BLOGGER NAME GAME

BLOGGER NAME GAME

Over on my Baseball blog [1] there's an item about players who are known to all on a first-name-basis. Bernie, Manny, Pedro, Edgar. And then there are the nicknames: Yogi, The Big Hurt, A-Rod, Pudge, Junior, The Big Unit.

This topic had been going through my head, and much credit goes to Susan who noticed how various players, when interviewed in pre-game or post-game shows, consistently referred to a certain few players by first name. Why is it "Bernie" "Manny" and "Pedro," yet no-one seems to refer to Jeter on a first name basis, nor, say, to Curt Schilling,Jim Thome, Carlos Beltran, Sean Green or Jim Edmonds, to name but a few.

Another reason I blogged over there about that was because I felt somewhat guilty about not posting there for a long time. And then Doc [2] noted that he'd been happily visiting a bunch of non-politics, non-tech blogs. And DeanOnBaseball [1] was the first one he cited. Note: normally I would link to this, but the permalink over in Doc's blog goes somewhere else, and the main page-day link cuts off at the first entry. So to read it, go to Doc's blog [2], scroll down to July 1, and look under the headline Dysapperances.

Since Doc [2] had linked to a blog of mine which lacked any sort of recent post, I felt compelled (shamed? motivated?) to post.

Also, in blog-related correspondence with Rogers Cadenhead [3] of Buzzword.com, the subject of my baseball blog (and a reference to me as a "baseball junkie")I realized that the subtext of some of what I was writing was a plan to be more consistent over there, and to see about enlisting a few others to join in the fun.

ABOUT THOSE NAMES

After posting that piece about ballplayers on a first name basis, I began to think about this in other areas. Then it dawned on me that there is also a certain first-name-basis around and about the Blogosphere.

Look at the two blog-writer names above: Doc and Rogers. In discussion, correspondence, and general blogitude, both of them are referred to by first name.

There are others, some of them so-called A-Listers, who are known on a first name basis. And, as in Baseball, these first names are used, whether one loves them, hates them, or is indifferent.

Think about it: Doc. Dave. Joi. Marek. Halley. Jeneane. Shelley. Om. Cam. Britt. First names, all. And when mentioned in terms of blogs, there is no question and no doubt about just who is being spoken of.

Note the lack of links -- not necessary, right? If you are reading this the odds are you know who all of the above are, and you know the links. Hint: some of them are found in the column directly to the right.

Following the same theme, there are nicknames or descriptive names, and again, in the Blogworld as in Baseball, you know who they are, almost immediately.

AKMA. Megnut. The Happy Tutor. Rageboy. Accordion Guy. Burningbird (and she made both lists!). Kalilily. The Scobleizer (okay, that's a bit of a stretch, but when you hear Scoble, you know who it is!). Reverse Cowgirl. The Head Lemur. N.Z. Bear. Fishrush.




The nicknames or titles create their own bit of uniqueness. They are catchy, and it makes sense that one remembers them. But still I wonder why some first names just stick, are so easily recognized, and how the cognitive response thing works in these cases.

STICKY APPELLATIONS

Three or four years ago a business associate took a look at my blog, and remarked about during a meeeting, it in a room full of colleagues, "Didja see that site of Dean's on the web? He's got his own country! DeanLand! Wow!"
Since then the blogname has come up in various ways. A friend (and fellow blogger, just across the state line) told me about househunting, mentioned he was looking at a place very near where I live, and told me he, too, might be moving into Deanland.

At a dinner in NYC last year I mentioned that I was the author of DeanLand, the blog. I was very amused when two or three people told me they'd "visited Deanland." I appreciate all clickthroughs, links, and such. But those who refer to reading this space as "visiting DeanLand" hold a special place in my heart!

One fellow, not a blogger, but hearing about this in a room full of people discussing all sorts of things, asked me if I could arrange for him to get his own country, too. "You've got DeanLand, I hear. How do I get a place like that for myself, and can I put my bank account there?" he asked.

There is an area in the UK known as Deanland. Apparently during WWII it was a famous and useful airfield. For quite a while, going back to sometime over four years ago when this blog began, the http://deanland.com [4] URL was unavailable.

Good news: all things come to those who wait and don't lose much sleep over the small stuff. I am now the proud owner of Deanland.com - the domain. And, as they said on Seinfeld [5], I am The Master Of My Own Domain [6].