CDR: A melon is a melon is a melon is a melon

[Tim May]

At 7:26 PM -0400 9/20/00, Steve Furlong wrote:
>"A. Melon" wrote:
>
>>  You're probably one of those people who think that A. Melon, Nomen Nescio,
>>  An Metet, Secret Squirrel, etc., are actually individuals' personas.
>
>Call me a moron, but what do you mean here? I had figured that "A.
>Melon" was the nym of one individual, "Nomen Nescio" was the nym of one,
>probably other, individual, and so on. Are "A Melon" etc group nyms,
>like "Publius" of the US Federalist Papers? Does some anonymizer give
>the same name for everyone who uses it?

Some do. "A. Melon" is attached to every post coming from one 
particular, fairly new, remailer. (His rant goes something like: "I'm 
a melon, you're a melon, the child pornographer next door is a melon, 
the anti-Iraq freedom fighter is a melon, the woman planning to 
poison the water supply is a melon, etc.").

"Secret Squirrel" is self-explanatory.

I was confused by the "A. Melon" usage myself: for a few hours I 
thought someone I was conversing with from the alt.fan.nietzsche 
newsgroup was the same "A. Melon" who posts here. Not so.

The owner of the remailer posted his explanation a few weeks ago. It 
may have appeared here on the list...I just don't recall. Search 
engines should turn it up.

--Tim May
-- 
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
ComSec 3DES:   831-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
"Cyphernomicon"             | black markets, collapse of governments.