# Would someone who knows you well be able to identify you from posts here? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 13, 2009, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-someone-who-knows-you-well-be-able-to-identify-you-from-posts-here/481086 "2009-01-13T14:08:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-someone-who-knows-you-well-be-able-to-identify-you-from-posts-here/481086/1 "2009-01-13T14:08:40Z")
For me, I think I have provided enough anecdotes that the answer is yes. Hows about y’all? ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-someone-who-knows-you-well-be-able-to-identify-you-from-posts-here/481086/2 "2009-01-13T14:10:53Z")
Obviously it depends on how personal the posts are, but yes, I think I’ve left enough clues that some of my friends would be able to ID me from them. ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-someone-who-knows-you-well-be-able-to-identify-you-from-posts-here/481086/3 "2009-01-13T14:13:53Z")
> [@Cuckoorex](#): > > Obviously it depends on how personal the posts are, but yes, I think I’ve left enough clues that some of my friends would be able to ID me from them. Are any of them dopers? Do you mention or recommend the board to them? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-someone-who-knows-you-well-be-able-to-identify-you-from-posts-here/481086/4 "2009-01-13T14:15:06Z")
If someone just coincidently read some of my posts, they probably wouldn’t spontaneously realize that they know this guy. But, if I told them I’m a poster here, and their job is to figure out which poster, they probably could. ---
**Author:** ![WormTheRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbe5ce/32.png) [@WormTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WormTheRed)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-someone-who-knows-you-well-be-able-to-identify-you-from-posts-here/481086/5 "2009-01-13T14:21:40Z")
Pretty much what Boyo Jim said. I wouldn’t be to hard to find if someone wanted to. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-someone-who-knows-you-well-be-able-to-identify-you-from-posts-here/481086/6 "2009-01-13T14:23:59Z")
Almost certainly,some of my anecdotes are very unusual. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-someone-who-knows-you-well-be-able-to-identify-you-from-posts-here/481086/7 "2009-01-13T14:34:17Z")
I’m onto you **Lust4Life**! ---
**Author:** ![jessesheeran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@jessesheeran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jessesheeran)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-someone-who-knows-you-well-be-able-to-identify-you-from-posts-here/481086/8 "2009-01-13T14:36:23Z")
there is always the question of double identities no big deal ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-someone-who-knows-you-well-be-able-to-identify-you-from-posts-here/481086/9 "2009-01-13T14:36:39Z")
If I had any anonymity on this board before, [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=472824&highlight=Crotalus) pretty much wiped it out. First I was the subject of a New York Times op/ed piece by my neighbor, then my mug was on national TV. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-someone-who-knows-you-well-be-able-to-identify-you-from-posts-here/481086/10 "2009-01-13T14:40:56Z")
-Moved over to MPSIMS.- ---
**Author:** ![Karyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/fbc32d/32.png) [@Karyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karyn)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-someone-who-knows-you-well-be-able-to-identify-you-from-posts-here/481086/11 "2009-01-13T14:42:33Z")
I don’t think that anyone IRL would recognize me unless they read every one of my posts and put it all together. I think that anyone from the last few message boards that I’ve hung out on would recognize me very easily because I’m not trying to hide. I just got bored and as a group they were giving me a headache. I’ve already gotten a PM from someone asking “aren’t you…?”. My guess is that there are more than a few people here that also post on those forums but it doesn’t matter much one way or the other. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-someone-who-knows-you-well-be-able-to-identify-you-from-posts-here/481086/12 "2009-01-13T14:42:41Z")
Easy for me. I don’t have a witty login. Most topics I respond to detail what kind of work I do and where. My location is open. My few attempts at humor are also typical to my friends. They would know me in a heartbeat. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-someone-who-knows-you-well-be-able-to-identify-you-from-posts-here/481086/13 "2009-01-13T14:50:39Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > If someone just coincidently read some of my posts, they probably wouldn’t spontaneously realize that they know this guy. > > But, if I told them I’m a poster here, and their job is to figure out which poster, they probably could. Yup. ---
**Author:** ![Mahna\_Mahna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47c2d/32.png) [@Mahna\_Mahna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahna_Mahna)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-someone-who-knows-you-well-be-able-to-identify-you-from-posts-here/481086/14 "2009-01-13T15:14:04Z")
It’s already happened once, so the answer is yes… though it would probably require reading a couple of months’ worth of posts to put it all together. (As it turns out, another Doper is an old high school friend that I’d lost touch with nearly 7 years before joining the SDMB… that alone was worth the cost of subscribing) ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-someone-who-knows-you-well-be-able-to-identify-you-from-posts-here/481086/15 "2009-01-13T15:17:16Z")
Anyone who knows me even a \*little \*could identify me by my posts here. I’m okay with that. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-someone-who-knows-you-well-be-able-to-identify-you-from-posts-here/481086/16 "2009-01-13T15:55:48Z")
Yep, easy-peasy. There are not too many Coloured SCAdians in this city. ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-someone-who-knows-you-well-be-able-to-identify-you-from-posts-here/481086/17 "2009-01-13T16:30:00Z")
Absolutely. I have met dopers in meatspace without knowing it and just in the course of conversation we have identified one another as posters here very easily. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-someone-who-knows-you-well-be-able-to-identify-you-from-posts-here/481086/18 "2009-01-13T16:49:32Z")
It seems unlikely. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-someone-who-knows-you-well-be-able-to-identify-you-from-posts-here/481086/19 "2009-01-13T16:50:57Z")
Yes. Easily. My threads about zombies and the law would be a dead giveaway. ---
**Author:** ![3acresandatruck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/e79b87/32.png) [@3acresandatruck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3acresandatruck)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-someone-who-knows-you-well-be-able-to-identify-you-from-posts-here/481086/20 "2009-01-13T16:54:09Z")
Even leaving out the photo posts, I’d think they could. Heh, I’d bet some people would know it’s me just based on my Feud entries. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-someone-who-knows-you-well-be-able-to-identify-you-from-posts-here/481086.md?page=2)