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I have my SF account set to disallow all eMails to t_bugreporter@users.sf.net, because SF provides no way to allow only personal communications from SF members without also allowing the receipt of copies of every post I make (or might make in the future) and every reply others make to topics I've posted to. Anyone wishing to communicate with me privately can send eMail to thebugreporter@gmail.com - the eMail address I created specifically for this identity.
As for why I created this identity...? Read on.
I've been a supporter of the collaborative ("open source") program development model almost from its inception, and many years ago, I was a user and fan of a particular program - which shall remain nameless. In digging into some rarely used features of this program, I found what I considered to be a bug, and I felt it was my solemn duty to the nascent open source movement to notify the project managers of the existence of this bug. However, when I searched for a means to do so, all I found was a mailing list (remember those?) intended for communications between the people involved in the development of the program. Undaunted, I sent a message to this list, detailing the bug I had found and why I considered it to be a bug.
Unfortunately, all I got for this effort to help were several rude and condescending replies, boiling down to "Why are you telling us about this if you don't have a patch for the bug? Don't contact us here again until you do." Naturally, I ignored this advice, and immediately sent back an equally rude and condescending missive (I've always had a bad habit of matching the tone of my own communications to the tone of those I'm attempting to communicate with); this screed was intended to remind these people that most software users are not programmers themselves, and that even among those that are programmers, most of them are not familiar enough with the source code of the programs they use to be able to integrate patches into them.
This evolved (some would have said "devolved") into a discussion of why feedback from non-expert users is also important, and why such feedback is in some ways more important than the expert commentary they had been receiving exclusively. This, in turn, eventually led to the creation of a second mailing list for such non-expert criticism - both of the program, and of the programmers' work on it. Unfortunately, this second list quickly turned into a ghetto where such user feedback could be conveniently segregated and ignored - and the project died soon after.
After that experience, I decided that I would conduct all my future communications with open source developers under a pseudonym that would immediately convey to all involved that I did not consider it to be my responsibility to fix the problems I brought to their attention, nor did I consider myself qualified to do so.
Later, when many open source projects began to recognize the value of user feedback and to set up forums for this purpose, the more sophisticated forum software packages that came into vogue at that time started allowing users to embellish their own identities with images - by uploading custom avatars, or by connecting to the new Gravatar service. I decided at this time that I needed to do similarly, if for no other reason than the fact that my messages were now less able to attract attention on these graphically heavy systems. So, I thought, "Where can I find a memorable visual representation for a person formerly known only generically as The Bug Reporter?"
Soon after I began pondering this question, I happened to get reminded of the series of children's books by Richard Scarry. (Interestingly, when I was growing up, my only exposure to Scarry's work was from a single book handed down to me as an afterthought - a book in which the main character was Lowly Worm. On thinking back, I now feel that Lowly may have shaped my world view more than I realized at the time.) However, with this reminder, I was suddenly made aware of other characters in these stories - including Gold Bug. "Yes!" I thought. "A bug who works as a reporter! That's perfect!"