STL Social Media Guy

A Friday funny: I ran across a guy registered as “Hugh Jass” on one of the stories on STLtoday.com this morning. His comment was perfectly cogent, interesting and added to the discussion on the story.

I saw another one later — also reasonable and polite. There was just that name. Hugh Jass. He took the time to register on my site, confirm his e-mail address — and used that as his username. Some people, eh?

I took an informal poll around the newsroom. Everyone got a good laugh about it. Leave it, they said. No big deal. Don’t ban the guy. I also Twittered about it, asking followers what they would do. Of the 14 people who replied, three were ambivalent, four would have kept him and seven would have banned him.

Several recommended I just reach out and e-mail the guy, telling him that I loved the name, but would appreciate it if he’d use another one. That’s what I did.

Here’s his reply:

Just for you buddy, I’ll change my name to something more appropriate.  How about Hugh G. Rection or Hugh Jorgan?  Those names more accurately describe my anatomy than Hugh Jass anyway.

Just kidding.  I’ll use a more unassuming screen name.  But seriously, are you going to deny a woman named Sharon Peters or Sharon Cox from using her real name?

Add this to the list of things I never thought I’d be doing back in journalism school. And thanks to my Twitter buddies. You can recreate the discussion (and follow-up) from here.

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