# Aargh! Someone figured out my SDMB secret identity™!! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 19, 2003, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aargh-someone-figured-out-my-sdmb-secret-identity/149573 "2003-01-19T02:47:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aargh-someone-figured-out-my-sdmb-secret-identity/149573/21 "2003-01-20T23:37:19Z")
I got recognized one time by someone I had gone to college with (not on this board but another using the same username). They thought it was me and made a post mentioning something I would recognize to draw me out. There is at least one person on here I am pretty sure I know based on their location and username but haven’t followed up on it to make sure. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aargh-someone-figured-out-my-sdmb-secret-identity/149573/22 "2003-01-21T00:34:03Z")
Nobody cares enough about me to worry about it. Fine by me! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Smashed\_Ice\_Cream](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Smashed\_Ice\_Cream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smashed_Ice_Cream)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aargh-someone-figured-out-my-sdmb-secret-identity/149573/23 "2003-01-21T01:01:24Z")
I’m pretty easy to peg, and two people have asked me if I post here - my brother’s wife, and a guy I just barely know figured it out when I posted once about being in a band - he happened to be at the bar I played at the next night and figured it out. He didn’t tell me who HE was though, but I think I figured it out. I’ve busted my sister recently on another board. I never would have figured my sister out if her boyfriend wasn’t on the same board and posted a link to the webpage he has just made right after I regstered, and a comment including my sister’s username. I haven’t - and probably won’t - tell her I found her on there because I think she’d be pretty sensitive about it. ---
**Author:** ![5-HT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/f19dbf/32.png) [@5-HT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5-HT)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aargh-someone-figured-out-my-sdmb-secret-identity/149573/24 "2003-01-21T01:06:19Z")
depending on the person reading it, I could be easily found out by my location and username. I use the same name on another board and also used it for years on the old mw-raves mailing list. ---
**Author:** ![Odieman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a87d85/32.png) [@Odieman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odieman)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aargh-someone-figured-out-my-sdmb-secret-identity/149573/25 "2003-01-21T01:14:42Z")
Well in about two months I can figure out myself Northern…I will just wander from England Rd till I hear a lone piper calling… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Blackeyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f6c823/32.png) [@Blackeyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackeyes)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aargh-someone-figured-out-my-sdmb-secret-identity/149573/26 "2003-01-21T01:19:36Z")
I know **Daoloth** from another board, and he and I know each other alright. My sister has seen me on the Board, and knows the name of it. So has my brother and his girlfriend. In a later argument with my brother’s girlfriend (I try to avoid her; I personally think she is a “biznatch”) she mentioned the Board as one of my faults, namely “acting all smart when [I am} really not”, “Mr ‘look at me! I’m so smart I post at a message board!’”\* and so on. One time I told my brother about the Board and why I post there; it’s cool, the people are cool, so I joined. I don’t think anyone I know IRL has joined. However, I have this good friend who knows Cecil that I used to bounce links to stuff on the SD to every now and then. I worry he’ll realize who I am (I use the same name for e-mail and IM, only with numbers added) and then my identity will be ruined. \*This was a paraphrased excerpt of an IM argument. Her spelling errors corrected. ---
**Author:** ![fighting\_ignorant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ac8455/32.png) [@fighting\_ignorant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fighting_ignorant)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aargh-someone-figured-out-my-sdmb-secret-identity/149573/27 "2003-01-21T01:35:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Northern Piper \* > \*\*So, I’m at work, exchanging e-mails with a buddy of mine in T.O. \*\* Ok, sorry for the offtopic post, but I’ve been crunching away at my mental acronym-unraveller, and for the life of me, can’t figure out where “T.O.” is. ??? ---
**Author:** ![miamouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ad7895/32.png) [@miamouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miamouse)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aargh-someone-figured-out-my-sdmb-secret-identity/149573/28 "2003-01-21T02:00:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gatopescado \* > \*\*Nobody cares enough about me to worry about it. Fine by me! 🙂 \*\* Hey **gatopescado!** Zat you? I knew it! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aargh-someone-figured-out-my-sdmb-secret-identity/149573/29 "2003-01-21T02:22:02Z")
I had dinner with a fellow Doper without knowing it. His sister, also on the SDMB, recognized my description of a weekend in NYC asked if I was that person. On another message board I noticed someone with the same name and asked if he posted here. Got it in one guess. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aargh-someone-figured-out-my-sdmb-secret-identity/149573/30 "2003-01-21T02:57:34Z")
I’ve never been “outed” by a RL acquaintance, although several know that I frequent “_a_ message board.” But, as I’ve noted before, once you’ve posted here 1000 times, you’ve probably dropped enough clues that anybody who cared to do so could identify you. Personally, I don’t post anything that I couldn’t at least survive my boss reading. ---
**Author:** ![imthjckaz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/imthjckaz/32/3223_2.png) [@imthjckaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/imthjckaz)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aargh-someone-figured-out-my-sdmb-secret-identity/149573/31 "2003-01-21T03:10:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\*My SDMB secret identity is no longer secret! > > Anyone else been busted IRL?\*\* No. I don’t exist IRL. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aargh-someone-figured-out-my-sdmb-secret-identity/149573/32 "2003-01-21T03:35:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Blackeyes \* > **…I have this good friend who knows Cecil…** _blink_ ---
**Author:** ![mikan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@mikan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikan)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aargh-someone-figured-out-my-sdmb-secret-identity/149573/33 "2003-01-21T10:57:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by fighting ignorant \* > \*\*Ok, sorry for the offtopic post, but I’ve been crunching away at my mental acronym-unraveller, and for the life of me, can’t figure out where “T.O.” is. ??? \*\* Big city in Canada. You get three guesses. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aargh-someone-figured-out-my-sdmb-secret-identity/149573/34 "2003-01-21T13:31:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tristan \* > \*\*Nope, not yet. Although it would appear that none of my IRL friends post here. Or lurk here. > Dang it. \*\* Uh… Tristan, I think I know you. ---
**Author:** ![Blackeyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f6c823/32.png) [@Blackeyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackeyes)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aargh-someone-figured-out-my-sdmb-secret-identity/149573/35 "2003-01-22T01:10:13Z")
> [@](#): > > ## \*Originally posted by Troy McClure SF \* quote: > > ## Originally posted by Blackeyes …I have this good friend who knows Cecil… > > \*\*_blink_ \*\* Whoops. No, that was not a Freudian slip at all… ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aargh-someone-figured-out-my-sdmb-secret-identity/149573/36 "2003-01-23T01:29:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by fighting ignorant \* > \*\*Ok, sorry for the offtopic post, but I’ve been crunching away at my mental acronym-unraveller, and for the life of me, can’t figure out where “T.O.” is. ??? \*\* Check [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=157350). ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aargh-someone-figured-out-my-sdmb-secret-identity/149573/37 "2003-01-23T16:32:42Z")
This place would be perfect for my brother and I tell him all the time that he should at least read here and would be a very good poster as well. I often think I recognize him, but not always as the same person. I think “oh, that must be drocky, no THAT must be him, um, no THAT one is him”. He insists he hasn’t been here yet. If he did come to these boards he would know me by my user name. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aargh-someone-figured-out-my-sdmb-secret-identity/149573.md?page=1)