Should I Change My Name on Twitter for Halloween? A Discussion

Twitter can be kind of a mean place. Kind of a really mean place, actually, where people like to gang up on others and most jokes are at the expense of someone, somewhere.

And yet, in the middle of this garbagescape of meanspiritedness, there is one tradition that has always stood out to me as being very sweet. Its sole intent is to increase the stock of harmless cheerfulness, to steal a phrase from Charles Dickens, someone who would surely have been a skilled tweeter if he had been born much later. That tradition is changing your name to something cheesy for Halloween.

I have never participated in this tradition, but I have admired it from a distance. It felt like an inside joke that anyone could join. (Although, of course, there are some haters. It's still Twitter.)

I noticed Motherboard Canada editor Matt Braga had changed his name to the simple, but elegant, "spoopy matt braga."

Adrianne Jeffries: should i change my name on twitter to a halloween themed name

Matthew Braga: oh definitely
i am always pro name change

Adrianne Jeffries: because it's good for your personal brand? or just because it's harmless and playful

Matthew Braga: haha. i'm probably not the best gauge. i do it because i don't take twitter very seriously anymore, so maybe more of that latter
i used to make a point of changing my name every few weeks last year because it was fun and often stupid

Adrianne Jeffries: what were your favorite name change iterations

Matthew Braga: oh god. i used to have a list. i wonder if i still have it
i did stupid things like "matt os x" and "leaving mattocha station"
i can't remember any of the really good ones :(

I sought the advice of Sarah Emerson, our social media manager, who is the most Twitter-savvy person I know.

Adrianne Jeffries: should i change my name on twitter to a halloween themed name

Sarah Emerson: lol yes
one year i did scare-ah e-murder-son

Adrianne Jeffries: that's pretty good
i kind of want to join in the game but i'm struggling
i'm also concerned that i might be trying to play a game without knowing the rules
is it supposed to be ironic or

Sarah Emerson: you just gotta jump in
and then wait for people to notice you
your name is hard to halloweenize
adrianne jeffreaks

Adrianne Jeffries: ooh that's good
afraidrianne jeffreaks

I then asked Motherboard Editor in Chief Derek Mead, who was very reckless about the decision.

Adrianne Jeffries: should i change my name on twitter to a halloween themed name

Derek Mead: is this a serious question

Adrianne Jeffries: it might be a blog post
you sort of ruined it though

Derek Mead: what are you talking about

Adrianne Jeffries: i was thinking i might do a blog post about this
based in part on asking other people whether i should change my name on twitter

Derek Mead: what if i turn my name to
ꜱᴩᴏᴏᴋy ᴅɪᴀᴩᴇʀ

Derek Mead:

Last, I asked Twitter: Should I change my name for Halloween?

@adrjeffries Scaredrianne Jeffries
— Spooky Wyatt (@_wyatt) October 2, 2015

@adrjeffries Adrianne Jack-o'-Jeffries?
— Emanuele Zanetti (@zanna_92) October 2, 2015

@adrjeffries no
— Joel and 9 corpses (@joeljohnson) October 2, 2015

In the end, I decided to play along, but memerate (meme + iterate) on the game.

Happy Halloween, follow me on Twitter: @adrjeffries