Coming out - not the gay kind...

[_LDSToronto]

All,

I've been considering 'coming out' on the internet. A few of you who I have grown close to know my in real life identity and I know many of you. Lately, I've been weighing the pros/cons to revealing myself (note, I'm not anyone famous, well known, high profile, etc, I'm just a normal guy). Anyways, I need some help determining if this would be a wise move or not.

So far, here are the pros/cons that I can think of:

Pro:
1. No more accusations of hiding behind a false identity
2. I like being called by name as opposed to a pseudonym
3. I want what I say to be attributed to me, not to a persona

Con:
1. Internet crazies may find it easier to harass me if they have in real life information (while they hide behind masks themselves)
2. Some of you who want to remain anonymous may have identities revealed by clever idiots who can link me to you

I take #2 pretty seriously, as I treasure the friendships I've made here and I don't want to invade anyone's privacy inadvertently.

So, that said, what say all of you? Some of you have successfully used your in real life identities to post here. Others have found virtue in staying anonymous. I won't make a decision until this thread dies down, so please offer your opinions.

H. <------ or am I?

[_Shulem]

Reveal yourself and don't worry about it. It's sad that most people are too damn afraid to say who they really are.

Paul O

[_Blixa]

The ahole(s) who usually bloviate about anonymity are just that, aholes. That's why I prefer keeping as much distance as possible between myself and them both online and off.

I think avoiding dicks is a mitzvah.

[_Jersey Girl]

No.

[_Yoda]

The ahole(s) who usually bloviate about anonymity are just that, aholes. That's why I prefer keeping as much distance as possible between myself and them both online and off.

I think avoiding dicks is a mitzvah.

Amen, Blixa! :-)

[_Yoda]

LDST...One good reason to stay anonymous...

If you go public, posters like the one who initiated this thread,

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=20943

will have access to your in real life ID.

Just think about it.

[_Runtu]

I came out a long time ago. For some reason, the people who had said I was an anonymous coward didn't seem to respect me any more than previously.

I have mixed feelings about it. Personally, I don't care about the harassment I've experienced over the last few years. What does bother me is that they went after my wife. So, if it were just me, I would still have come out. But coming out affects other people, and unless you are prepared to let the harassers go after your friends and family, I'd think twice about outing yourself here.

John K. Williams (even if I were afraid of the haters, it's too late).

[_sock puppet]

If I recall correctly, Shades would prefer if we all used pseudonyms rather than in real life identities.

Do you want to risk DCP ratting out your posting comments here to family that are members or Church officials in your local area? Think GoodK.

I also lost two clients last spring due to my posting here. I won't go into how they became aware of it, or how my in real life identity was detected.

[_Doctor Scratch]

If I recall correctly, Shades would prefer if we all used pseudonyms rather than in real life identities.

Do you want to risk DCP ratting out your posting comments here to family that are members or Church officials in your local area? Think GoodK.

I also lost two clients last spring due to my posting here. I won't go into how they became aware of it, or how my in real life identity was detected.

Wow, that sucks. I bet I have a good guess as to who did this. If it's who I'm thinking of, the person has been involved in other rotten "attacks" on others in the online Mormon universe.

[_moksha]

The poster known as Yahoo Bot had some bad experiences with not maintaining anonymity. You need to be careful lest some truckload of Newark, New Jersey demons arrive in Toronto with a printout of your posts clutched tightly in their hooves and decide to have you sleep with the maple leaves for some ill defined slight in one of those posts.

Ray might be the exception to this open identity worry. It is impossible to drive a Cadillac directly to Australia.