When you first register at the Colony, you will be asked to choose a user name.  Please give this some thought, because you will not be able to change it yourself later (although you might be able to persuade a friendly Moderator to do it for you… but best get it right the first time).

This is a community of writers, so a creative choice of name is appreciated.  As are literary references or neologisms.  Here are some pointers:

*  If you choose an unpronounceable name– “~@+oow0W!” and so on – then we will assume the absolute worst about you.

*  Names with an excessive number of digits will also come under suspicion.  That’s what bots look like.

*  A controversial name may give a bad impression to other members: avoid in your own interest.

*  Promotional usernames are not acceptable.

*  Your user name should not give the impression that your account has permissions which it does not have. Thus it should not contain the terms "administrator", "bureaucrat", "steward", "checkuser", "oversight", "developer" or similar terms like "admin", "sysop" or "moderator".

*  Do NOT use your e-mail address as your username!