Because lots of people (yes me included, clearly) don't like to put a bunch of information about themselves up for potentially anyone to see, if they can help it?

I just like to keep internet activity/forum stuff separate from real life, basically. I guess I don't have a good reason, it's just how I feel. I like that when I google my full name, only my facebook profile comes up (and also stuff about a college athlete with the same name as me), and nothing else that might potentially be off-putting to future employers or whatever. Maybe I'm a little paranoid. But I feel like on the internet, sharing less information is better than more, because you just can't know who's reading.

I dunno. I don't feel like it's so weird to not want to put up a photo of yourself or whatever.

edit: also, what Kaz said re: shyness and such.

Once upon a time, when interweb forums and chat rooms (IRC) were relatively new, having an alias was the norm. Being a child of that era it's just habit as much as anything for me to use an alias. Frankly I like the privacy aspect of this.

It is of somewhat more recent times, since the explosion of social networks, that using your real name on the interwebs has become much more common.

Ugh, posts like these make feel so out of step with the zeitgeist.

Although it may feel like you're just sharing inside the nice, safe, fire-lit corner of the internet that is the Paleo Hacks community, this is unfortunately just an illusion.

All things considered, for me the question is more like "why not anonymity?" even though I'd probably garner a lot more upvotes if I swapped my current tortoise avatar for a photo of myself batting my eyelashes at the camera.

Ever had a stalker? I have, and it was alarming to see what my stalker was able to find out about me on the internet. He used that information in his attempts to threaten and intimidate me and my family. Since then I've worked to keep my real name off the web altogether. If a site requires that I use my real name in order to participate, I just leave.

I work for a large investment bank. In one part of our bank we release people from portions of or all of their mortgage by a short sale or a deed in lieu of foreclosure. We also modify their existing mortgages to make the payments affordable. The investors we represent require review of hardship to justify whatever program is being requested.

Let's say you want to quit your corporate job and start a business as a nutrition consultant or sell pemmican or something.

Your hardship letter to the bank states you were laid off or had a decrease in pay and therefore can't pay your mortgage.

All the underwriter has to do is google you to see your latest blog post on your new dream web-site..."I finally did it...I quit my job and decided to do photography full time." Or on facebook, "Just got back from our trip to Europe. It was really great." Or a newspaper article..."Local real estate investor donates $200,000 to local charity."

It is no different to the underwriter than looking at the credit and seeing they just bought an Escalade but have not paid the mortgage for 36 months.

(There are other people who apply for these programs who can barely eat and desperately want to keep their homes--who typically don't have time for facebook etc.)

My advice is...don't put information on the internet you don't truly want everyone to see.

Because I'm crazy paranoid that my incessant ranting about how healthy saturated fat and red meat are could lead to higher health insurance premiums considering they routinely send me reminders to avoid those things.

Why, you ask? Because I can. No one's business but mine.

Let's turn this question around... who benefits most from having a person's every online activity directly tied to their real-life identity and easily searchable?

My main reason is that I don't want people who are searching online for me to realize I'm part of a fringe movement of sorts.

Primarily a lot of paleo thought tends to be against most conventional thought, and I don't know if I want everyone to know that it's a way that I think.

This way, if no one knows I'm paleo, I can just keep my mouth shut if I'm at a discussion with some big-wigs and the topic of vegetarianism and it's benefits come up (or the benefits of increasing American agriculture output).

With one particular question I answered here, a lot of people didn't like the answer. One guy went so far as to start digging the internet to find stuff about me and posted that in the answer comments in order to discredit me personally. It made me feel sick to think someone would do this.

identity theft; why make it easy for someone to mine info on-line?

There is a saying, 'If you would not want to see it on the 6 o'clock news do not put it on the internet'. This sums it up for me. I am proud to be paleo but there are just too many nut jobs & wackos on the interwebs, if someone really wants to get to know me, for some reason, they can just ask. I do have a web site for my business and it has my name, etc on it.

I don't understand what there is to gain by putting your personal information out there. I see no upside.

This is actually the first forum where I haven't been anonymous. I noticed that PH has pretty good search engine ranking, so I thought that if any of the people I've lost touch with ever searched for my name, they could easily find me and my e-mail address, contact me and who knows, maybe change their diet.

I suspect that there is a positive correlation between a user's desire to be anonymous and frequency with which they post in the ubiquitous bowel movement threads.

Good question, Nala. Using my real name helps keep me civil and thoughtful, not that I have much of a problem with incivility. When I see a post from "Kurt Harris," I give it more credibility and consideration. On the other hand, just because I say I'm using my real name doesn't make it necessarily so. (Now I'm starting to worry that someone will hijack my name and make all sorts of cockamamie comments!)

-Steve

http://www.schneier.com/essay-114.html

/thread

I think it was two and a half ago now that I stopped being anonymous. I had been posting for some time on various low-carb forums and had a now-defunct blog. There are pros and cons to being "out." It's honestly a very minor form of celebrity and you have to be OK with being a public persona. I'm glad I did it...if I hadn't I never would have been in the New York Times, never would have made most of my friends, and probably never would have had a somewhat popular blog. But I have a tremendous amount of privilege because I'm a freelancer and I also have a family business as a backup, so I don't worry very much about employers Googling me. It also forces me to be more honest as a blogger and as a person. No more trying to hide my weird hobbies from dates and potential friends, which was honestly dysfunctional and led me to date or become friends people who were not right for me. Now I have to be myself and find people who really can accept that I'm the polar opposite of a vegan and I think cookies are stupid. But I totally understand people who don't want this life or who don't have the privilege of choosing it. And I know bloggers who use their real name who have suffered consequences for it.

Hilariously, sometimes when people Google me, they forget I'm McEwen and not McEwan and if they haven't met me they might think Shakesville blogger Melissa McEwan is me. I was thrilled when I finally outranked her on Google when you search for my correctly-spelled name. There is also a poet with my exact name and since she is pretty good, I feel kind of bad for outranking her.

On most sites, I just use my real name.

I'm comfortable that way, but I understand that other people have other concerns and issues.

Your nickname may vary.

I'm a landlord and "pre-screen" my potential tenants through Google searches. I am constantly amazed by photos, comments, and other personal information I find. Sometimes that information means I won't be returning your phone calls/emails.

Edited: I just wanted to add to the paranoia... with a recent legal case in LA where a lawyer downloaded EVERY picture in a Flickr account to use as evidence AGAINST this person. While in "real life" this person is extremely responsible, the photos gave the appearance of a reckless attitude and provided evidence that they "condoned" illegal activities.

The internet is a scary place and anything you post is permanent, regardless of your attempts to "erase" it.

Ironically, i had my original name up here and was forced to change it because i had to prove who iwas by new rules after "some" people complained. So when i would not comply i picked this name instead. So context is critical in answering this question.

Some people are fine with putting their whole identity. Others are more hesistant. We discuss a whoooooole lotta things on here. I don't think choosing to be anonymous equates to having something to hide. I think it's just guarding against being taken out of context from an outsider (of PaleoHacks). Anyone can look you up and come to conclusions about you based on one thing you said or whatever. This, of course, doesn't have much to do with PaleoHacks. It applies to the internet. I take a more guarded approach with all that. I can always change my mind but once you do you can never go back.

Anonymity is motivating, invigorating, enabling. Anonymity sets you free.

Also, if you have a name like John Smith, there would be so many of them registered with any give site that you would HAVE to adopt a pseudonym in order to register.

And I agree with most of the points above too!

I actually want to change mine to something more anon. Some of my questions are pretty personal and even though I want to bring people in to the paleo fold, I really dont want them knowing some of this stuff.....how do we change our names?

I have a job in social services and I do not post under my real name because I do not want to be googleable to them. I have several online selves so that people cannot tie them together.

I would also add, to what Tovesworld mentioned, if I were to use my real name and my real identity, any comment that is attributed to me would be attributed to my company and there is a potential for legal ramifications (due to my position, any public comment is considered -- this is why I cannot have Facebook/Twitter/etc). I would not be able to contribute to a public forum if I was anything other than anonymous.