What Username Should I Pick?

If you're a lurker who's considering signing up, your username is one of the most important parts of your new identity. It's what members will remember you by, it's what they're going use to tag you in posts (e.g., @Zwielicht), and it's what other members will use to search for you on the forum.

So before you join the forum, keep the following in mind when you pick a username.

Prohibited Usernames:

Usernames that imply official association with BHW (e.g., Best BHW Seller, The Dispute Resolution Section, etc).

Usernames meant to impersonate a staff member

Usernames meant to impersonate a member of BHW.

Usernames which violate any of our TOS rules (e.g., sexist or racist usernames).

Avoid Using Your Real Name

Too many people sign up using their real names and then, not long after, ask us to change their usernames to something else.

Be aware that if you use your real name as your username, anything you post will obviously be easily traced back to you by friends and trolls alike.

Consider Your Future On The Forum

Your future on the forum is one you should consider. Even if you're joining now to interact casually with members, who's to say you don't want to start a sales thread later on? Sure, you don't need a brandable name to start a sales thread, but something simple that's easy for members to search for sure wouldn't hurt.

Don't Pick Something Too Similar To Another Member

Usernames must be between 3 and 22 characters long.

Surprisingly, this is a rarely a problem on Black Hat World, but it does happen.

For example, there's a member here who has a name similar to "flipflop", but then someone signed up after him with the username "flipflop1". They're not related in the least bit, yet I used to confuse the two members due to their similar usernames.

You can check available usernames by visiting our member directory and scrolling down to the "Find Member" box.

Pick Something Memorable

This is only important if you want to stand out. A username like, "97898658468467SEO42647574" is... yeah, you see the problem there. Nobody is going to remember that!

Don't Use A URL Username

Any member who creates a URL username will just end up being required to change it by the staff members.

Avoid Foreign Characters

Unless you don't care about being tagged by other members, foreign characters should be avoided.

In the end, it'll be you who makes the username, so make sure it's something you can live with

BHW guide: https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/read-this-before-you-pick-a-username.1060128/