I have something of an advantage when it comes to E-Drama. I play a video game called Call of Duty with a group (using TeamSpeak, the only way to play online games).  The teams are mostly made up of young guys 15 to 25 (with some variation, we had a vietnam vet playing and on the the latest to join is 13. His voice hasn't cracked yet and he gets mistaken for a girl)

The occasional hissyfit that ocasionally pops up here is nothing to the girly rants of self important sixteen year old "Seargent"s fighting with seventeen year old "Major"s over control of an internet gaming unit (clan). To read (or hear) long disscussions on why this person felt he had to leave this or that group because of the "poisionous attitude" brought in by so-and-so or the dire need to perfect thru practice some procedure that *they* made up the week before does a good job preparing you to roll your eyes when people argue over message boards.

And people wonder why reality tv is so popular.

(Note... I enjoy a lot of quality reality tv.)

Brett Rankin wrote:
"I don't really get the concept of the nicknames being so horrible. I have nicknames for my best friend, my dad, my favorite athletes...all perfectly acceptable. Does this mean I secretly loathe and lack respect for those people?"

I'm with you on this one, Brett, and I'm speaking as someone who lived under a multitude of nicknames while growing up on account of 1) there being at least 3 other Joakims in my year at school, and 2) my surname is VERY VERY unusual. Granted I enjoyed and identified more with some and less with others.
Also, to add to it I've taken quite a few myself over the years – my signature JJ3  a.k.a.  The Mad Swede are two that I'm sticking with since taking them back at the Arena mailinglist, back in the early days. :)

All that said, I believe maybe part of the problem is that English unlike Swedish doesn't very clearly distinguish between positive nicknames and negative nicknames (in Swedish the former would be "smeknamn" and the other "öknamn"). Ok granted that you can talk about petnames (which would literally correspond to the Swedish "smeknamn"), but isn't that mostly between lovers and such? So, nicknames are just the whole shebang, and name calling becomes more less equivalent of being friendly.

Ah well...

In response to Joe Mayer... I'm still here, Joe. And I agree. You don't misbehave in somebody else's home so I too respect JB's wishes (although I did put my foot in it before this thread came up, causing JB to winge a bit (still sorry about that)), but the assumption that GREAT familiarity with a subject causes disrespect is just absurd. Sure it may not cause devout reverence, but I wasn't aware that the comics we read should be our religious faith. I much rather prefer fiction where I can get close to the characters, sometimes even get inside their heads.
And on that note I can understand why some people would object to some nicknames because they're simply not good nicknames. Case in point, something like "Maggie" for Magneto doesn't even make me think of the gentleman in question, it actually makes me think more about the Maggia which was always a fascinating organised crime group - any relation to the Mafia? ;)

L&B,
JJ3  a.k.a.  The Mad Swede

The most useless response to any argument, this side of blowing raspberries and storming out of the room, is playing the "either/or" card. Out in the real world, are you able to behave respectfully toward someone only by becoming a complete sycophant?

No JB, that wasn't my point. I am fully socialised and quite well mannered without genuflecting in front of each and everyone. :)

My point was that I do respect the rules in here as they are your wishes in your house, and I do respect the characters... but having grown up with a lot of them, some nicknames seem no more harmful than those I would give my friends or carry myself. I can remember using some as a kid, and definitely not out of disrespect, since I loved these comics.

That said, there are obviously, will always be people coming up with bad nicknames for bad reasons. It's just that this crowd doesn't seem to be that sort.
Discounting the occasional troll. ;)