How the name ‘mondstern’ came about

Instant messaging from the past

Or even real-time communication. That was in the old days - when there was only a 56k modem or the dial-up modem, when everyone still chatted with ICQ on their PC. And of course one chat programme wasn't enough. So I installed Yahoo Messenger as well.

How to register?

To talk or write to others, or in this case to chat, everyone needs an identifier. This can consist of alphanumeric characters like #@$%*, or a sequence of numbers like 12345678911, a sequence of letters like abcdklmxyz or even a memorable name. I thought about what I could call myself and came up with ‘moonlight-and-stars’, as I find the moon and stars very beautiful. I now had a name and could register. Yay.

Februrary 2004

It's been that long. It doesn't matter on the internet, someone adds you and can chat with you. Then I had the idea that I needed a shorter name that was easier to remember and I thought about it for two weeks. But it should also have something to do with the words moon and stars. So I pushed my name ‘moonlight-and-stars’ together more and more and came up with ‘moonstar’. Many people have known me like that ever since.