Abandoning the pseudonym for the real name: pro and con?

[Chuck Dye]

For some months I have been increasingly dissatisfied with my use of a pseudonym and have been within a keystroke of sending the request for a name change.  Have any of you who use your real names on forums had any negative experiences?

[Joe Demko]

No negatives.  Anonymity on the internet is largely an illusion anyway.  I abandoned psuedonyms, among other reasons, because anything I have to say I am willing to put my name and face to.

[ilbob]

My real name is Bob, and I am from IL (you probably already guessed that from my user name). You could probably find my last name if you really wanted to.

I chose ILBOB because it was unlikely to be used by anyone else but was relatively unique, and short.

I am not a fan of obviously fake names in Intenet forums.

[mtnbkr]

I use the mtnbkr name mainly because I've used it since I got online in 1994ish.  But I'm not afraid to let people know I'm Chris Allen from Manassas, Va.

Chris

[Ron]

My name is Ron, big surprise.

You can change your own forum name in the profile section, no need to ask anyone.

[Tallpine]

Anyone with a reasonable track record (at least in my opinion) on THR/APS who contacts me privately, I am willing to share my real name, and I often do so.  Oleg knows (or should know) me because we have emailed back and forth using my primary (name identified) email address.

It's all the unknown lurkers out there that I'm concerned about.

Anyone who really knows me could probably figure it out from some details that I posted relating to various incidents, etc.

On another forum, I do post under my own name - in Gaelic    

I've thought about changing my thr/aps name to àrd_giuthas   

[Cromlech]

I have started using my real name at the forums that I most recently joined, and I should be fine. The only people that have the power to scare me, already know who I am. 

[Perd Hapley]

Fake names are fun.   


You all may call me Josh, if you like.  What should we call you, Huck? 

[Harold Tuttle]

google sees all and records it...

i prefer a buffer layer of abstraction

[The Viking]

Even though I use a pseudonym here, I'm fairly easy to find. My hometown is listed in my profile (I think), and I've posted a large pic of my chest with my very identifying tattoo), so finding me wouldn't be that hard if somebody wanted to.

On some other forums though, I would never post anything that is remotely related to my hometown, where I work, pictures of me or anything that could identify me. Some scary folks on those forums (nazis, commies, general psychotic people...)...

[Fjolnirsson]

I do post at one forum under my real name(it's required for that board), and haven't had a problem. It'd be very easy to track down my real name. The reason I stick with this screename is simple. I use it everywhere, and people know me by it. It would be a hassle to switch everything over at this point, so I don't. The small amount of (admittedly dubious)anonymity it provides is nice, since I'm a minor government official in a very small town. As I said, anyone who wanted to could find me easily. I think some of my more "radical" views would displease my boss, so I try to keep things separate....

[cosine]

My name's in my sig. I prefer to keep my surname just a little more private.

[Leatherneck]

I don't hide my identity, but I've had reason to regret it.

On the subject of the V-22 osprey, the testing of which pretty much took over my life from 2001-now, I became sort of an icon of reporting the good, along with the bad. It's been a moral issue for me. In the process of debunking certain strident critics of the plane in several on-line forums, I became the object of derision of a couple of diehard critics who used the same principles of argument we see all the time on DU or daily KOS. One POS even wrote a 3-page letter to the Secretary of Defense demanding I be fired, investigated, jailed, or shot. Nothing came of it, and the whole mess made me more of a hero to the Marines flying Ospreys at New River, and got me a raise to boot. But it was a pain to go through.

Moral of the tale: there ARE nutjobs on the intarwebz; stay clear of them.

TC

[Monkeyleg]

I've been using Monkeyleg for a long time, and on many forums. I don't see a need for change.

On THR and TFL, I've posted all sorts of threads that contain my real first and last name, so it's no secret.

[Devonai]

All of my forum signatures contain a link to my book(s) on Amazon, so there's no point in being sly.  Devonai was my first choice when I established my first private e-mail account in 1995 so I stuck with it.

[bill larry]

My first post on my first visit to APS...

"bill larry" is short for William Lawrence....go figure...

of course, those are just my first and middle names...

[Standing Wolf]

I can't remember my pre-nom d'internet.

[tyme]

I'm not concerned about people knowing who I am.  I am, however, concerned about people tracking my online activities by googling my name.  I've cut my google hits down to near zero for the past 5 years.  Anyone with a valid reason to contact me can PM me on any forum I'm on, and get further contact info that way.

[Sindawe]

Like The Viking, my given and Christian names are fairly ease to find for those intersted.  So my pseudonym is not really an attempt to obscure my legal ID, but rather a reflection who *MY* self is and not that bestowed by my line and my parents. 

But its not one I'll abandon soon since it has fit for 10+ years and I've grown attached to it.

[BakerMikeRomeo]

I don't like it when people say my name online. My friends from school are all the time doing it over the chat in Day of Defeat and the like, and I'm all "Dude, it's BA-KER. C'mon!"

It's not that I have any delusions about people not being able to find the real Baker Mike, it's just that hearing my name from or around a bunch of electronic strangers bugs me. And I like making up names for myself.

Besides, BakerMikeRomeo is just bastard phonetic alphabet(s) for my initials anyhow.

~BakerMike

[DustinD]

Using my real name Dustin Doyle, and location Saint Michael, MN, has only helped me so far. I have gotten free advice, and make a few friends that would not have bothered if they did not know I was local.

[Stand_watie]

"Spam-bots" says it all. You can spell your name out in a way that anyone with an IQ over 60 can know what it is, but if you actually spell it out you're asking to hear from them.

[Tallpine]

Okay, I give up ... my real name is Richard Head, but most people call me "Dick" 

[Ex-MA Hole]

Okay, I give up ... my real name is Richard Head, but most people call me "Dick" 

Hey- are you from Holden, Mass?

Nope, sorry, that was Richard Hurtz from Holden, Mass.

Must be a cousin?

[charby]

Okay, I give up ... my real name is Richard Head, but most people call me "Dick" 

There was a guy in my fraternity named Richard Head, he preferred to be called Rich.

Charby is a nickname that I have had for many years, being born in the 1970's my first name, Chris (short for Christian) was quite popular so being several in my class we all took on nicknames to keep us straight. Charby is just a shortened version of my last name, Charbonneaux. Try saying that three times fast if you are unfamiliar with french pronunciation.

Six letter name such as Charby is much easier than 21 letters of my first and last name combined on a BBS.

-Charby