I'm more interested in working out his username.

Any clues?

I'm Danny!
I'm Danny!
I'm Danny!

maybe?

Millwall teams of the 1970s, and if someone keeps contributing passionate, informed comments, then obviously that person could be the Candyman. Just an idea, anyway...

Likes Emerson, Lake and Palmer ...*tick*
Owns the Barbara Cartland LP ...*tick*
Fought in the Punk Wars ...*tick*
Hangs about with the mighty Massive ...*tick*
Member of Led Zeppelin ...*almost*

Is it me? Have no fear, I cannot talk non-stop and breathe through my ears at the same time. A requirement of any guest on the mighty Word podcast it seems, trying to force their way into a conversation between the publishing world's answer to Abbot and Costello (Russ & Elvis).

There are celebrities who walk amongst us; only this week a certain Chubby Checker was interviewed by Radio 4 because of her puntastic offerings. A damehood shall surely follow.

by the quality of the humour, writing and analysis of many posters on here, and marvel that they're not making a living out of this kind of thing. Turns out at least one of you is. It's testimony to the general quality on here that it's not glaringly obvious to one and all exactly who it is.

Nice try Danny. You don't fool me.

I'm DEFINATELY not Danny.

Cheers,
DB

Tyler The Creator

... the respondents if Danny Baker did come on here as 'Danny Baker' or 'Candyman'. It would make the 'pigeons round bread' response that Dave Hepworth's posts get seem like snack break at anorexia's anonymous by comparison.

From the Word Blog I've learned over time and from bitter experience to think twice before posting as a direct result of meeting a few posters but, more significantly, from having read some deeply moving and affecting stories by posters about themselves and their lives. The red mist still descends on occasion but it's normally dispersed back to its Pandora's Box by simply taking a deep breath and giving the benefit of the doubt which in itself I find is a fine personal tonic to take regularly. Nothing more liberating than getting over yourself.

Lord knows I've posted stuff that has rattled people's cages and a few times I've overstepped the mark but I think I've always gone back and apologised to the poster directly which, I'll be honest, is as much to do with wanting to be seen as one of the good guys as with my conscience advising me to "do the right thing" and accept I've been a bit of a tw*t. Sublimated peer group pressure is a welcome control on here as it creates a mutual level of group responsibility for what is said and how it is said. And let's face it there are plenty of interesting opinions and perspectives on here each and every day to keep us all feeling amused and sometimes bemused rather than simply abused.

I still think it's valid and vital that debates stir up passion and controversy otherwise it's all just one long cocktail hour of pre-dinner drinks with tummies increasingly rumbling for the more full -bodied sustenance that was promised. You can be polite yet still let off steam and let people know how it is.

The Tyler thread is a great example of The Massive instinctively finding where the consensus and the difference of opinion resides without allowing the former to become the school bully beating the latter into submission. We don't really want Group Think do we*? I must confess to wondering what Rob Fitzpatrick must make of all this and it is to his credit that he was prepared to add a post himself to the thread.

Finally I just remind myself, as Rob Fitzpatrick himself alluded to, that this Blog isn't the real stuff in my life, it's just a great place to hang out and get away from all of that as and when. The friendships that have emerged and are emerging from being on here are real but the rest of it is largely just the digital equivalent of chips wrapped in today's newspaper. But as newspapers go it's a distinguished, lively and informative broadsheet with a cracking sense of humour among its vast army of contributors.

As for the Win, Lose of Draw meister being among us I'd much rather not know what his avatar is on here. That would be terrible in my view. He'd just hog all the up arrows from dawn 'til dusk and they're mine I tell you!

MINE!!

* Hmm, could conceivably be a question demanding a Group Think answer.

etc etc etc

Of course there's the possibility that he's using more than one user account....

Just want to say "Thanks, man".
There's a long overdue letter winging its way from the other side of this world.

Eet eez I, Daniel Boulanger, L'Homme de Bun Buns. I ave neurt reviled my identité on theez wubsote becowse ah kneurgh zat, for you Wird types, eet would be leurke meeting Rockhard Thimpsin een un pissoir ... ah would teurn yoo round, bébé, reght round, and at mah stage of vie, ah ave no wosh to be splatteured in poss. Pliz respect mah nood for anononymité. Zink yoo.

Allez Millwall. Salut maintenant.

DB

What if there is only me and Danny Baker here, and he is pretending to be about a hundred people?

I suggest we have another user name amnesty, but the only names you can choose in future are Danny Baker, Candyman or Spartacus. Should make life interesting. We can organise fights between the massed ranks for Candymen and Spartici (Sparticuses?).

"There's one for the teenagers"

Let's not forget the legendary bowtie call: