I've been using my first and middle names for something like 14 years. I found it's easiest to just be me and helps people remember who I am better. Maybe I'm getting old but I have a hard time keeping the association between user name and real name straight. I do dog rescue and people need to be able to remember who I am. As for the comment about not hiding that is very true. They just did a study recently and found that if people felt they could hide behind a username they were more outspoken if not downright cruel than if they used their own name. It doesn't happen here, but I see it in far too many other forums. This forum is like a garden -- a safe haven where names show interests and loves and are not cloaks of anonymity. So many of you have pretty names its easy to see where your love lies. :) Peace, Jane and the Hole in the Wall Gang Here is a link that might be useful: Hole in the Wall Rescue Photos

So sorry for your loss. I lost my best friend "Rudy" a 12 year old Golden Retreiver to cancer 4 years ago,but I will always be Rudy625 till I cross the rainbow bridge to be with him again.Keep your chin up,it never goes away,but it does get better with time. Dan

Hi vjeanes, glad you found my e-mail address and hope it works. Whether it was the site or my yahoo e-mail, there were several people I anticipated hearing from last sping/summer but never did. I didn't pursue it because I didn't know the reason. If GW or iVillage notified me of the changes to this site, I didn't get that either. Like you, I did not lose any information from plants available or my journal as there was nothing in there. I do plan to post some items soon. I may have to sacrifice some great roses because spraying is now out of the question. Long story. You wrote "Any of us who have ever had a web page know how easy it is to make a mistake that's hard to fix." I spent most of Monday morning fixing all the broken links on my geocities/yahoo website. Seems geocities dropped the original address and changed it to just my user name, making all links un-useable. Wonder if that would have happened if I upgraded to a web site that I paid to maintain. LOL. Garden Web has been a tremendously valuable tool for me and I hope it continues to be as user friendly as it once was. So much assistance and information on everything from Roses to tomatoes. Thanks for responding and attempting to straighten out the User Name condrum. Pat

I like using whatever moniker people list, as long as it's quick and easy to type. Too many letters and numbers that don't "click" in my brain or long, drawn out names, stress me out when trying to remember and type them. I get them transposed too much of the time and worry about insulting the poster. That's why I'll always try and remember a person's given name, if they do post it. I imagine that this is the main reason why people try and shorten a poster's moniker, too. Personally, I like just being called by my given name, Lynn, and in retrospect, wish I would have picked the simpler "LynnNM" instead of "Lynninnewmexico". I wish I could change it! Funny thing, though, I'm almost always referred to here as Lynne (with an "e") for some reason. It doesn't bother me a bit. I'm just thankful for the wonderful people on this forum with good advice, great pics and good (& forgiving!) senses of humor! And I'll try to call you whatever you prefer. (just)Lynn