On the SDMB – I think picking out user names is fun and some people are so humorous/creative with them, BUT for the most part I wouldn’t especially mind if for some reason we had to start posting with our real names.
My big sticking point is that in the past I have posted things that would identify other people by association, such as my husband, siblings, or parents. If we posted with real names, I would have deliberately kept some things more vague. It’s not like I ever said anything that bad, but unlike me they don’t choose to live their lives out loud on the internet so I would want to respect that.
I participate in another message board created back in the dark ages when it never occurred to people to create user names and everyone uses first and last names (I think it started originally as a prodigy board now that you mention it). Never had any problems, although it’s a relatively narrow hobbyist-type group that most people would think was more boring than dirt.
I’m already using half of my real name, and I’ve never deluded myself that the internet provides any *real *anonymity. I always assume that anyone with half a brain and sufficient motivation can figure out who we are.
This is a big board. I’d be willing to bet that *someone *here knows me offline, and vice versa. And I’m sure that I’ve said things here that were probably not entirely kosher, but since I tend to be a bit mouthy in person as well, I’m not terribly concerned about it.
No and no. I wouldn’t want anybody googling my world-unique name to come up with my opinions on, say, buttsex, movies or religion. If they want to know my opinion on something and it isn’t completely inappropriate for them to want to know, they have to ask me.
I’ve given enough info to be identified if someone works at it, but it’s not just a matter of plunking my name down in Google and hitting enter.
Once I would have, but after a certain foolish confessional thread of mine I’d be a fool too. The paranoid part of me has already thought of ways someone really motivated could prove my true identity in about four steps (not even counting the half-dozen of you who have my address).
About a year ago, Yelp told its “Elite” users (basically those especially active on the site) to use their real first name + last initial, to keep people accountable for their reviews. I understand that something like that is important for a site like Yelp, though I was still annoyed because online, I’m a lot more accountable to this screen name than my real name.
I originally registered here under my real name and only changed it because I learned that besides Ronald C. Semone, John W. Kennedy and Bryan Ekers I was in the minority doing so and requested a change to fit in a little better. That being said I’m not in the least bit put off if I had to go back, I am who I am and I tell no lies. Anyone who knows me in real life knows that I don’t do embarrasment so there you are.
It basically is the same using this username as posting my full name in that people who know me know the username. If they google that, they are gonna come up with me…
I wouldn’t be concerned about my workmates knowing most of that, either (and I never say anything online that I’d be worried about repeating in front of my friends, partner or child), but my students? No way in the world.
Sure. I actually posted my real name on in the pit not too long ago and I’ve even talked about some pretty private and serious stuff. < shrug > But like a couple of others have said, I’m usually an open book anyway, so I’d be okay with anyone in meatspace finding out what I say here because I’d equally repeat it to their face.
But anywhere else? Eh, probably not. I do trust this place and other folks / message boards not so much. Of course, I don’t hardly visit outside the Dope, so it’s a moot point.
No, and the reason is one that I’m surprised nobody has said yet- Not because I care if people know my name, but because I don’t think I’d want to be part of a community that forces people to do anything like that.
I might still post, but my main reason for having an account here is to vent about the idiots in my life. If I could not longer vent, I might post even less.
I’m known to my meat-friends on livejournal, so yes.
I would still post but I might censor myself a little, especially if it was searchable outside of the dope itself. Of course this is probably pointless since I use the same screenname for everything and it’s less common than my real name so easier to find unique hits for.
Actually I just checked and it’s scary how much stuff there is about me based on my SN, some of which mention my real name.
I would post to any board which didn’t have a specifically overall taboo or naughty theme with my real name, but might self censor what I write.