Tim Richardson

Melbourne, Australia

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How to name your child (the IPv6 version)

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There is a principle when naming a programming project: go for something obscure and unique, because it works better at Google.

I've been an internet user for a while (I remember gopher). I have "timrichardson" at yahoo, and I had my pick of timrichardson domains, except for timrichardson.com. But as each year goes by, there's more of me around. I've had to resort to te.richardson at Google, and I recently received a lot of emails updating me of my roster to teach yoga in California because Teri Richardson has almost the same gmail address. I've learnt a lot about second hand cars prices in Arizona, also due to Teri Richardson (the same one, I speculate). Google tells me that yoga-teacher Teri lived in NYC: I've constructed a mental image of her trek from New York to a new future in California ... she makes it to Arizona, but the car breaks down. Eventually she makes it. But all along the interstate, she forgets the only thing separating us in cyberspace: the magic "4" at the end of her email address. (yes, teri richardson became terichardson4 and periods aren't significant @gmail).

Years ago, I could have constructed an internet name for myself: "MiteyRokCrusher" (for example) and used that everywhere. But I didn't. I go under my real name, which is increasingly ubiquitous anyway. There is even a Tim Richardson in Melbourne who could be fairly easily mistaken for me. What I should have done is is constructed a hybrid: a name and some unique identifier: timrich121268 would do the trick. However, it's too late for me. My ID is factured all across the internet, because I didn't want it to be.

Faced with a awareness that globalisation means a greater problem in the human name space, our kids have three given names. Our version of IPV6. This for sure helps. However, I'd like something short. I'l blog my solution when I craft it, test it and secure it. At least I don't need to worry about password complexity: Xav (5) changed the password for his Ubuntu laptop to one of 17 characters.


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Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 September 2010 19:08