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iphigenie:
I kept my online totally separate from my real name and details for a very long time - early on because there are weird people out there, then because I dont like being profiled and tagged - but in the end it started hurting my image - large amounts of my online presence including cool things that validate my CV's claims etc. were not linked to my name and therefore invisible.

I should have been more clever with a more split identity from the beginning, but alas I hadnt and now I had to let iphigenie etc. be traced to my real name.

Tuxman:
I decided to create a wholly new "real identity" for everything related to Google. I even created a fake Google Mail real name account. No, it's not "Tyler Durden".  :P
Because some of my subscribed mailing lists are hosted on Google Groups, I had to reconsider boycotting Google completely...

40hz:
I should have been more clever with a more split identity from the beginning...
-iphigenie (July 10, 2011, 02:18 PM)
--- End quote ---

That's exactly what I did. However, even that's no real guarantee. I've been very open and candid in my participation at DC, so there's enough there that somebody could suss out who I am if they knew a bit about me - and then read some of my posts here. (I tend to be consistent in my beliefs and opinions. And we all have certain favorite verbal expressions and quirks that serve as "markers" for who we are.) Plus there's nothing to prevent somebody from 'outing' me either by accident or design. 

I think, in the end, there's really no such thing as complete anonymity if you're going to use the web for anything other than browsing. At least not any more. In my case, I try to minimize my footprint on the Internet to avoid casual prying eyes. But I have no doubts anything I do or say could be traced back to the "real me" if somebody bothered to allocate the small amount of time and resources it would take to do so.

And as iphigenie so aptly pointed out, for many (if not most) people, the drawbacks of such faux privacy often outweigh any of its largely imaginary benefits. :)

Renegade:
Can I ask why people are hesitant to reveal who they are?

I just don't get it. Really. I don't mean to be an idiot about this. I just don't get it.

Tuxman:
I don't want people I do not know to be able to find out in 2020 what I have been doing when I was young.

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