I will say it straight up. I have never personally posted on a message board or a discussion group without putting my own name on it, first and last.
This is simply for my own protection. Primarily, I don’t want to ever put up anything crazy on a message board or discussion group that I will regret later, and doing so under my own name provides a useful governor. Also, I can easily debunk someone who attempts to post under my name.
Now some do post under sobriquets. In many cases these are nicknames and most regular posters know who they are (in the case of SCVTalkers, Petz2, Jeff, Mike, mikec and now blazingmonk) but in most cases folks use entirely made up names to presumably hide their true identities.
Now why would people hide their true identities? I believe this is mostly driven by fear, from the light fear of social opprobrium to the heavier fear of retaliation in their business or in their job. It is interesting that the only time I have ever received significant anonymous material was when I wrote something mildly critical about the management of the Senior Center and got three typed unsigned letters and two telephone calls (bless their hearts the seniors calling were not up to date on call identifier). The letters encouraged me to look further into Senior Center management, but I will not unless people are willing to put their names behind their accusations. I found it instructive that the aged, demonstrably in an extremely vulnerable position and dependent on the Senior Center for a variety of services, felt the most fear of discovery.
Now we recently had a “name” poster attempt to out a new phenomena on SCVTalk with the name poster accusing sobriquet posters of being real people posting under both their own names and an alias. The most notorious national occurence of this came to light in 2007 when it was revealed that Whole Foods CEO John Mackey had for nine years posted under the sobriquet “Rahodeb” in various public internet forums praising Whole Foods and blasting their rivals, including Wild Oats during a merger negotiation.
Now I am not sure how to react to this, if true. The Mackey incident showed an unhinged individual trying to mold opinion on the world wide web which seems like trying to empty the Pacific with a teaspoon. In the cozy and small neighborhood of SCVTalk, where one is talking to a relatively small group, it seems strange to add fake people to the conversation.
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