Anonymity has always been the biggest attraction of the Internet. Everyone, from pedophiles to politicians and movie stars, have taken advantage of the opportunities provided by being faceless and unidentifiable.
You can participate in conversations about yourself or send out trial balloons about new policies without ever having to commit to anything. Unfortunately, it has also allowed predators to find easy pickings by assuming an innocent guise to trap unwary victims.
For most of us who use the Internet, our aliases have been a chance to play again. To dress ourselves in the clothes of a pretend character and assume characteristics that are amusing to us and others. It's akin to playing a giant role-playing game where the only adventures we participate in are the ones for which we can invent the rules as we go along.
There's an incredible amount of freedom obtained from wearing a mask. When nobody can see your face, they aren’t going to judge you by your appearance, only by what thoughts you're willing to reveal. We all wear masks most days of the week anyway, whether we know it or not.
There's who we are at work, whether working, or hanging out of the water cooler with our co-workers, or the way in which we are with our superiors. We slip in and out of masks so many times in a day from necessity that it shouldn't be any surprise that the first thing we do when signing up on the Internet is create a new one.
How many sites ask you to create an identity? When I first started playing around on the Internet back in 2000 — I came to computer stuff late — I would create a new identity for each site that asked for it. Of course, that meant trying to keep track of who I was on which site.
After a year or two of this, I eventually calmed down and began to settle on one persona and one persona only. The first name to pop into my head that stuck and felt appropriate was gypsyman. Aside form the romantic (notice the root word of romantic is very similar to the name that gypsies have for themselves "Roma") connotations I had a few other reasons for finding that name attractive.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Mark Schannon
Richard,
This article is one of the most moving, touching, powerful statements of personal growth I've ever read. You've taken an incredibly important step in your life, and I wish you all the best and great success.
May your muse always be at your side and your quill never run dry.
Mark
In Richard Marcus Veritas
2 - elsa
Bravo!
3 - Dave Nalle
Very cool, Richard. Welcome to the ranks of the fully revealed - though I'm not sure I would have had the guts to post those particular pictures. What you wear at the Renaissance Faire should stay at the Renaissance Faire. Same (in my case) for Cowboy Action Shooting and any live action roleplaying. Though I have to admit to the existence of this picture.
BTW, you look dangerously like pictures I've seen of Shark...be afraid.
Dave
4 - Matthew T. Sussman
It's always hard to shake off a pen name. Yours clearly had some meaning, but in my teen years I gallivanted about the Internet hiding behind the cooler-than-I-really-am moniker Dreadshot.
And Dave, you couldn't be more wrong. I can clearly feel the presence of a soul in Richard's picture.
5 - JELIEL³
Nice article Richard.
But not all aliases are hiding. I'm as WYSIWYG as it gets. I'm an opiniated geek with an attitude, in cyberspace and in real life. I get into enough trouble in my real life. Meshing my cyberlife and real life would only complicate things. Though I have been thinking about releasing JELIEL³ back to the heavens once I get a a project underway. We'll see what may come...
6 - JELIEL³
#3
Dave Nalle
Don't know about your artistic leanings. But people can dress how they wish and shouldn't be made fun of because they don't stack up to your ideals of how things should be. Infinite diversity in infinite combinations...
7 - John Spivey
Richard-
It's all so very good.
John
8 - Al Barger
Richard, I've said it before and I'll say it again: A Canuck by any other name would still have eyes just as beady.
XOX
9 - Al Barger
Now Jeliel, don't get all worked up at Mr Nalle. Most straight men aren't all that sensitive about their clothing, so fashion stuff is fairly safe, mild territory for the friendly bonding of busting chops. It's a guy thing.
Still, I don't see what Dave's problem is with Mr Marcus' sartorial statement. He'd blend in fine dressed like that amongst the local deer hunters- a little more stylish than most, perhaps.
10 - Richard Marcus
Sartorial splendour, why thank you Mr. Barger. Anyway Dave the hat comes from New Mexico way, definitly not elsewhere, and I hate to tell you but those are my street clothes. Well not the bandanna, and the hat, but the cape yep. (now you're scared aren't you) It's comfortable and warm, made it a few years back when I had to wear a billion layers in the winter because I didn't have a good coat and we were short of funds.
Now I wear it because I like messing with people, and I like wearing it. Although I don't know about deer hunting in it, wouldn't it get caught up in the under brush as you chased after stuff. Although it would be handy to spread on the ground to have a nap on or under when you get bored with waiting for the beady eyed things to show up.
O.K. now, funs over, thank you all for your kind words and intersting observations. This may seem like a big deal to some, but to me, it's just an obivous step, and not such a big thing. Happy to be here.
I'm just glad no one's mentioned what I though to be a scary resemblence to a certain Mr. Manson, but then that might just be the hair.
cheers
Richard Marcus
11 - Barry Stoller
The good news: that you're writing for free shows you're in it for the art. The bad news: that you're writing for free means you'll never "get published." On the bright side, all of us "free" writers are contributing to the eventual downfall of the pros.
Work on your grammar and, by all means, keep writing.
12 - Dave Nalle
Jeliel and others, you seem to have missed my point about costume choices. Did you see my picture link? Richard isn't the only one with peculiar clothing. I think it's great that he has the self-assurance to express himself by distinctive couture. But at the same time, once you choose to dress distinctively you're fair game for a certain amount of good hearted ribbing - that's why I included a picture of myself in odd garb, to point out that I'm in the same boat, as it were.
Dave
13 - Howard Dratch
Richard. Welcome to the light of day. Now that you have a real name you may yet be called Mr. Marcus.
After this article with its writing, feeling and courage, you deserve to be. With respect.
14 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
The mark of the writer - the ability to turn a few keystrokes changing identities on an on-line magazine into an article.
Nice job, Richard. I'll miss Gypsyman though.
15 - Christopher Rose
Another great piece of work, Richard, though if I were you I'd have a word with whoever edited this and let through 4 typos. ;-)
What?
ME?
Pedantic?
Surely not...
16 - Eric Olsen
Richard, you are one hell of a thoughtful, brave and likable guy - thanks for everything you do here!
17 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
Richard, you left me a comment one time along the lines of "How scary is it to see your own thoughts wandering around Belfast." And here and now, hurrah, a chance to fling such sentiments back in your unmasked direction.
this was wonderful, insightful, thought-provoking, all that glorious stuff a fella might encounter in your writing of an evening.
and here's something worth noting - in less talented hands, chances are a post about "i changed my net-name" would be just that. Among the many reasons you rule beyond sense is that you start where lesser scribblers might end, and from there take the load of us on one of those internal, head-mangling journeys has a fella stroking the chin and sayin... hmmmmm. i know what he means.
Glorious, yes.
18 - Richard Marcus
ruvy: Nu, what's to miss, it's still me, still annoying and beady eyed as far as I can tell. Gypsyman is alive and will just be using his secret idenity for a while. Damn I keep talking like this they'll be upping the meds and putting me in a room where I'll be able to use myself for a basketball... so enough on that subject...
Dave, damn right, I have no problem with anything you said, so please no one get defensive on my behalf, although that thing about looking like a fish, I don't know...
Thank you Eric, but my bravery pales in the face of your's waking up every day to dealing with this unruley school yard of a site...
Duke, coming from you that is high praise indeed, many thanks. The wife is from that little island and one day our gypsy feet may take us there, so she can tuck her roots back into the ground for a bit. You now know what I look like, so you have fair warning.
thank you all for your really kind words. I see that I've a reputation to live up to. Don't worry if I can't make the grade, gypsy is more than willing to kick me when I'm down and take over again.
Richard
19 - Triniman
Great article, Richard.
Do you think we'll ever get a chance to do one on Ignatieff? Maybe we should ask new questions, as soon as he formaly announces his candidacy for leader. If he announces.
20 - Aaman
yeah, whatever happened to that interview, Vijay, et al?
21 - gonzo marx
/thunderous golfclap
well done and well said
seems like so many are "outing" themselves...
not yers truly...i hate the fucking black helicopters at night
but i digress...
gypsyman/Richard...no matter what, it's still your Mind and Words we all enjoy...
"a rose, by any other name..."
nuff said?
Excelsior!
22 - Mark Sahm
Congrats on purging a nice chunk of pseudo from your life. Of course, it's a no-brainer: any name with Marc, Mark, or Marx in it drives women wild and makes other men envy. Or at least, that's the statement that my Magic 8-Ball said 'Positively Yes' to the most. ;)
23 - Richard Marcus
I think Mr. Ignatieff is hiding from the press period. It would be nice to ask him some new questions alright, especially if he declares for the Liberal leadership, and a shot at Prime Minister, but I bet they're going to be wanting a francophone from Quebec this time, not one of the ruling class anlgos.
Salem Gonzo, and thank you, the words are always going to be coming so don't worry. I agree it doesn't matter which of me does the writing...hmmm I really have to stop talking like that.
Mark...oh so that's why the wife took the name, here I was thinking it was some sign of devotion or something, while I guess that reason is better.
Thank you though for the congrats...
Richard
24 - SonnyD
Well, Drat! Here I've had this perfectly crappy day, doing sh.. I mean stuff that I really hate to do and put off as long as possible and then end up trying to do all in one day to get it over with. Plus it cost almost 400 bucks in the doing. Then, I finally get time to get on line and check out what's happening, and what's the first thing I see? Gypsyman is really a Richard? Richard! I mean, that's so...so...normal! Marcus is good, has a good feel to it, but I don't know if you look like a Richard. This is going to take some getting used to.
Then you have all these people complimenting you on the post and all. Well, I guess it was sort of (sniff) moving and all that crap. But, we both know what you are up to, don't we? Is there no extreme you won't go to to put off working on that novel?
Now, stop wallowing in all that praise and get back to work!
Oh, yeah, like the cape...and the hat.
25 - Richard Marcus
Sonny:
Damn, just can't fool everybody can you!!! Hey I know what you mean by Richard being a little, how shall we say, boring, but if you like you can use the person's name who I was named for..Rafool, at least that's the closest English translation I can get. It was my mom's great grand father, no wait her grandfather, my great grand father, and it's the Hebrew name which gives rise to Robert, Richard, Raphael, and Ralph...
When I changed my last name to Marcus, I also grabbed Raphael and dumped John (Richard John was just too much for my stomach to handle any longer..talk about normal)
For your information smarty pants I worked on two chapters last night, so bleagh...
Thanks SonnyD
cheers
Richard Marcus