# Non de plume...non de why?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-de-plume-non-de-why/605788>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [December 11, 2011, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-de-plume-non-de-why/605788 "2011-12-11T00:45:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 4

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-de-plume-non-de-why/605788/61 "2011-12-15T22:02:22Z")

</div>

> [@greenaum](#):
>
> The USA is a bit behind in copyright law, until recently requiring explicit registration.

I suppose it depends on what you mean by “recently.” Registration was made optional by the Copyright Act of 1976, so that’s 35 years now.

> [@](#):
>
> Tho of course sites have their terms and conditions, cases on “click to agree”-type contracts have proved that a lot of these aren’t enforcable. Simply clicking “ok” on a box of text, is not the same as signing a contract.

On the contrary, a lot of clickwrap agreements have been found to be exactly the same as signing a contract.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tmarcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a6a055/32.png) [@tmarcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tmarcl)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-de-plume-non-de-why/605788/62 "2011-12-17T18:18:11Z")

</div>

> [@Dennis\_Arthur\_PERRETT](#):
>
> What is it with psuedonyms? If one stands for truth and is willing to fight ignorance then why must one feel to use or have a psuedonym?.

I can think of a few reasons. If a person is posting something that a boss might find objectionable, s/he might want to use a psuedonym. Posting as tmarcl, for instance, allows me to say things about the Navy (not yet on this board, but I have on others), or about religion that I might not want my real life associates to know about (as it might affect my workplace relationship with them).

To use a more extreme example (which doesn’t apply to me, as I’m fairly mundane), a person could be interested in what’s considered a strange fetish (like furries, or BDSM, or even M&M porn (don’t hate)), and want to have the freedom to talk about it without people they know finding out.

Simply put, some of us feel that what we do on the internet is our business, and no one else’s. Using a psuedonym allows us to keep it that way.

Marc

Edit: I made up the M&M comment on the spot. Just for the heck of it, I googled “M&M porn,” sure enough, there were 654,000 hits. Rule 34 reigns supreme!

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-de-plume-non-de-why/605788.md?page=3)