Netiquette question: Is everyone on Mumsnet anonymous?

Bidisha comes on as herself sometimes and I think Laura from everydaysexism and maybe Cath Eliott have as well.

No. I think you could figure out who I am with a quick Internet search. I'm not bothered about anonymity here as I'm as opinionated in RL as on MN

(I seem to have inadvertently resurrected this thread, sorry)

Jon Ronson's wife came on once in response to a thread that wasn't even that critical of him (well, it contained a few critical posts, but also lots of posters saying "oh, I love Jon Ronson").

Gina Ford even used to post (as GinaBabe, I think) waaaay back before SWMNBNgate.

mindthestep, I don't think there's really any MN etiquette on this point. The one thing that is frowned upon is self-promotion, so we wouldn't want poster SirDavidAttenborough starting a thread "Hello everyone, just wanted to let you know that my new series Life Of Platyhelminths starts on BBC HD next week". But if he wanted to discuss nice ham or the politics of P&T parking spaces, or even chip in as SirDavidAttenborough on a thread entitled "Does anyone know anything about platyhelminths?" then no one would have a problem with it.

Thanks NetworkGuy. Soooo funny.

Today's Afternoon Play concerns the RL names of a number of posters on a "mothers' chat site".

Play is called Do you know who wrote this?

I gave out too much info once...name changed....then did it again....namechanged.....then I learnt my lesson!

Check out my profile, lots of info

I'm pretty sure that Erin Pizzey came on here once to answer criticisms, can't remember if she used exactly her own name but we knew it was her. And some bloke whose name I definitely can't remember came on once too, again in response to a thread about either him or something he was involved in. (sorry, babybrain is badly affecting my memory!) Doubtless there are others who I've forgotten. :)

I suppose the only risk of being an incognito celeb is that you might come across threads about yourself. Apart from that, I don't see any reason why you should have to reveal unless you choose to, you have as much right to anonymity here as anyone else.

It was before my time, but Caitlin Moran posted on here for a while. She used a nickname but did disclose who she was. Don't think there was ever any problem with that. Other well known people have from time to time been mentioned as posters on here but I don't really know if those are just rumours or if the people mentioned did admit who they were as CM did.

I don't really think it's a matter of etiquette per se. It's what you are / would be comfortable with.

We're mostly all adults on here who tend to take people as we find them - i.e. judging them by what they post and not by who they are.

mindthestep - we have had the occasional visit from well-known people on here who post under their normal name, as opposed to a nickname/pseudonym - but they tend to not hang around with that name (if at all).

It's a good thing if they add positively to the discussion of whatever; and a less good thing if they come on to berate other posters - so less about themselves, and more about their attitude, iyswim.

Does that help answer your question more?

MrsDV - I hope she learnt to cease and desist forthwith!

I am identifiable because I bang on about DD a lot and use her name so easily googable
I don't post anything that could get me in trouble work wise. I could be embarrassed I suppose but I don't slag off people or breach confidentiality.

I was once involved in a bit of a scrp on another forum. Older posters were dismissing my concerns about a young girl talking about her workplace. She could have been sacked but they were being all 'don't be stupid how would anyone know'
Infortunatley the girl got a bit cocky and 'whatever! You are bluffing, you don't know nothing' sigh.
So I pm'd her with her name, age, workplace, the names of the dcs she babysat for, her church, college and what she looked like and even her bloody address and phone number ffs!

I assured her I had no interest in the details and would delete tem but she had NO idea how identifiable she was. It wouldn't have been such an issue if she hadn't been bitching about the parents at her workplace and criticising the parenting of her other employers.

It literally took me 5 minutes to get all that info.

I wouldn't have bothered but she was too young to let her carry on being that stupid.

so who are you then mindthestep ?

The anonyminity thing doesn't really stack up too well if you are on here a lot as you are bound to reveal what you bought in Tesco or that your mil's birthday was coming up - if someone knows you well and goes digging they might find you.

I recently 'met' a friend on a random thread. I suspected who she was by the sentence construction and 'voice' of her post. I posted something I knew she knew about and she then instantly knew it was me - even though it could have been one of 50 people - she knew my tone of voice too.

Just something worth bearing in mind and if I post on one of those Friday threads I'll remember to do it in txt spk

I'm easily identifiable if you know me irl. Plus a couple of days ago I linked to some pictures on my Facebook page. I name change if I amm posting about situations I don't want anyone to connect directly with me.

Am I the only mumsnetter using her real name? I signed up in the very early days and it never even occurred to me that I was supposed to use a pseudonym. But I don't post anything I wouldn't say in real life.

I've only identified one person from MN and that was because she used her pesonal car reg as part of her user name. She posted in education once and I recognised the school she was talking about.

If someone is doing a spread sheet they could piece together quiet a lot about me and I'm sure I would be recognised but I don't post anything that I wouldn't tell anyone in RL.

I would never post about my GC or DIL! and I am different person on gransnet and other sites.

I'm sure it's doable, Empress but I wasn't bothered enough to work it out - I assume that FanjO was one of our own dear posters who hopped over there for a bit?

I had a couple of other names originally but now I only change for seasonal variations too.

Some people get round the NM thing, Thumbwitch - I know at one point they had a member called FanjO

I expect I could be ID'd quickly enough if people already know me, iyswim. I also use this username for a couple of other sites as well, but they aren't necessarily going to reveal anything more about me.

I infinitely prefer the option to have a username that is in no way related to my own - I don't really like NM because they don't allow that (or if they did, I didn't work out how and I don't use the site any more because it gives me a headache and the Local site didn't work out for me and I can't deal with all the hunning and sparkly shite )

I CBA to namechange except for seasonal variations or to post about extremely sensitive stuff that I don't want associated with my usual name.

I think it's very likely true - IF you could be bothered, though. Surely it would still take quite a bit of work?

There was a very good thread while back by TIANC where she described how easy it was to identify many anonymous posters by scanning their posts and piecing together enough data to then combine with public online records to identify them.

She offered to demontrate it to a few posters and send a PM.

If you tried hard enough, I am sure everyone is identifiable unless they keep name changing.