User:Markaruckus

Coined by Ish (full name hidden) in a cheeky, unexpected email sent to her friend Mark in approximately 1999. Unexpected as in compared to typical communication lulls since they became friends - sometime in the 90s, no later than 1996, and perhaps many years earlier. The letter was primarily questioning where Mark disappeared to, adding humor by questioning where are all the babies they should have made by now are. Markaruckus and Pon-the-Mark were both in the list, as well as several others now forgotten.

Markaruckus was adopted immediately, having only ever used one other handle - Lord Zedman - to refer to himself online earlier in life. This was back in the BBS days between when 2400 baud and 14400 baud were released. Mark used this alias everywhere, particularly (and almost always) in email addresses and usernames, and it quickly became familiar by his friends and online acquaintances. Gmail.com and Hotmail.com still both reflect this as active accounts. Another notable significant use of this alias by Mark is in World of Warcraft, where Mark played a warrior named Markaruckus for the majority of 2004 until summer 2014. As of this writing his character is still active and can be found in the WoW armory.

Due to the broad use of this handle as usernames all around the digital world - in many cases the handle's relation to the real name being visible to the public, he does not hide his true identity. A visit to the Google+ page tied to markaruckus@gmail.com will confirm.

Two long term girlfriends had significantly adopted variations of this to their name. The first, an Australian whom he was in a relationship with from 2004-2006. Their relationship ended difficultly and with a bitter taste, so likely her -Aruckus variant handle has been abandoned.

A more recent, albeit shorter but more intense girlfriend tacked Aruckus on her name. They still talk and she may possibly may still access to the account, but unlikely in any primary or prevalent fashion.

The subsequent two year relationship he had shown adoption via email as well, but little use of or even retention of any of these Aruckus accounts occurred for any measurable amount of time, due to little interest in IT beyond WoW.

Someone online he met in the summer of 2014 expressed what seemed to be a similar liking to the name as those before, but they only met a few times, residing 200km apart.

The only two relationships since 2004 that did not make considerable effort to appreciate or imitate the name were his ex-wife from 2006-2010, and his ex girlfriend in Russia from 2014. The latter is possibly due to culture and language differences and barriers, and may simply not have been noted or noticed as a topic of interest.

The name has been acknowledged widely by most friends as witty, and many feel it is appropriate for Mark's personality: a bit of a risk taker and limit pusher. It is generally agreed to be phonetically smooth enough to avoid sounding out of place in a sentence.

Only in substantially professional environments the name is omitted. However the relationship with this name has never been denied, or overly kept covert. Occasional checks of the internet have found nothing shameful or embarrassing linked to the alias. Contrarily, results often point to various websites, or forums/QA sites where a username was required to ask or (more often) answer a question. Of course, as any prized possession, this is partially due to care that has been taken to ensure the name is not tarnished. Also, in Mark's opinion, overall his personality doesn't warrant any shame towards his title, even indirectly.