ThinkingSkull.com

According to my records, I’ve been on-line since 09/30/1995 (don’t ask me how I know that), and for nearly all of that time I went by the “handle” or ID of “The Crystal Lich.” For those who know me or are in the know, the monster I’m referring to is an undead spellcaster who has, through spells and such, made himself immortal to continue his pursuit of magical knowledge and power… or, in my case, ‘Net knowledge and power.

Back in those days (mostly on AOL and IRC), anominity was all the rage. No one was known by their “real life” name, and trust came with repeated contact and quality of how you treated others (after all, you never knew if the person you were talking to was really the same person with another identity). As the Internet grew and became mainstream, the “secret identities” went out out as the mundanes started asking, “Well, if your opinion is legitimate and you stand by it, why are you hiding who you are?”

And slowly, real faces began to emerge from behind altered celebrity pictures and clever pseudonyms. And then the came spam, and with spam the scams, the worms, the viruses, the trojans, and the rootkits. There was identity theft, there were hacks, and there were cyber-terrorists who, if left unchecked, would become every bit as deadly as their real-life counterparts.

Then came the “blogs” and the popularity of the social networks and the glory of remaining anonymous again. Places like Friendster and MySpace started encouraging anominity because the knowledgeable few took advantage of innocent young and have learned the usefulness of a friendly white lie. Anyone who doesn’t understand this likely doesn’t lock their doors nor changes their passwords and likely has their PIN number written on their ATM card.

“The Crystal Lich” was a relic of the Old Guard, of which there are very few still remain. With video blogs, podcasts, and new venues for self-created content, “Grim D. Reaper” has emerged as The Lich’s replacement and the new identity to fit into a new online environment carry MovieCrypt.com onward (that is, for as long as anyone still cares about one undead guy’s opinion).