Ha! I sometimes didn’t! I had more than one embarrassing exchange when I totally wrongly addressed a post because there were three people with similar avatars.
I remember we all went “huh? Did you mean me?” a lot.

Exactly @canidmajor! That was one reason I started keeping notes.

My memory is getting pretty poor for many things but at least back then, I was fairly good at keeping people straight. Many people’s stories and personalities stayed with me. Now sometimes I look at old questions and I can say, “yeah, I remember them” or “who the hell was that?”

In the beginning, there were many Ben and Andrew relatives on; they were the really smart people!

I had notes too.

Hunny, there is nothing straight about my mind.

@Hawaii_Jake Oh – the gay people are always partying in my mind!

@janbb Keep that thought.

I didn’t try to keep anyone straight.
Instead, I encouraged them to celebrate having a fluid sexual orientation. ;)

Before my time.

But my advice now is, use hashtags we all deserve.

Sincerely yours,
#hairbrain #oregonasm #fulloon #bi-1getone #yourpoliticssuckandsodomine

I would remember the profile photo.

Also I mixed up all of the teachers and librarians.

I was pretty good 80% of the time, unless someone changed their screen name. That always confused me. When many of us posted our pictures and recorded our voices somewhere, that helped make an indelible impression on my mind. For others, their avatars were memorable.

And then, I always have my favorites…

Me, me! Am I a favorite?

@cookieman One can never forget a penguin sitting on an iceberg reading a book, right?

@chyna: Of course. <3

@janbb: Very true. Has it been the same book this whole time?

I didn’t make notes, but I am pretty good at remembering most major details like where people are from. I don’t remember everyone’s marital status or if they have children. I’m also friends with some jellies on FB. That helps add another dimension to the Jelly.

I was interested in the personalities of only a minority of people and those are the ones I remembered. I never took notes of people either here or in real life. I meet three or four new people a week in real life and my memory being what it is I should really keep notes of their names, appearances and backgrounds.

I’m with @flutherother.
There were a dozen or so (maybe two) that I was interested in, because of previous interactions, and those few I had pretty straight.
I didn’t know states that they resided in though, or professions.
Then there was a group that I knew half half.
And a few that I wanted to get to know more, but felt either too embarrassed or too inferior to act on.
Most I interact(ed) with were/are female Jellies.

@rebbel I sincerely hope I wasn’t one you kept straight in your mind.

This question is causing me trauma.

@Hawaii_Jake No, you weren’t.
I think I was pretty soon (made) aware of your sexuality.
I can remember a few times that you mentioned that you are gay ;-)

^^just a few.

@Hawaii Jake is gay!? I’m not sure that was in my notes.

Breaking news!!

I thought he was just happy.

I always maintained an unofficial “hit list”
Good or bad, everyone got what they deserved…I’m an equal opportunity kinda guy.

I have a good memory, and was able to remember as much as I wanted to. People have profiles here, too.

@cookieman Same book. I’m a slow reader.

Back in the day, I kept a hand-written list of familiar usernames, real names (if known by me), and brief notes about who/what/where. As examples, I was friendly with a couple of long-ago Jellies in Australia and Ireland, and their information was on that list.

I don’t know what happened to the list, along with so many people who have come and gone from this website.

Simple name recognition. The more times I see the name the more readily I remember it.