I decided to interrupt the usual blathering to explain some of the “mysteries” surrounding the name of this site and the nicknames I use here and on the forums. There isn’t anything elaborate or secret and, no, HRose isn’t “horse” mispelled.

The Cesspit: This site is my “repository”, my memory, my virtual workroom. It’s really an idea of space that I then fill with whatever I need and where I pass my time to elaborate ideas and fantasize. The “cesspit” isn’t a negative reference against the mmorpg industry or a “definition of intentions” of a rant site. The term is actually auto-referential. It pertains me and my things. I don’t know about you, but I’m one of those chaotic persons. My room is a mess, but REALLY a mess. It’s really hard for me to make my way to the bed because my room is filled with stuff (mostly paper). It’s actually a nice room and it’s clean (beside some dust) but it’s still a chaos. A chaos that corresponds to a perfect order for me and where I find myself at ease. It’s like me surrounded by my interests and work-in-progress.

So for me the “cesspit” could be translated into “junk”. A bunch of stuff messed together. The images I used on the header of the site are taken from a black&white cheap japanese cyberpunk movie (Tetsuo) that focuses on this idea of junk. If you refresh the site you could see a guy nearly completely covered with scrap metal (or junk) at some point. That’s Tetsuo, the iron man. Which is also a principle: discovering value in what’s considered junk. The reality always need a point of view so that there can be a value. Poetry, in my definition, is a way to rediscover the value in some commonly used words (as opposed to use words that are rarely used). So there’s this sum between the two parts: the cultural interests and cues I receive from the internet, and my point of view. The ideas and revisions.

This is also referred to the possible readers, since this isn’t a private text file on my computer. This place is a collection of junk. Every kind of junk. It follows my interests and my ideas. It’s MEANT to be biased and absolutely subjective. This is why I didn’t want to “buy legitimacy” through a more friendly name. There is no purpose to write for an audience or buy the esteem of someone. I’m not trying to reply a Lum the Mad and create a “point of reference”. This is just a junk deposit. A window to my room. And yes, you can take what you like, if you find something you can use.

HRose: This is the nickname I started to use when I “migrated” to the american mmorpg community. The one I used before opening this site. Originally it was “Hunter Rose”. This is the real name that was then contracted into HRose. It’s a character by Matt Wagner. Maybe you know the mask, “Grendel”. Grendel is a comic book character that is the perfect concept of “alter-ego”. There isn’t just one Grendel, it’s more like a cult, a culture. So each time has its own Grendel. Hunter Rose was the first. The romantic anti-hero. Since I love Matt Wagner, the character and the idea that fits so well with the multiple identities of the online (and non) games, that’s the name I started to use, long ago, pretty much everywhere. Every character I created in the pen&paper games (well, beside “Stephan Scarsdale”, but that’s a story on its own) and computer RPGs had that name. It was contracted into “HRose” when I started playing the Q3A multiplayer, so the “roleplay” name was converted into a “tag” that was more appropriate. And then I started to use it more and more simply to have something recognizeable. Also because not every forum and game allows to set a name and surname.

Abalieno: This is the name I use on this site and it started with the site. The main reason is that HRose was giving bad ideas to people (like “horse” mispelled). Abalieno is a latin world (so my origin) that also fits with my personality. It means “enstrange” and it’s also near the actual english word: alien. It’s that word turned into a verb, to alien. So it has the meaning of “Stranger in a strange land”. Both because I write from somewhere else, in a language that is not my own and because people see me as strange and stranger in the real life. I don’t fit anywhere. I’m like a distorted note in the harmony of reality. I also look a little like Charles Manson when it was arrested, or the cover of Jethro Tull’s Aqualung, just younger. Abalieno also means “insanus”, mad, insane. As you can see it’s really appropriate :)

Innsmouth: This is the name I use on this site to reply to the comments. Innsmouth is a city in Lovecraft’s mythology. Lovecraft is another of my old passions. In particular Lovecraft as a person, more than Lovecraft as a writer. The “nickname” was used becase the engine of the site asked to make two separate accounts. So it’s just the site admin, which is still myself. I use it because I’m logged in like that by default and I cannot change my name on the fly, without having to log out and relog as Abalieno. So it’s for practical reasons and the quirks of the engine.

Kadath: This is another city from Lovecraft mythology. I often use this in the mmorpgs, in particular when I play dwarves. I use this because Hunter Rose is usually not possible since most of these games only accept one name with no spaces. And neither “hunter” nor “rose” would be appropriate alone.

That’s it, all the mysteries are revealed :) As you can see it isn’t anything too odd.

To conclude, a note about anonymity. I would have no problem to post under my real name (you could also get my real name by looking up to who this site is registered). If I keep using aliases it’s exactly for the opposite reason: to be recognizeable. On the internet noone knows me under my real name. So I would be more anonymous using it instead of an alias. If I stick with these nicknames it’s because I started to use them along with everyone else and now I’m stuck with the habit.