MetaFilter

What's the deal with your nickname? How did you get it? If your nickname is self-explanatory, then tell everyone when you first started using the internet, and what was the first thing that made you say "wow, this isn't just a place for freaks after all?" Was it a website? Was it an email from a long-lost friend? Go on, spill it.

In the 1990s, whenever I sent an email that I thought might land me in a flame war, I would set up a free Hotmail account with the word "quarantine" followed by a string of digits to make it unique. The metaphor was that it would "quarantine" my email inbox from any hateful responses. If a flame war developed, I would simply never check that account again.

One day in 1999, a disagreement escalated very quickly, and half a dozen people were looped into a flame war accusing me of being a vile person for all sorts of reasons. And, frothing at the mouth, I paused before clicking to send my response. It occurred to me that I didn't have to be in a flame war. I didn't have to let things escalate. I didn't have to take the bait. It was the first time I made a conscious decision not to engage in an online argument.

And I realized that maybe I had misused the metaphor. If you are arguing with people from an anonymous account because you don't want to hear their responses, the right word for that is not quarantine, it's cowardice.

The experience stuck with me. When I joined MetaFilter in 2002, I chose "quarantine" as my screen name because of this memory. It is a constant reminder to myself of the value of keeping a clear head in online debates, of being respectful, of being able to point to something and say "I said that, and I'm proud of it."

As to the other question: my first website went online summer of 1995.