# Should people use their real legal names when communicating in public forums online? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 10, 2024, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-use-their-real-legal-names-when-communicating-in-public-forums-online/1001339 "2024-05-10T07:15:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 1
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2024, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-use-their-real-legal-names-when-communicating-in-public-forums-online/1001339/1 "2024-05-10T07:15:58Z")
I was mildly surprised the other day to learn that a number of online discussion forums have, as a mandatory policy, that in order to participate, you must display your real legal name. It’s been a little while since I joined any new forum, so it was quite a surprise to me that in 2024, this is really a thing. Quora is an example of a place that had this policy and has recently relaxed it, but there are others that still maintain a strict ‘real names’ policy. The arguments in favour of this policy appear to be: 1. If you have nothing to hide, why would you even be concerned? 2. If you use your real name, you will be inclined to be more truthful in what you say and more trustworthy in your behaviours, because your reputation can follow you. 3. We want you to treat each other like friends and colleagues, therefore it is necessary that we know each other by real names. 4. It’s not as though _Bad People On the Internet_ don’t already have databases of information about you, so why are you worried about this? But IMO: 1. I may have no _illicit_ things to hide, but I think most sane and normal people have boundary behind which, certain things are desired to be private. I mean _If you have nothing to hide, why would you even object to a public webcam being installed in your bathroom?_ There are things people might want to openly talk or ask advice about - such as the painful warts on their anus - that, for right or wrong, they do not want to be search-indexed against their real legal name forever on the internet. 2. I get the part of this that is about building a trustworthy reputation as an authentic person, however, to me, that’s not the only point that teases out of _‘you’ll be good if we know who you are’_ - there is also part of this that seems a bit like 'oh, and don’t forget, _ **we know how to find you’** _. 3. This one is practically a nonsequitur. Knowing someone’s real legal name is not a necessary part of building friendship and trust and cameraderie. A persistent and recognisable identity does help with that, but that doesn’t have to be real legal names. 4. Sure, _Very Bad People With Sufficient Motive_ can already find out about you and do _Very Bad Things_ to you. A lot of our personal information is already breached and is available for sale on the Dark Web and whatnot. That’s bad. Bad things are already bad. But does it make sense to throw up our hands and say ‘In for a penny! Let’s just make it worse!’ - the greater exposure you have, the greater risk you face; a new risk is created by opening up your personal details to a whole new tier of internet weirdos who are not in the category of _Very Bad People_, but are still people who might do unacceptable things to you, if the required effort to do those things is really low. (I’ve personally had to deal with internet stalkers who, _through great determination_, tracked me down in real life. I don’t see any value in lowering the bar so that a far greater number of _far less determined stalkers, trolls and assorted idiots_ can also have their turn.) Now of course, being a part of an online forum is not a fundamental human right, and _their house; their rules_ - you don’t _have_ to join, and so on, and of course most of the places implementing this policy have no mechanism or power to actually verify your identity - so you can just enter your name as Forrest Lawrenceton and they have to accept that (which, IMO, also makes the whole concept and intent of a Real Names Policy absurdly naive). What does the SDMB think about all of this? If this place announced the implementation of such a policy, what would be the impact on your participation? --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-use-their-real-legal-names-when-communicating-in-public-forums-online/1001339)._