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Culture War Roundup for the week of December 26, 2022

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I actively do not trust real name accounts, and avoid real name forums, for that reason: if you’re making money I don’t trust you, if you’re not making money I suspect you’d like to that you’re just lurking on that pawn hoping for a promotion

I would say there's an exception for old people who have been on the internet for a very long time. Back in the 80's and 90's, it used to be a LOT more common for people to use their real names, just because there was no great perceived need for pseudo-anonymity.

The internet went through various phases. Very early on, in the 80s and the first few years of the 90s it was normal to use your real name, but that was mostly because the internet was pretty much limited to academic settings. This was never the case in the BBS world, which back then was as popular (if not more so) than the internet. Eventually, as the internet became more widespread the real name norm died out and it was basically non-existent by 97.

Pseudonymity remained the norm until 2007 with facebook and 2014 when google+ tried to encourage everyone to use their real name.

As late as 2000, on the now-vanished Salon Table Talk fora, plenty of people used their real names. One woman gave so many details of her life in a small Upper Midwest city that, had I been the malicious type, I could have tracked her down IRL without any trouble.