn't stop my friends from giving me irreverent nicknames that start with the three letters of my name. As you can imagine, this particular one has by far the most sticking power, which has oddly morphed into a sort of personal brand over the years.

breck 13y ago
Fair enough. You might want to consider a rebrand, at least as far as your online persona is concerned. Perception matters, and you might find yourself in trouble for an issue that you have no interest in. See the "terrorista" incident in Boston recently. Or the Duke Lacrosse case. I've seen it happy many times where tiny out-of-context jokes come back to bite hard. At the very least you'd probably save some poor guy at the NSA time who has to monitor your comments. :)
- ajju 13y ago
  I think the NSA deserves to waste time monitoring comments from "suspiciously" nicknamed users if that's what they are doing, because surely the real taliban would be posting comments under their own name, on hacker news :)
- taliban 13y ago
  All valid points -- especially the last one, which in all honesty does make me giggle every time. Every word I write, Anonymous NSA Guy, I write for you <333 On a sincere note, breck, I truly do appreciate the thoughtful feedback and will certainly act on it if I come to perceive that the benefit of doing so will outweigh the difficulty of parting with the conversation starter that is my Twitter handle. I'll be the first to admit that this kind of shock value appears to have a high risk of backfiring (which, mind you, wasn't a very relevant concern 5 years ago when no one but close friends knew my online persona), but somehow -- and even I don't know how, really -- it has led to overwhelmingly positive interactions over the years, especially as people become familiar with my personality and sense of humor.
  - breck 13y ago
    > it has led to overwhelmingly positive interactions over the years, especially as people become familiar with my personality and sense of humor. I guess if you can pull it off, my hat is off to you! :)
- ewoodrich 13y ago
  Perception is also strongly influenced by subsequent positive or negative confirmation. It may not be the best way to open up a unsolicited discussion with a YC partner, but even in this case, it served to induce some degree of interaction between you and "taliban". Which I presume ended on an amicable note.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]

by taliban 13y ago

breck 13y ago

Fair enough. You might want to consider a rebrand, at least as far as your online persona is concerned. Perception matters, and you might find yourself in trouble for an issue that you have no interest in. See the "terrorista" incident in Boston recently. Or the Duke Lacrosse case. I've seen it happy many times where tiny out-of-context jokes come back to bite hard. At the very least you'd probably save some poor guy at the NSA time who has to monitor your comments. :)

ajju 13y ago
I think the NSA deserves to waste time monitoring comments from "suspiciously" nicknamed users if that's what they are doing, because surely the real taliban would be posting comments under their own name, on hacker news :)
taliban 13y ago
All valid points -- especially the last one, which in all honesty does make me giggle every time. Every word I write, Anonymous NSA Guy, I write for you <333 On a sincere note, breck, I truly do appreciate the thoughtful feedback and will certainly act on it if I come to perceive that the benefit of doing so will outweigh the difficulty of parting with the conversation starter that is my Twitter handle. I'll be the first to admit that this kind of shock value appears to have a high risk of backfiring (which, mind you, wasn't a very relevant concern 5 years ago when no one but close friends knew my online persona), but somehow -- and even I don't know how, really -- it has led to overwhelmingly positive interactions over the years, especially as people become familiar with my personality and sense of humor.
- breck 13y ago
  > it has led to overwhelmingly positive interactions over the years, especially as people become familiar with my personality and sense of humor. I guess if you can pull it off, my hat is off to you! :)
ewoodrich 13y ago
Perception is also strongly influenced by subsequent positive or negative confirmation. It may not be the best way to open up a unsolicited discussion with a YC partner, but even in this case, it served to induce some degree of interaction between you and "taliban". Which I presume ended on an amicable note.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]