Reuse an identity or start fresh
One of the decisions people do not notice they are making, and one of the few here that cannot be reversed later.
A name used nowhere else
- What you gain
- Nothing connects this activity to anything else you have ever done under a handle.
- What you give up
- You start with no recognition, which matters to a vendor and almost nothing to a buyer.
- Suits
- Every buyer, without qualification.
A variation on a name you use
- What you gain
- Easier to remember, and it feels less connected than reusing it outright.
- What you give up
- Variations are the easiest thing in the world to match. This is reuse with extra steps.
- Suits
- Nobody. It provides the feeling of separation and none of the substance.
The same handle you use elsewhere
- What you gain
- Continuity, and any reputation that travels with the name.
- What you give up
- A permanent, public link between this and everything else under that name, including things posted years ago and things posted later.
- Suits
- Almost nobody. Occasionally defensible for a vendor with an established trading name and no other exposure.
Why it cannot be undone
A password can be changed. A handle cannot, not without abandoning whatever record is attached to it, which is the thing people reused it for in the first place. And the link is not only forward: anything posted under that name years ago becomes attached to this the moment the connection exists.
It also does not require anybody to be actively looking. Search engines, archives and ordinary curiosity do the work by themselves, over time, without anybody deciding to investigate.
The parts people forget
- Writing style. More distinctive than people expect, and it survives changing a name. Not worth being paranoid about and worth not pasting text you have posted elsewhere.
- A profile picture or avatar. Reused images are matched trivially.
- Timing patterns. When you are active is a weak signal that gets stronger with volume.
- The same email or contact anywhere. Even once, even years ago.
What tips it
Whether the other identity has any exposure at all. A handle used only on unrelated hobby forums under no real name carries less risk than one attached to anything with a payment method behind it. But the honest position is that you cannot audit this reliably from memory, and generating something new costs nothing.