FREEDEEDPOLL.ORG.UK, PUNK ROCK EDITION
       
       2023-12-06
       
       A Birmingham-based punky trio, Luxury Nan Smell, have released an EP called
       (Derogatory). The first track on that album? freedeedpoll.org.uk. Named in
       reference to my website of the same name.
       
       Naturally, I was delighted, not least because it gives me an excuse to use the
       "deed poll" and "music" tags simultaneously on a post for the first time.
       > Don't ask me what my "real" name is,
       > I've already told you what it was,
       > And I'm planning on burning my birth certificate.
       The song's about discovering and asserting self-identity through an assumed,
       rather than given, name. Which is fucking awesome.
       
       Like virtually all of my sites, including this one, freedeedpoll.org.uk
       deliberately retains minimal logs and has no analytics tools. As a result, I
       have very little concept of how popular it is, how widely it's used etc.,
       except when people reach out to me.
       
       People do: I get a few emails every month from people who've got questions
       (Common questions I receive are about legal gender recognition, about changing
       the names of children, about changing one's name while still a minor without
       parental consent, or about citizenship requirements. I've learned a lot about
       some fascinating bits of law.), or who are having trouble getting their
       homemade deed poll accepted by troublesome banks. I'm happy to help them, but
       without additional context, I can't be sure whether these folks represent the
       entirety of the site's users, a tiny fraction, or somewhere in-between.
       
       So it's obviously going to be a special surprise for me to have my website
       featured in a song.
       
       I've been having a challenging couple of weeks (I've been struggling with a
       combination of the usual challenges at this time of year and a lack of
       self-care and also a handful of bonus household stresses: everything seems to
       be breaking all at once!), and it was hugely uplifting for me to bump into
       these appreciative references to my work in the wider Internet.
       
       LINKS
       
 (HTM) Luxury Nan Smell on BandCamp
 (HTM) (Derogatory) on BandCamp
 (HTM) freedeedpoll.org.uk
 (DIR) https://luxurynansmell.bandcamp.com/album/derogatory
 (DIR) My posts tagged "deed poll"
 (DIR) My posts tagged "music"
 (DIR) https://freedeedpoll.org.uk/
 (HTM) My blog post detailing my experience of helping somebody to get their bank to accept their deed poll.
 (DIR) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xk-x0XjgZAY
 (HTM) CreatingCasper video in which he described using freedeedpoll.org.uk to change his name
 (DIR) My blog post from December 2020 talking about finding the winter difficult and my self-care regimen.