Call me neurotic, but I struggle with this question, I do. It grips me late at night when my normally agile typing fingers hesitate, unsure, before the name of a poster that is lowercase, but which I want to use at the beginning of a sentence. For example, take my name, seattleniceguy. Let's say you want to reply to something I said. Do you write,
seattleniceguy put it aptly when he wrote that lowercase screen names pose a critical threat to international security in the 21st century.
Or do you actually go out of your way to rearrange the sentence to say something like,
I was compelled to fall down and worshipfully adore seattleniceguy for his comments regarding lowercase screen names and their role in emotional/mental health.
In my case, of course, my name is easily shortenable to an abbreviation, SNG, which satisfies both the "uppercase the first letter of a sentence" rule and the "uppercase the first letter of a proper name" rule. My heavy heart heaves a sigh of relief. But not all names are conducive to such treatment. As the first example that popped into my head, take the name funkyderek. I don't think the abbreviation FD is especially clear. So now I'm forced to consider the grammatical ramifications of sentences like,
funkyderek rebuked me via PM for my flagrant disregard for the rules of English grammar.
But then if take matters into my own hands and modify the name, I risk offending the owner, as in the sentence,
FunkyDerek castigated me publicly for what he called "callous indifference to the rights of screen name owners."
We can, of course, move the screen name away from the front of the sentence by switching to a passive voice, as in,
It was suggested by funkyderek that I try one of several herbal agents to relieve grammar-related anxiety.
But forcing complete restructuring of sentences just to avoid capitalization changes seems a little much.
So I put it to you, my fellow posters: How do you feel about that most sacred of things, your name? Is it untouchable, to be handled only with the greatest care and consideration? Or are you agreeable to some amount of manipulation to satisfy grammatical rules?
Most respectfully,
seAttLenicEguY