Incognito - Chatting in Disguise

There are times when a chatter - or a chat host - logs into the chat rooms with a nickname unfamiliar to regular chatters. The most common reason for this is to ask for support without having the other chatters bringing their previous knowledge of you into the conversation. This "going incognito" is perfectly okay in most situations - as long as you're not disguising yourself so you can bash other chatters. Almost any name you want to pick is okay - the exceptions are vulgar names, triggery names, and names that are very close to another chatter's name. For example, we heard that that there was a 'summer_song' in the room recently. That was not SummerHOST, whose off-duty name is summersong. Masquerading as someone else is definitely not something we approve of.

However, if you choose to go incognito, there are some things you have to remember. The most important is that you can make other chatters uncomfortable if they think you are a stranger but you speak with your usual familiarity with the chat room. At times, nervous chatters have even attacked regular chatters in disguise. "Who the hell are YOU to be telling me [whatever it is the incognito person is saying]??!!" So understand that if you don't want people to know who you are, do not behave as if you know things about them that a new chatter could not know.

And that works both ways. If you are incognito, don't be offended when someone you know doesn't open up to you - because that person doesn't recognize you. As one of our Hosts said, "I don't have special spidey sense that tells me who you are when you are using a different name." Don't be offended when you are asked to change a triggery name. Don't be offended if a chat host tells you to stop talking negatively about another chatter, no matter what the circumstances.

There can be rewards for going incognito in chat, but also a lot of risks. Your chat friends may feel betrayed if they learn who you are. They may feel that you were engaging in trickery or eavesdropping on them. If you choose to take a second identity, use it wisely, so that neither you nor anyone else is hurt.