Comments on: A Matter of Identity

By: The Wall and the Well | Bradley Robb - Known Human

The Wall and the Well | Bradley Robb - Known Human — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 19:05:31 +0000

[...] wanted to write a big one. A post that ties together two of my posts (here and here), and a conversation that I’d engaged in earlier in the day at ND&P’s blog and on [...]

By: P. Bradley Robb

P. Bradley Robb — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 01:47:52 +0000

Inferior nothing. My comments are carefully controlled. And maybe if you’d digg a brother’s article, he’d allow videos.

By: Shell

Shell — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 23:03:40 +0000

I tried to embed a video clip but your inferior blog template rejected it. Poor form.

By: Shell

Shell — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 23:01:51 +0000

Hey, this guy Rob Roy looks like you too. I guess all Scotsman look alike.

By: P. Bradley Robb

P. Bradley Robb — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:45:41 +0000

Yes, but your dad uses that to his advantage. I’ve heard him make dinner reservations using his full name and let people assume he’s the actor from friends.

By: P. Bradley Robb

P. Bradley Robb — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:39:02 +0000

Where was I going with that? Oh, yes, because the internet largely flattens the Earth (in the Thomas Friedman sense of the phrase), the concept of personal identity by names is something so much harder to do. And I feel your pain on those who have more common names. I never thought mine was too common, save for sharing a last name with one of the Senators from my state growing up. The question is, if we start to move more things online, are names going to be relegated to a first came, first served basis, or will all the John Smiths be treated equally?

By: P. Bradley Robb

P. Bradley Robb — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:35:38 +0000

I’m lucky, I guess that I go by my middle name, as the my first name taken long ago. If I didn’t, I’d have to come up with some crazy internet name for myself that would be indistinguishable from my website. And, it would probably have to involve robots, my sworn enemy.

By: George Perry

George Perry — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:35:07 +0000

How do you think my dad feels? Try searching for his name some time.

By: Rob Gokee

Rob Gokee — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:28:34 +0000

The advent of the internet, and marketing myself in it’s world, has, for the first time, made me glad my last name is Rob Gokee. I think I found one other, somewhere on Facebook. I did not friend request him, or start a group called “The Rob Gokees.”

When I started marketing myself as a small business, I first went by RVG Productions (my initials) and quickly found that there was a porn DVD company by the same name. I quickly changed it.

Thanks for the post.