Sure. My real name is no secret and I often link to my web pages so I don’t have to repeat myself.
And I post on several board with my real name.
I was just thinking about this some more. These boards, and many others, can be searched by people who aren’t members. They’re public.
I don’t post anything on messageboards that I’m ashamed of, but posting everywhere under my real name would be like running around in my classroom yelling ‘I’m gay! I’ve had polygamous relationships in the past! I used drugs in the past! This is where I’ll be this weekend!’
Yes to both. I do use my real name (and my email), both here and on every where I post online.
I just don’t understand why someone would not use their real name. I thought it was criminals that use aliases.
- Yes. Nothing I’ve really posted here is anything that would get me in trouble in real life.
- Yes.
Then why don’t I post under my real name? Outside of tradition, it’s oddly enjoyable to get away with using a pseudonym–an air of mystery. Yes, a very lame sense of mystery, but a sense nontheless. Plus the fact I can say something outrageous, even if don’t really use it, makes posting easier than if I had to check over my shoulder.
Well…I discovered today, while googling the name of a relative, an info that she probably wouldn’t want to be widely known, because she posted it on a forum 5 years ago under her real name. The forum being that of a major radio station that is going nowhere, it’s probably going to be still there for all to see in 20 years.
So, I would be extra-cautious when posting, would think at least thrice, and as a result I suspect it would significantly reduce the number of my posts (which would be a good thing, actually), even though I already don’t tend to disclose much about myself. I would still post here, though.
George Bush ?
My name is so common(first and last) that I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if another poster had it. There are two of us at my work with the exact same name. I have given it out on this board before. I would probably lose my uniqueness before I lost my anonymity. My real name is Jacob Brown.
Only if the rule applied to everyone. If that was the case, then no problem. But I’ve belonged to message boards where the pseudonym posters would constantly flame the actual named ones. It’s rather childish.
- Yes. It’s easy enough as it is to figure out who I am if you click on my profile.
- Yes. Doesn’t bother me a bit.
I assume anything I post can eventually be linked back to me. The one advantage of using a screen name, I must admit, is that clients Googling my name won’t be littered with a bunch of useless posts on the SDMB. So, I guess, in that case, it is useful that I don’t use my real name.
I think I’ve given a good reason why not. There are tons of others.
H8r!
Yes
Yes
I completely understand “no” answers. But my name IRL is equivalent to “Jane Doe” so unlike some people I can’t be readily tracked down based on my name alone. OTOH, the details I have posted about myself on these boards would make it very easy for a determined person to figure out my identity, though I can’t imagine why anyone would care.
Since I do reveal enough about myself that I could be conclusively identified, I have a simple rule: I don’t post anything I wouldn’t want my boss at work to read. As he is quite a reasonable person, this gives me a fair bit of leeway.
Even so, this rule means that I never participate in, for example, “what’s your favorite sex act” sorts of threads. Not that I don’t have opinions on such subjects, of course I do. But I value being able to talk about Indonesia, Egypt, my son, and other identifying details more than I value the opportunity to provide TMI.
- I don’t think I’d post the same way if I was using my real name.
- I wouldn’t post on any other board using my real name, unless it was not public.
I trust “you guys.” I have absolutely no qualms about giving my real name to someone in PM or email. But, I am the owner of a small business, and my name is out there linked to the business. I don’t need people that I want to do business with reading what I have to say here about whatever it is I’ve said here. The boards could be opened up to Google at any time and that would make me nervous (we’re already open to Board Reader!)
Luckilly, the handful of Dopers I have actually done business with are super cool. I’m pretty sure they didn’t search my username to see what I’m all about…I think 
Yes but I’d be more careful about personal info I mention.
Sure, I don’t see why not. I know that anonymity on the Internet is a fragile thing unless you’re really taking pains to hide your identity anyway, so as a general rule I avoid saying anything that I would not want to be associated with publicly. (It helps that I pretty much never feel inclined to say such things in the first place.) Things like personal or emotional secrets I really don’t care too much about: I’m not ashamed of anything, so nobody’s going to find any juicy tidbits in my postings to blackmail me with.
However, certain things – like any discussion (especially negative) regarding one’s employer, or other things involving some negligence of professional discretion – could have much more serious implications, and I’d never post them even under the flimsy protection of an online pseudonym anyway.
ETA: I mean, just from the things I’ve posted here it would probably not be terribly difficult for someone to figure out who I am – and my profile picture here is even the same one I’m using for my Facebook account. 
What those two said, except my name isn’t Jacob Brown, and you won’t be able how to figure out who I am by clicking on pulykamell’s profile. At least, I don’t think so.
Yes I would post here, and I would probably not change anything I would post/have posted.
I probably would post on another message board with my full name too, if I posted at other message boards.
-
No. Seems a bit strange when I think of it. I very rarely post anything personal and never TMI. I don’t like arguing with some one over the internet so I try not to. Mostly because I am a very private person. Also because of my jobs which can sometimes make me a target to crazies. I would have no problem giving my name to any of you if I met you in person.
-
No. For the above.
I’ve used my real name on one website that I recall, about ten years ago. I think it was called sixdegrees.
I could get away with it, since people would just think I’m one of the many other people with my name. (This would be a good reason not to have such a policy. There is at least one other person in the country with my exact three names & almost the same birthdate, & it would be worse if my name were Michael Andrew Smith.)
Actually, my username is more distinctive, since it’s unique. Heck, there’s one person on the SDMB who I know in real life & we know each other’s usernames now.
But I like the quasi-anonymity of the web, & the fact that not everyone who knows me in one context knows me in another. Having to identify myself by legal name would have been offputting.
Though I suppose I could have just claimed my name was Theophrastus Mac an Saior & gone on.
I don’t bother hiding my identity here or anywhere else (I just use a shortened form), and I don’t hold much back when posting, either. There isn’t anything I post that I wouldn’t say in real life, so I’m not too concerned. And while my name is not common, there are others with the same name out there with enough profile to swamp most of my online stuff.
Si
Yes.
And yes.
I have a photo on my public profile, so if anyone suspected it was me from what I posted, that would confirm it. My name is fairly common as well, so without the photo, it wouldn’t be that easy to track me.
I know my brother’s SDMB username, and he knows mine…can’t say that we care particularly what the other has posted, but I’m a little wary of posting anything that would make him blush!