Being Discreet AND Discrete: Writing Reviews

[Guest Starbuck]

The thread about the difference between discreet and discrete got me thinking about being BOTH. The first time I wrote a Daddy's Review, I used a handle other than "Starbuck." I wanted to be a little discreet about "Starbuck," the forum poster, by creating a discrete alter ego ... uhh, I mean, a second one.

 

Then I made some forum friends and a couple of them referred me to reviews they had written under names different than those they use on the forum. And sometime after that, just by chance, I figured out who a couple of other reviewers are (guys who also use different names for forum posts versus reviews ... because they are discreet ... and discrete). It made me wonder about our deep need for--well--discretion--in fact, for layer upon layer of it. Most of us probably went through a period of trying to conceal our interest in other guys ... then, for some of us, admitting to it but not wanting to get in to the particulars. And here, still, even though we are anonymous to one another unless we choose not to be, even though we talk about EVERYTHING on the forum, there's still an inclination among some of us to "shield" our forum alter egos from some of the details we reveal about ourselves in our reviews.

 

I suppose Daddy, in his wisdom, anticipated this need in allowing different handles for posts vs. reviews. I guess it was a decision to encourage more reviews even though (IMHO) an unrecognizable reviewer name lessens the impact of a review, whereas a review from a well-known forum poster immediately has more credibility and influence.

 

By the time I got around to my second review, I decided to "give up the ghost" (well, one of them anyway) and sign the review as "Starbuck." It must have been a whole minute after hitting the submit button before I began to have second thoughts about what some of "Starbuck's" forum friends might think about what he/I had done ... and enjoyed doing ... during that encounter. I shared an advance copy with my best forum friend who said that, while he woudn't do what I did, he sat on the edge of his seat reading about it. I guess that was a compliment ... sort of.

 

There's no particular QUESTION to this ... unless it's whether YOU feel inclined to protect your forum persona from your reviewer persona ... or whether there are things you just won't admit to doing in a review (oh, yeah, YOU ... the guy who "doesn't want to go into the details"). Mostly, I'm just sharing my own thoughts about the inclination for Double Discretion and wondering what the rest of you think about it.

[+ purplekow]

All my reviews are written under my pseudonym here. There was one review I decided to do from the perspective of my dog. That review centered around an escort who was particularly in tune with dogs and I thought it would be fun. Eventually the escort had to write a response explaining that he did not act like a dog for the appointment. What I thought was fun actually was a bit confusing and then awkward for the escort. So now, should I write another review, it will be from this pseudonym in this persona. Bonehead will not be writing another review. Speaking of Bonehead, the real one, he is off to the surgeon now with me. Skin cancer which seems to be not too aggressive but they did not get it all the first time so it is back to the cutting.

[+ poolboy48220]

Best of luck with that, purplekow. My mom went through that and came out fine.

[+ Charlie]

When I first began submitting reviews here, I didn't know about the forum, so I used whatever handle seemed appropriate to the review. Once I joined the forum, I used the same handle in both places.

[+ poolboy48220]

I use the same handle for both. I figure if the forum is a judgemental crowd, I'm giving up.