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Hi - This is perhaps not so much a question as sharing of thoughts and questions that ran through my head before doing something as seemingly simple as joining an IRC. I am guessing other women may have similar thoughts, so I thought it might be useful to share. I have never participated in an IRC, so I am looking at #libtechwomen as a place to get started. I have looked at the IRC info I found linked on the code4lib wiki (specifically http://www.irchelp.org/irchelp/new2irc.html#detail and http://code4lib.org/irc/faq, in case I have missed something useful). Before joining, I need to create a user name. I am trying to decide what I should use as a user name and so wonder whether I should use my obviously female first name. I am wondering if the IRC nickname is used only within this one IRC, how long lasting it is, how public the name is etc. I looked at the list of names http://www.code4lib.org/node/87 and saw that most (but not all) people listed were men (which honestly is a bit off putting). My twitter handle (wendyrlibrarian) uses my first name, so I am clearly not opposed to using it publicly, but I know in many tech areas women tend to uses names that do not show themselves as obviously female. I have no concerns about representing myself as a woman in the code4lib community. It just isn't clear to me if the same user name would typically be used in multiple groups. (At this time, I don't see myself joining anything other than the #libtechwomen or #code4lib channel so I am not too concerned about this aspect). Wendy Robertson Digital Scholarship Librarian * The University of Iowa Libraries 1015 Main Library * Iowa City, Iowa 52242 [log in to unmask] * 319-335-5821