pop

published 2026-03-12 | tags: #history

every time i start a new job folks slowly realize that my github is pop. one might expect elijahvoigt (simple and to the point) or evoigt-companyname if i created a new account for each job, or even pop-n-fresh if i wanted to be funny.

i take more pride in having the name pop than i probably should -- it's just a github account after all -- but i have a [very open] secret: i'm not the first person to have github.com/pop. i stole it.

ok that's a bit dramatic. here's the story.

originally i had popnfresh because that was my freenode irc handle, it was available, i thought the name was funny, and i liked making deep cut references to red vs blue. eventually i scooped up pop on freenode (i don't have receipts for that one unfortunately) because it's short and short usernames are a flex.

after being pop on freenode for a bit, the thought crossed my mind "i wonder if i can be pop... everywhere." this was 2016 so of course i was too late for the big sites like twitter but maybe... was github.com/pop taken? i checked and... yes but the account was inactive; at least publicly. so i submitted a support ticket requesting the username.

...and was promptly rejected. womp womp. oh well, maybe i can just settle for popnfresh.

but it kept bugging me. that pop wasn't using it. i would be a pop for good. i deserved that username. it was my precocious...

so a little over a year later i submitted another request and this time...

it worked! the pop name was freed and i did a little digital land-grab and scooped it up!

fun fact: about once a year @pop, usually some programming syntax, gets included in a github discussion i get pinged. this is the latest one as of writing.