Talk:Aliases Used in Prank Calls

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Aliases Used in Prank Calls is a featured article, which means it showcases an important part of the Homestar Runner body of work and/or highlights the fine work of this wiki. We also might just think it's cool. If you see a way this page can be updated or improved without compromising previous work, feel free to contribute.

Contents 1 Name Change? 2 Standard 3 Thnikkaman? 4 Goatface 5 Title 6 Goatface Club 7 Linking convention 8 Quotation Marks 9 Sharp Dean

[edit] Name Change?

This is a really good article, but I kinda think it should be moved to just "Phony Aliases" or something like that. Somehow, the word "obviously" in an article name looks out of place in a Wiki. Has Matt? 03:02, 6 December 2005 (UTC)

Yeah, I agree. The "obviously" seems out of place. It should be moved to "Phony Aliases." — _talk Bubsty _edits 04:52, 9 December 2005 (UTC)

Revived and seconded. Plus, Marzipan's Answering Machine doesn't link here. Unless somebody knew about the page already they'd never find it. —AbdiViklas 01:14, 16 January 2006 (UTC)

I'm for the move also. Heimstern Läufer 01:37, 16 January 2006 (UTC)

I Agree.Bluebry muffin 18:52, 16 January 2006 (UTC)

OK, five votes in favor, no opposition? I'll move it pretty soon unless someone objects. Heimstern Läufer 18:53, 16 January 2006 (UTC)

Moved. Heimstern Läufer 19:07, 16 January 2006 (UTC)

Moved back. See reasons below. — Bill 03:50, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Standard

Hey. If you look at the history, I 've had many an alias reverted to an original state without the alias. If you guys could tell me the standard for what an alias has to have, thanks. Bluebry muffin 01:16, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

I think this page is just for Marzipan's Answering Machine aliases. That's what the standard is. --DorianGray

Alrighty then. Thanks! (also, we need a page for not-Marzipan's answering machine phony aliases. There are too many!) Bluebry muffin 01:23, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

Maybe they SHOULD go here... Any names that don't fit into Nicknames, I think. I guess I didn't think it through. Anyone else have a say? --DorianGray

My understanding of the difference between a nickname and a phony alias is: Someone else gives you a nickname. Therefore, "Dairy Queen" is a nickname for Strong Sad. A phony alias is a name you give yourself and try to convince others is your real identity, such as "Cableman Jorge" for Strong Bad or "Sugarface" for Homestar. I can't think of any phony aliases that aren't from Marzipan's Answering Machine off the top of my head, but there may be some I'm not thinking about. Heimstern Läufer 01:43, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

Well, mabye not anything that doesn't go into nicknames. I mean, in Senorial day, Homestar was TRYING to be Bubs' "son". But if he dressed up as Teeg Dougland, and tried NOT to be him.

Example: HR: "Hey Strong Bad" SB: "Hey Homestar. Why are you wearing a Teeg Dougland costume?" HR: "I don't know...". But if he DID: Example: HR: "Hey Strong Bad" SB: "Hey Homestar. Why are you wearing a Teeg Dougland costume?" HR: "I'm not Homestar. I'm Teeg Dougland. Check me out!". Then, personally, I would not put Teeg Dougland here if he ever said the first example, and it was not on the nicknames page. Bluebry muffin 01:46, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

The intent of this page was to list made-up aliases that were obviously fake. It isn't trying to list every time somebody pretends to be another actual character (as indicated in the introductory text). Things like Strong Bad pretending to be the KoT were deliberately omitted from the concept of this page (otherwise it would completely lose focus and become dominated by endless lists of character X pretending to be character Y). So I'm going to clean all that stuff out and get back to the original purpose. — Bill 03:33, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

Unfortunately, the page title change has added confusion. The new title, "Phony Aliases", is actually redundant. All aliases are phony by definition. The original title, Obviously Phony Aliases, made sense: these are aliases whose phoniness is obvious because they are so utterly ridiculous. Once you remove the qualifier, though, then the word "phony" has nothing to do and becomes redundant. I'm changing the title back. — Bill 03:51, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

That is true, but would "obviously" fit in? If it's obvious, why would there be a page about it? Bluebry muffin 23:29, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

Why wouldn't there be a page about it? There's a page about just about everything. This is a list of manufactured aliases that are obviously phony. The focus of the list deliberately excludes instances when a character impersonates another (existing) character, as well as aliases that don't sound ridiculously phony (which may mean that Boyfriend Dan doesn't belong here; not quite sure about that one). If you want a different kind of list (Strong Bad's Aliases, Answering Machine Aliases, Impersonations, whatever), then be bold and make it! I'm just stating the purpose of this list. — Bill 16:57, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

Tis true Bill Bluebry 23:55, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

I think part of what's coming up here is that fact that the purpose of the word "obviously" in the title is not intuitive. As proof of that fact, I note how many people thought it was out of place and supported page move to Phony Aliases. I now see the reasoning for the word "obviously", and yet it seems less than ideal to me to have a page name where you have to read the talk page to understand it. I have not objected to the currecnt title, though, because I can't think of an alternative name at all. Heimstern Läufer 08:56, 31 March 2006 (UTC)

Plus it makes the title sound POV (even though that's not really why "obviously" is there). —AbdiViklas 16:01, 31 March 2006 (UTC)

This page is NOT about "obviously phony aliases". It's about "Aliases invented for prank messages". So the title is deceptive, it doesn't tie these into the fact that the page items have two things in common - strange aliases, AND on the answering machine. - Qermaq - (^T/C)  14:19, 31 March 2006 (UTC)

If this page is only about aliases used for prank calls, would it work to have a title like "Prank-Call Aliases"? Just a thought. Heimstern Läufer 17:32, 31 March 2006 (UTC)

Sounds good to me --phlip ^T_C 17:36, 31 March 2006 (UTC)

Under the new title, has the scope of the page changed? Specifically, should any of the things removed with this edit be put back in? Should the introduction be reworded? Or am I missing something? — It's dot com 03:08, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Thnikkaman?

Should the Thnikkaman be a phony alias? He was in an Answering Machine. And everyone calls him "The Thnikkaman" instead of Bubs. Bluebry muffin 01:27, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

I don't really think so, because The Thnikkaman was already a phony alias Bubs invented long before he called Marzipan on her answering machine, so he (or "it") is pretty much an alias in and of itself. Okay, even I did not understand what I just typed there. Just pretend I said no. — Has Matt? (talk) 02:02, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

Okay. I get it.

The Thnikkaman seems to be a bona fide person in the H*R universe — as near as we can tell, anyway. Names like Sweepstakes Ron and Sugarface were clearly "inventions of the moment" for the purpose of deceiving somebody on a prank call; the Thnikkaman doesn't fit this pattern. — Bill 03:54, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, that's true. Luckily I didn't put it in. Bluebry

[edit] Goatface

"Goatface" has gone from its own page to a huge section on this one. I'm still not satisfied. Why should Goatface be singled out of all of the phony aliases for its own huge section? Aside from the picture, why do we even need it at all? PS. I tried to bring this up before the database went offline, and I didn't notice initially when it came back up. --Jay (Talk) 06:16, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

Indeed. Why is Goatface so special? --DorianGray

Because it's the only one TBC took the trouble showing us how it looks, and it's the one which Strong Bad describe in most detail. — Elcool ^(talk)_(contribs) 07:06, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

There are other names that have similar stories to go along with them - maybe not in the form of a physical description, but in the form of Strong Sad using it in a letter to Strong Bad, Strong Bad calling back as himself as a follow-up to the previous call, writing a song (that later gets mentioned by Homestar), and so forth. I don't think the image or physical description justifies it taking up its own section. --Jay (Talk) 07:37, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

I just noticed this now. I second Jay. It just isn't necessary, and on top of that, as the first section, it looks strange. — גשמלדרברגן (Geshmalder) 12:30, 14 March 2007 (UTC)

Can we get a final ruling on this? I think it should ideally go under Strong Bad, and perhaps only the last picture should be kept. גשמלדרברגן (Geshmalder) 20:26, 16 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Title

So, now that this issue has been sitting dormant for awhile, I'm gong to bring it up again. :-) I don't think this article's title reflects what the page is about. It's not strictly about obviously phony aliases. First of all, adding the qualifier "obviously" is rather POV in the first place (who's to decide what alias counts as obviously phony?) Secondly, there are many obviously phony aliases not reflected on this page, such as The Thnikkaman, the Deckeman, The yellow dart (true, not belonging to character) and probably more that I'm not remembering. Finally, the real factor that binds these aliases together is not how obviously phony they are, but rather that they are used in prank calls. This is also how the opening paragraphs introduce the gag. Professor Tor Coolguy is one exception, but I don't think that one really belongs on this page, especially since he doesn't fit the decription in the opening paragraphs.

I think the title of this article should reflect the fact that these aliases are used in prank calls. My suggestion for a title is Prank Call Aliases or Aliases Used in Prank Calls. I believe these titles reflect what this page is about much more closely than the current title. Heimstern Läufer 00:02, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

I agree. The current title does not fit the content. We should move it to one of the titles that Heimi suggested. Loafing 23:13, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

Me too. I like Aliases Used in Prank Calls myself. -Brightstar Shiner 23:16, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

Second'd for Aliases Used in Prank Calls - Dr. Clash 00:12, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

Definitely like that title too. —BazookaJoe 00:21, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Goatface Club

I think the name "Goatface Club" sounds alot like the movie "The Breakfast Club". Should we put something in about it?--69.250.31.212 15:25, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Linking convention

I can already predict the answer, but could we maybe break the rules this once and link the characters from their respective lists, rather than the first time they are mentioned? I agree with the edit that was attempted earlier, in that having the KOT's name be the only one bluelinked looks a bit incongruous.Dagron 05:40, 16 November 2007 (UTC)

Hmm. I don't see why not. To heck with conventions; link 'em where it looks good. --DorianGray 06:43, 16 November 2007 (UTC)

Done :) If people object, it's easy enough to revert, right? Dagron 06:56, 16 November 2007 (UTC)

Yep, exactly. That's the beauty of a wiki. --DorianGray 07:07, 16 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Quotation Marks

I recommend quotation marks around all of the direct quotes listed on this page. (I just don't like those single brackets!) Is that a terrible idea? OptimisticFool 07:58, 16 November 2007 (UTC)

Go for it. I only see one set of single brackets anyway. --DorianGray 08:55, 16 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Sharp Dean

Now that Sharp Dean has graduated from (bad) alias to (terrible) disguise, how do we note that? Guybrush20X6 22:22, 29 October 2016 (UTC)

I think she might should maybe get her own page. Anyone else? Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 23:01, 29 October 2016 (UTC)