Been thinking about this a while. Posters who use their real name

[henslee]

are really a breed apart from the rest. They take on a degree of accountability that the rest (like me) do not. I really respect them for it. What do others think?

[Shell Beau]

1. Good point!! I agree!

[billyskank]

26. Hmmmmmmmm.

:rofl:

[kick-ass-bob]

2. Some of us have to keep anonymous on here for a multitude of reasons.

For me, it is because I am a secret government agent.

HI AGENT MIKE!

:hi:

[henslee]

6. Agent Mike jokes aside, I completely understand the fact that

some cannot afford to expose themselves to unforseen repurcussions, whether they are remote or not. Pathetic as it is, using a psuedonym affords one a certain freedom. Guess, we are not as free as some of us would like to think.

[redqueen]

18. Pathetic?

:eyes:

[henslee]

20. Pathetic may not be the right word but it would be nice if all felt

free and comfortable enough to say whatever we wanted with their names attached.

[Debi]

14. kick ass mike?

:cry:

That makes me cry

[kick-ass-bob]

21. no, no. I am another secret gov't agent.

Mike is in another division.

:P

[Debi]

25. Then why would you use his name? n/t

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

3. I never understand the opposition to this

I can understand not giving out your SSN or credit card numbers (DUH!), but it doesn't bother me if people know my name. It's not hard these days to find out stuff about people if you want to expend some effort, but I for one have other fish to fry.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

4. I admire them but, I think it's not good to do that unless they are

a public figure.

[henslee]

7. Crazy Gugenheim isn't your real name?

[Crazy Guggenheim]

8. Nope. It's really L'Monte De La Fountaine.

[jpgray]

5. They're all dicks and let no one tell you different (nt)

[Debi]

15. Is it because I didn't mail you a letter? n/t

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

9. I used to use my real name, and I got

harrassing phone calls which upset my wife and kids from freepers.
So...

now I am me.

[LynneSin]

10. I almost use my full name

I truncate my last name, which is 10 letters long

[Magrittes Pipe]

11. I am proud of my name.

Though nobody knows who I am. :(

[asthmaticeog]

22. You are Albert Llewellyn Hedges!

Of the Springfield Ohio Hedgeses!

There was a big rock and roll scene in Ohio!

Speaking of beards: Iron and Wine. What about Iron and Wine? Are they really the new Stryper of the new millennium?

Tell us! You are Al Hedges!

[hyphenate]

12. When I first got online

my first two ISPs were CompuServe and Prodigy. That was in 1989 and 1990. We weren't allowed any names created on our own, and it wasn't until 1993 when I joined AOL that I was allowed to be "someone else." I never used my name because I wanted something to indicate my individuality and uniqueness. In fact, I joined AOL so early that I managed to snag an ID that many who followed would have killed to own--novelist. However, I rarely use it because it is actually very generic. Hyphenate is different and just "Mary" isn't all that much.

In fact, when I joined the web, it was not a good thing to have a gender specific screenname. You were preyed upon much more easily as a result.

[Debi]

13. Why thank you....Debi is my real name

:hi:

[VelmaD]

16. The connection between my real name...

and my online names (VelmaD here and Darth Velma in the fan community) is not something I hide at all. I've given out my real name on DU several times. It's no big deal to me. My basic philosophy is that you shouldn't say something online that you would be ashamed to have attributed to you.

[China_cat]

17. I used to use my real name.

Until somebody decided that what I had to say was reason for stalking and personal harassment. It put my family and friends in harm's way and I can't do that any more.

[asthmaticeog]

19. Eh, plenty of DUers know my real name.

But no trolls do. That's the point, right there - once you had things like freepers publishing peoples' addresses and whatnot, anonymity became key. Nobody knows my name that I don't want knowing it.

[hunter]

23. I'm easily accessible by PM.

Plenty of people on DU know who I am.

Even if I put my "real name" up here, it wouldn't mean anything because my name brings up about 80,000 pages on google, and the vast majority of them are not me.

I'll pretend I'm noble and say I don't post my full name on DU "to protect the innocent" of those 80,000 pages...

:evilgrin:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

24. I agree...there are several posters here who use their real names...

I'm proud to know them...

But I'm also proud to know the folks who use pseudonyms...

As for my username: Peggy is my real first name (even though it's a nickname)...I haven't stated my last name.....

:hi: