BOLcat of Tom: We is BOL! Resistance R ohms
The Listeners of Buzz Out Loud, a.k.a. Citizens of Buzz Town, often operate under nicknames and monikers as well as their actual name. This page is a listing where people can explain where the nicknames come from, what they mean, and their relation to a persons real name. Feel free to add yourself. This page is for short introductions; please also use the Create page tool's listener profile tab to provide more details.
Buzz Crew[]
See the Hosts category for more complete information about the show's hosts and guest hosts. This section merely explains their chat room nicknames.
Daily Hosts[]
Molly Wood: mollywood, A clever combination of her first initial followed by the last 8 letters of a city? Or a country music theme park? Or, did she just scramble the letters of wollymood's nickname? When your name is synonymous with tech buzz, it earns you even more geek cred than a more obvious nerdonym like "gadgette_prime". Molly came back to BOL full time on Monday, February 8, 2010.
Brian Tong: briantong
Frequent Guest Hosts[]
Donald Bell: audiodonald
Brian Cooley: Cooley
Rafe Needleman: Rafe
Occasional Guest Hosts[]
Darren Kitchen: Darren of Hak5
Veronica Belmont: Veronica, former daily host/producer, now at Tekzilla, Qore, and RiffTrax
Nicole Lee: nicolelee of CNET
Scott Johnson: extralife, of the ExtraLife Web comic and podcast
JonStrickland: Jon Strickland, of Discovery's HowStuffWorks and TechStuff podcast
More guest hosts are listed in the Hosts category.
Former Hosts[]
Tom Merritt: acedtect
- The moniker, acedtect, is derived from "Ace Detective". Merritt coined the username in 1996 when signing up for Concentric.net ISP services. He was reading a lot of Raymond Chandler at the time. He originally signed up with acedetect (with the e) but realised he had signed up for a plan that didn't include web space. When he re-signed up to the correct plan he couldn't use acedetect as it was taken (by him) so he removed an e and acedtect was born.
- As it is extremely uncommon, Tom uses this as a "universal id" which can be used to guarantee a consistent username across several services and registration systems on the web.
Jason Howell: raygun01
- While this nickname has little knowledge available to describe it, it is almost certain that it derives from a Science-Fiction reference of some sort. Jason also produced music under the name "Raygun".
Host name portmanteaux[]
In the chat room, it is common to describe an episode's host panel by combining the first syllable of each host's first name or last name. Here are some examples from the shows when BOL had three daily hosts:
- JaToNa, rhymes with Daytona, as in the 500, or the beach.
- JaNaTo, rhymes with tomato, or perhaps tomahto.
- -Gu suffix for "Guest"
- ToMolly
- MoTom
- TMJ Analysis
- JaMoTo - Sea Turtle is named JaMoTo in their honor in Episode #664
Regular Contributors[]
These contributors, listed in alphabetical order, have had many e-mails or voice mails read on several episodes, have been listener co-hosts, or have made the hosts' Top 25 Fan list:
Alex: Everyone
- Not to be confused with a $700 software product, it is an inside joke is that everyone in Buzztown is named Alex. Notables include Alex from Miami Beach, Alex Brewer, Alexthekid- a regular in the BOL chatroom, Randomtime and Alex from Holland, a.k.a. Tales or alex_smurf. Top 25 Fans
Alex from Miami Beach
- Frequent contributor of voice mail and e-mail, he was the first listener co-host in episode 627. Like 007, women want him and men want to be him. Top 25 Fan
- Contributor who, along with friend Peter, was featured on the second listener co-host show, episode 628. One of the Alex trendsetters. Top 25 Fan
- Frequent caller given moniker by Molly Wood after chilling message about dangers of government control. Works for Rush Limbaugh. If we knew his name, he wouldn't be anonymous anymore, now would he? Just call him... Alex.
- Chris Christensen is the host of three podcasts: Amateur Traveler, Amateur Traveler Video and The Bible Study Podcast Top 25 Fan
- Original CHANOP/Admin of the chat room at WatchBOL.com. Name unknown. Not a reference to the hallowed gadget catalog, but the result of billions of Web-hours of evolution from Kurt Vonnegut's character Kilgore Trout through KillGorre Trout, Killer, Dakiller, DAK, an extended offline hiatus, and finally, DAKlives. Buzztown wiki editor, chatter, and purveyor of fine BOLcats. Achieved BOLgasm when mentioned on air (BOLcats) in the same sentence as Veronica Belmont! episode 679
- Original CHANOP now the current Admin/Owner keeping the lights on for fans.
- Bob from Mainframe, by way of the Net. Lead character Guardian #452 of the Canadian TV series ReBoot. Former operator in the WatchBOL.com IRC channel, #CNETFans. Real name Bob.
- Molly writes, "One of the few folks out there who had his nicknamed changed by us (but let's be honest--we've changed a lot of people's names over the years, right PaulNotRon?). And he has a great accent. What's not to love?" Top 25 Fan
- Dr. Dave Brodbeck is a psychology professor. A frequent caller, he was the second listener co-host in episode 627. Top 25 Fan
Dirty Pirate - AKA Cranky Canuck
- Dennis C from Canada by way of Cork, Ireland has operated under the pirate nickname for some years. His Cranky Canuck moniker is more consistent with his blog of the same name.
- One of two performers of short Earthlink ads from 2005-2007 with whom all of Buzztown chanted for ten seconds a day. Now he's also known as the Best Buy guy.
Engnr_chik
- Molly writes, "If you've ever lived any significant period of your life without structural engineering insight, you have wasted that period of your life. Get in your time machine, go back and make friends with engnr_chik." Top 25 Fan
Fordo
- Maryann Ford of New York, a grammar enthusiast and former Motley Fool employee mentioned on at least 10 episodes. Popular for her insightfully witty contributions to the show, forums, and chat. In Episode 648, Shalin asserted that "Everybody loves Fordo", a sentiment confirmed during episode 683 when as many chatters greeted her as had greeted Veronica the previous day. "Fordo" is a derivation of her surname used since childhood, not a transposition of Frodo. Top 25 Fan
Frank L, a.k.a. Frank the Patent Lawyer
- Frank Joseph Michael Lattuca, an attorney with the USPTO, regularly contributes to clarify legal points, particularly about copyright law, but does not offer legal advice or discuss matters involving trademark or patent law. Top 25 Fan
- Gadzooks is that annoying guy in the chatroom.
- gknee is a silly spelling of Jeannie. Active forum and chat contributor. Former IRC Op and Administrator in the #CNETFans chat room (irc.geekshed.net). Listener co-host in episode #880. Molly writes: "There is no smooth-running #cnetfans chat room without gknee". Top 25 Fan Gknee appeared on episode #1000 of BOL.
- Holly from NYC. Molly describes her as "Twitter friend, chat-room regular, Gadgettes agenda-filler extraordinaire." Top 25 Fan
- Chan OP. Ikcor is a Rocki backwards. Pronounced eye-core. The 26th Fan.
Jimmy from VA: gmuloyaleagle
- Jimmy Rogers, Mason Tech Beat blogger, archenemy of Dr. M and tech fan featured on at least four BOL episodes.
- Joe the programmer-artist from Liberty, NY, recently dubbed "the new Shalin" in Episode 693 for prolific phone and e-mail contributions. An avid Gadgettes fan and twitterer. Origin of dOgBOi (dog boy) moniker unknown.
- The Bayshore student in Red Bank, New Jersey, who was featured as a listener co-host in episode 628.
- Writer extraordinaire and frequent contributer on BOL including: emails, titles, remix and several sound effects for Jason's soundboard.
Karl the Med Student - Dr. Karl - Robstak
- Dr. Karl Robstad, the pathologist in Albany, New York. One of the first Buzz Town citizens to graduate from one moniker to another, literally. Robstak is an old login using six letters from his last name followed by his first iniitial. Mentioned or appears in 20+ episodes. Top 25 Fan
Dr. M, a.k.a DRM, a.k.a. Dr. Moriarity
- Buzztown's evil super-villain, Digital Rights Management, who conspires with the RIAA (Pinky) and MPAA (the Brain) to take over the world. Muahahaha.
- Michael C., the graphic designer and fightin' Texas Aggie Computer Science major. Wh00p! His e-mails have been featured on at least five episodes.
- The hotel auditor in Arlington, VA, who suggested the Annual Prediction Show.
MissM
- Not 007's boss, but Jane from Charlotte, NC. Or maybe both? Molly writes, "Chat-room regular, defender of the South, and one of the family." Top 25 Fan
- Nicole Reid - 24 - From Log Angeles California. Graphic Designer out of Long Beach, Former roommate of Phatemokid. Lover of BOL hater of Spiders... [1] - Love the Shirt Tom - Top 25 Fan
- Phillip B., Mayor of Buzztown, whose "collection of monkeys" designated "pb30" administer this wiki and the chat room at WatchBOL.com. Top 25 Fan
Peterjon Smith: firestarter
- BOL Link Sender and proud winner of a rare green BOL shirt. Molly writes, "From the earliest days of CNET podcasting, Peterjon has filled the lineups of BOL and Gadgettes with helpful e-mail and calls." Top 25 Fan
- Phat Emo Kid, Aric from Los Angeles, who is obsessed with getting a c|net mug signed by the whole Buzz crew. Mission Accomplished. Top 25 Fan
Rafael: rafacst
- Rafael "Rafa" Silva, the Network Technologies student from Brazil. E-mail, wiki, chat, and BOLcats contributor. Veronica read his Well, Actually in episode 484 on his birthday. Top 25 Fan
Remy the Postman
- As every licensed buzzologist should know, Remy is a regular caller, and was a listener co-host in episode 627. Top 25 Fan
- Frequent voice mail and email contributor. Molly writes, "Won our hearts with her amazing relation of sewing patterns to music copyright law. Pwned!" Top 25 Fan
Shalin: Momma
- Shalin the Rocket Scientist from Chicagoland, an aerospace engineer formerly for a NASA contractor in Houston, former volunteer firefighter, and Buzztown's resident science and engineering expert. Since Spring 2006, possibly the most popular and prolific contributer to BOL not working for c|net. He was a listener co-host in episode 628. Dubbed "Momma" by Molly Wood for his concern over launch of an X-Wing rocket. Top 25 Fan
Tim the rocket scientist
- Listener co-host in episode 628.
Tom Merritt the Doppelgänger: GatorRock
- Tom Merritt the Doppelgänger in Oxford, England formerly of Houston, TX. Randomly calls in and sends in emails. Top 25 Fan
- fomer Half-operator of the WatchBOL.com IRC channel, #bolchat. Real name and nickname origin unknown. Top 25 Fan
Other Inhabitants of Buzztown[]
These listeners and contributors "love the show", and aren't afraid to admit it. Many participate in forums, chats, and wikis. They help make Buzz Out Loud by far the best tech podcast on the tubes, bar none.
2to
- Apple fanboi and gamer bearing a striking resemblance to Tom Marrit.
b47619 the Apple Fan
- Is it a borg designation? A zip code? An obscure Lost reference? H4x0r for "ATGIe"? No. It means nothing.
Aaron the Delorean Driver: DeloreanAaron
- Long Island, NY listener, Delorean driver, mac fan-boy. Hosts & produces The Geekcast technoloy podcast.
Adam in slc: fake Manny Ramirez
- Adam "Merk" Merkley in Salt Lake City, Utah. Caller and episode wiki editor. Don't tell anyone, but he's also the fake Manny Ramirez caller.
Adam in Scotland: Adamscot
- Adam Cobb, studying for higher exams to leave Stirling, Scotland ASAP.
- Ottawan podcaster of The FoxShow who notably called in while driving and called in before listening to the entire show.
- Marcus from San Ramon, Ca. with a commute to Los Gatos, Ca. for work at AudibleMagic.com. Long time listener and viewer of the show and frequent attendee in the chat room.
BallsMaximus: BallsMaximus
- James from Cleveland, OH I-O, Used to be in love with Veronica Belmont, but broke up with her after she left BOL, sorry Veronica, it just wasn't our time. Good luck with everything though, You'll be fine.
Bobwag: Bobwag
- Robert Wagoner from Buffalo, New York. Fell in love with Molly Wood's humor, Tom Merritt's awesomeness, and Jason's fantastic comments. Then he was hooked. Super apple fan, DROID owner, and fan of all other CNET podcasts, and loves Xbox 360, and PS3 equally:).
British Guy: ARedpath
- Andrew Redpath in Cramlington, Northumberland, UK. "A 'proud to be british' guy, simple as that, nothing else".
Buzztown Fire Chief Kevin
- Kevin in Cleveland, OH. Proudly responding to the Buzzards of Buzztown since Episode #242.
Callaghan001: Brenton OCallaghan
- Brenton, studying Computer Science in Ireland, loves BOL, big apple fan!!. Been coding to BOL since episode 503
Commorancy: abigguitar
- Brian from Cupertino, CA, podcaster of ABigGuitar, and winner of the Buzztown logo contest. That's his logo at the top-left of every page. A commorancy is a residence or habitation, usually temporary.
- Lola Strickland the writer in Jacksonville, formerly of Birmingham and Savannah. Cerulean is a blue pigment. Here's a photo of a blue lobster.
- Sorta long time listener from Daly City, CA
Cylon Baby
- Molly Wood's son Eli
- DarqueKnight Is actually Jason D. Storey. Mild mannered Video Store manager in Dublin Ga. Thats in the deep south for those of you who don't know. Pity Him. Please.
- David Spencer, the Information Technology/Software Development student at Southern Cross University in Macksville, New South Wales, Australia.
Eric the Graphic Designer from Minneapolis (not him the other one)
- Real name: Eric Burke. Eric is a regular listener, but infrequent contributor. The unwieldiness of the name comes from the possibly mistaken belief that he had heard another resident of Buzztown use the same name much earlier. He hadn't heard it in a while and so decided to pirate it. He is a graphic designer, photographer, and blogger in real life.
- Eric Graves from Magna, UT. He is a happy college student that works for the post office and likes video games.
- Feld from Texas, occasional wiki editor and half-operator in the WatchBOL.com IRC channel, #CNETFans. "Code Monkey" refers to the popular Jonathan Coulton song. "Feld is hilarious" --Molly Wood, ep. 815. Mostly just silly.
Follow*Sound: cutecatofdoom
- Sam Chapman the student in Hope, Derbyshire, England. Nicknames are from the Follow*Sound Blog and Daily Word Challenge.
- Brent Ward from NC. Field Service Engineer for a software company servicing the police. Discovered BOL in March of 2009 while jobless. Now with a job, he still listens. 2009 is a great tech year for him as he discovered Twitter, CNET Live, he bought a Wii, and he gets to upgrade his video card! Trying to learn Thai occasionally. Happiest when his nick is correctly pronounced, usually by Tom.
Gus The IT Auditor from Brazil: Gus
- Currently working for a multinational company and listening to BOL while auditing. Gus is short for Gustavo, based in Curitiba, Brazil, but most of the time travelling within Latin America auditing the company's affiliates.
- Real name Don from Arizona. The handle 'Hank' came from my oldest son who claims I resemble Hank Hill from King of the Hill.
- Ben Ho, the student from Sydney, Australia.
Ikeysee
- Ikey C: Tech nerd, emerging blogger. Love the show. Catch me @ikeysee on twitter or ikeysee.com .Ikeysee 00:07, November 20, 2010 (UTC)
Jacob The Student From Australia: Lazymonkey44
- Winner of the Buzztown logo design contest.
Jacob From Florida: 2424Enterprise
- A lesser know Buzz Out Loud Fan. As of yet, no significant accomplishments.
- James C. Smith develops "casual" games for the mass market (think Dinner Dash, Bejeweled, Mystery Case Files, Mahjong, Solitaire). Calls played on episodes 1201, 842, 843, 644, 617, 621, 1064, 995, 681, and 676, which was titled "Don't Lecture Me" in honor of his call.
Jody N Columbus: Jodydz
- Jody Dzuranin the Health Coach in Columbus, Ohio, a voicemail and forum contributor.
- At 12 years old Joseph Gomez is the youngest person to receive a degree in buzzology.
- Sound editor and producer of BRAN, the weekly podcast out of Sydney, Australia.
- Jonathan Strickland, senior writer for HowStuffWorks.com and co-host of the TechStuff podcast. Known for suggesting show titles that the hosts almost adopt before thinking of something better.
Josh from Israel
- Believes he is the only known listener from Israel, and the only caller to have called, introduced himself, and hung up due to a incoming call to his cell, which was audible on the call. The call was inserted at end of episode. Voice mails played on episodes 498 and 652.
- As the official Secretary of Shenanigans, Kwahhn has been a listener for years. Barring any unforeseen circumstances (hit by a bus, mauled by lions, etc.), he will continue to do so.
- The his most famous contribution is that he photoshoped the original Molly Wood sign.
- The TV producer and high school student in Crowsnest Pass, Alberta, Canada. Forum and chat contributor, with calls or e-mails featured in episodes 452 and 494.
- Michael K. Pate the Librarian in Central Florida, who blogs at LibraryPlanet.
- Joseph in Vancouver, mostly lurking in the chatroom but has been known to send in the occasional e-mail. He maintains a small troupe of anoles that try to help run things in #cnetfans.
- Zach from southern Indiana, currently a college student in Cincinnati, Ohio. Co-founder and president of NSS, a private security organization.
- Apple fanboi, gamer, and audio pro bearing a striking resemblance to Jason Howell.
- Towing/Geek in Breton, Alberta, Canada, Earth. Is the job of village idiot taken? I'm qualified.
nthsquare
- Designer with a need for daily BOL fix
Pointman
- Official CFO of Buzztown. His real name is Brandon. Pointman has joined Phatemokid in the quest for the holy C|net mug. He always catches BOL live in the chat during summer, but doesnt get a chance the rest of the year. He frequently sends in emails to the show. Pointman is also the famous writer of the "hair mail" letter for tom on C|net's Mailbag.
- radio: First mentioned episode
- BOL fan from Oxford, England. Tries to keep this wiki up-to-date and spam-free.
Radio Part time guitar tutor from Saskatchewan, Canada. a.k.a. David
RSG a.k.a. Roger from NJ: icounsel4food
- lover of tech, wine, paintball,Peruvian food, old school rap, coffee, Scrubs, Samuel Adams beer, and helping people help themselves. I host a video podcast about relationships (luvbuzd.tv) twice a week. I've also called in on a previous episode and dropped an email one in a while.
Ryan from Boise, Idaho: Jalsk
- Ryan Rapp, the software developer and Computer Science major at Boise State University whose e-mail on TrueCrypt was featured on Episode 626.
Ryan from CMich: Vegabondmx
- Ryan Karolak the Information Technology and Multimedia student at Central Michigan University working as a student technician for the Computer Science Department. Why "Vegabondmx"?
- Saskia the Web coder in Iowa, previously of Wiesbaden, Germany, and Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
- Sean Craig, Technology and security enthusiast in the Atlanta, GA area.
- Steven Lauren: Writer, Geek, Dork, Bi, Nocturnal, Hermit, Hobbit. I love Philosophy, Psychology, Tech/Science, UK TV/Ales & Indian Curries. I live in the Washington, D.C. metro area (Northern VA) and I'm online EVERYWHERE as 'Steven3x'.
- surfingtheweb from Florida races home everyday from school to catch the afternoon shows such as CNET to the Rescue, Dialed In, and Reporters' Roundtable...usually likes to help people with questions. User of cnet.com for years. Listener as of August 2009. Good with video editing, home networking, and other computer issues.
- Ben the Sysadmin from Minneapolis, whose e-mails have been read on several episodes.
- Real name unknown. Techpriest's moniker derives from the table-top wargame: Warhammer 40000 [1], in this game, "Techpriest's[2]" are the guardians of human technology (and are part of the guild of technology-bearers-The "Adeptus Mechanicus"), and instill "The Machine Spirit" into devices and machinery to make them function. The Techpriests hold the only knowledge of technology after the great apocalpse when "The Dark Age Of Technology" came to an end. Interestingly, Techpries'ts real name is completely unknown.
The1337loser: 987654321y
- The Leet (Elite) Loser. Real name unknown. Frequent BOL chat and forum contributor.
Trojanbee: oce.net
- David in Provo, one of the original BOL Live Show Contributors. Remains active in forums and chat.
WebHamm
- Chris Sr. Web developer for CNET based in Louisville,Ky. Before working at CNET I was a huge fan. I actually got to sit in on a LIVE taping of BOL. Gave BOL a Louisville Slugger Bat as a gift.
Tom from Michigan: beastlykings
- Tom originally signed up to Digg.com back when it first started, using the username beastlyking. He later realized he used an old inactive email account, so he had to re-register with beastlykings and it just stuck.
TapChus
- Henry Chu: A retired high school photography/technology teacher of 31 years. Former tap dance instructor, thus the name TapChus. Just an old beat up retired teacher from New York City who dabbles in technology.