Where does "borfaxer" come from?
 The word borfaxer was created in
Fall 1991 by Jacob Sorensen while he was looking for a handle, or code name, to use on Bulletin Boards (the public
precursors to the Internet). A Bulletin Board (BBS) is a place people can call up through the modem on their computer
and log in with a handle and password, and chat and play games with each other in relative anonymity. If you've
ever used a chat room, Bulletin Boards were quite similar. As anyone can sympathize who has tried to come up with
a login name for a popular chat room (or AOL or MSN messenger), a lot of popular ones were taken like "icepick",
"lightning", and "superman". After eliminating a list of desirable login names because they
were taken (except for "sideshow" -- I still like that name although I've never gotten around to using
it), I decided to make something up.
Being the ultra creative person I am, I used the name of a monster from a choose-your-own-adventure type book,
Grail Quest #5 with the British book cover shown to the right, written by J.H. Brennan. The monster was called
a borfax, and was essentially a giant toad with three eyes and a large set of super sharp teeth. I then thought
I could call myself the borfaxer, which seemed to be an all right name.
What really cemented this name in place is the fact that I was able to come up with a symbol for the name. By stylizing
the letters of the word borfaxer in a certain way and superimposing them on one another, I created a distinct but
not overly complex symbol which I could use to represent the name. This has become the borfaxer logo/symbol you
see at the top of most pages on this site. Once the logo was created and I decided I liked it, borfaxer was the
name to go with and I've never had to use the name sideshow (although it is still the runner up).
One of the advantages the name borfaxer has had over time is its uniqueness -- for example, when I decided to get
an AOL Instant Messenger login, you won't be surprised to find out that although millions of names have already
been reserved, "borfaxer" was still available. This domain name is another case of availability due to
uniqueness, and since I've been using the name for over a decade now, many of my close friends and relatives recognize
it.
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