Pointless name changing

[silverhyina]

I have seen many threads that start with "Have NC beacuse the people relevant in this post know my username" Why do people say this? If the relevant person sees the post and recognises it is relevant to them it wont matter if your name is different beacuse you said you changed it at the start and they'll know it was you anyway thus undermining the reason you changed your name in the first place.I have seen many people do this and no one point it out

AIBU to think this? Is there something im completley missing? Please let me know

So they don't get accused of being a troll? First time poster?

It's to stop people whi may identify you knowing your usual name and your whole posting history.

I think YABU.

It's not so much whether they might recognise themselves in that particular thread (which the OP won't mind as she's posting knowing the risk). It's whether, having recognised themselves, they then search your regular user name and find out your predilection for Friday bumsex, weird crushes and slattenky never changed sheets etc.

Ahha, I have reread your OP and I obviously misunderstood.

Not sure why they'd do that, but can't say I've seem it?

If you know someone's username you can look up previois posts. If I write about an easily identifiable topic, someone can think "Oh that's Bernie! I shall nosey" and then find out I use a penis beaker etc.

I don't get the name change thing either. If you know a person well enough, you'll recognize the situation regardless of the name.

This is the only forum I've been to that allows you to change your name like this. I thought it was in case you got bored of your username but most people use it to try and post anonymously.

I seen one person who wrote "Have NC beacuse ill be showing this thread to DH later and i dont want him to know it was me who posted it" (cant remeber what it was about) surley thats a dead giveaway

If i am missing something i apologise im realitivley new to this site

I haven't got a clue. You are totally right. If the 'relevant people' already know the normal username then they aren't namechanging to prevent them recognising the story and searching for other posts! Which is normally given as the reason for namechanging.

Unless they name change, change some key detail or 2 so that the person reading it who recognises it can only say well, that sounds like our situation but that woman says she lives in bristol and has 2 children whereas the woman I know lives in Dover and has 3, so it could be some other woman who also has someone on mn who knows her normal name so has namechanged to post about a basically identical situation between them that I am having between me and a different person who I know to be on mumsnet and whose normal posting name I also know.

You'd have to be fairly dim to be unable to think well, it's likely that they changed a couple of details and what are the odds 2 people have this exact situation going on at this exact time?

Don't underestimate the power of self delusion. telling yourself that the person will be unable to recognise the situation because you are using a different name and changing a minor detail or two, then tell the thread that you have changed your name so that people don't think you are a troll.

I can understand a name change if it's a delicate issue or something but some name changers are bizarre.

And often I just think 'well why don't you talk to the person this is about instead of all this malarkey?'

That last one does sound pretty illogical, but I think there are two different scenarios -

1. DH doesn't know her username, and she doesn't want him to know it. So it's ok that he knows she started this particular thread.

1. In other situations, OP wants advice, someone else may recognise the situation, and read her other posts. So she NCs so there is no connection.

In each set of circumstances, the 'other person' has one thread they know about, but no way of connecting it to the rest of the OPs posts.