Is it just me, or are there some number of heroes that you find yourself referring to by their "civilian" name more than their moniker?
I'm especially guilty of it with Absolute Zero / Ryan Frost, but do it some with Indestructible Bunker / Tyler Vance, Expatriette / Amanda Cohen, and Parse / Kim Howell.
And, typing this out has made me realize that Citizen Dawn and Expatriette are almost certainly Jewish, Dawn's blonde hair aside. The surname Cohen is really rare outside that ethnic group. Means they're even earlier than Unity as Jewish characters in the Sentinel Comics 'verse.
I always refer to La Capitan as Maria Helena Teresa Fafila Servanda Jimena Mansuara Paterna Domenga Gelvira Placia Sendina Belita Eufemia Columba Gontina Aldonza Mafalda Cristina Tegrida de Falcon.
I almost never use "real" names, but I use nicknames all the time.
[Edit] To clarify in response to my later post, all my nicknames are ones where it's are extremely easy to work out who I'm referencing without bio/lore knowledge - usually just obvious shortenings of their hero/villain name such as Akash or Chrono or sometimes silly things like Tachylbox or That Stupid *inset expletive here* Boat.
I nearly always refer to Chrono Ranger as Jim, sometimes call Wraith Maia, and occasionally refer to the Adept as Drake or Mr Drake (because "Anthony" is boring but "Drake" is cool so I don't bother with his first name ;)). On the villain side of things I often refer to the Matriarch as Lilian, especially when typing because it's much easier ;).
I avoid it mostly because it reminds me of jargon, and has basically the same effect of alienating people who aren't part of our little fanperson club.
Your average player hasn't read the bios and even if they have, the haven't memorised everyone's real names. I have to think for a second to recall them myself. And even in a G+ hangout full of experienced players a few weeks ago we had to look up Parse's name (I was 80% sure Parse was Kim but we didn't know her surname) and I was the only one who knew KNYFE's.
I worry that this "jargon" effect can make newer people especially feel confused and left out because they don't know what we're talking about. This is why I don't like unexplained acronyms/abbreviations either. If you don't know who "Drake" is or what "EPE" means you either have to ask and risk looking stupid, or keep quiet and not understand and feel stupid, or work it out from context if it's possible. And that makes us look like an exclusive and mildly unwelcoming little club, and we're very much not.
Similarly, descriptions that only reference card art and/or flavour text exclude people who don't have them all memorised. And Magic the Gathering-specific slang like "mill" and "tutor" are totally untransparent to people who haven't played that game extensively.
So yeah. If I abbreviate or use nicknames or real names, I only do it when I'm pretty damned sure everyone else knows what I mean or can work it out easily from context, because I want to keep things as accessible as possible. (No problem with things like Dawn, or Expat, or OX, or Time Cat, or whatever, because they are trivially simple to figure out).
I tend to agree with most of what Silverleaf has said right above me, especially because 95% or more of my Sentinels play is with people who are relatively new to the game. It's why it sticks with me that I almost never even think of Absolute Zero by that title anymore, but just as Ryan.
We keep using random nicknames in my group. The amount of times Chrono Ranger has been referred to as "Chrono Trigger" has probably been more than his actual hero name. Also another friend and I are pretty big Megaman X fans so Omnitron X and Absolute Zero are pretty much unanimously called "X and Zero" Besides with that font on Omnitron X's character card, obviously a nod to Megaman X =p
I have always tried to follow this philosophy. It is very intimidating entering a new social circle and learning the lingo that is present in the widely available material is hard enough without having to deal with another layer of code language. Admittedly, it is normal for any group to start developing a shorthand, but it is always wise to remember that those who are new don't know it and can be confused by it easily.
We still heavily employ a cult of personality around a lot of forum members, though. I check this place daily and I don’t even understand some of the memes that have exploded around some players. I don’t even know how a new member must process a “Damn it, Ronway!” or Siege Breaker’s disdain of the Cursed Acolyte.
I think "Damn it, Ronway!" Is understandable as soon as you see that Ronway is a forum member (which would take about three seconds on pretty much any thread).
And it means literally nothing more than an expression of annoyance or exasperation at said forum member. I don't think it's ever been used in such a way to make anyone suspect it means anything else.
It certainly doesn't compare to using a completely different word for someone/something that you can't understand unless you've read and remembered a bio or extensively played a completely different game.