Name changing

[spideysense]

Aibu to ask if you ever name change, how often and why?

About every two or three months.
I’ve been here for years. I name change because I mention my job and I don’t want people linking things up.

Same as above, I try to change after I've mentioned 2 or 3 things that may become identifying. I like to remain anonymous on here even though I don't have particularly out there views on things.

Joined this year i'm not going to nc I don't mind if someone recognises me.

Same as above, I change every few months to ensure anonymity.

Name change when I think it would be easy to recognise me or when I have been in a bit of a spat with someone.

Sometimes my views are not fashionable, (although they are not extreme), and people can get very nasty when you don't follow the mob.

If I have told a story that could ring a bell with a freind or neighbour I change my name so that they can't put it together with all my other posts and guess it is me.

Overall several times a year

I don't actually know anyone on Mumsnet, but maybe lots of people use it and will suss me out 😏

What kinds of things do you not want identified? If you put a personal story on here or if you wrote a post about someone else?

Name changed a few times to ensure anonymity but never really post anything too personal anyway.

All the time. It's not that I worry about personal stories individually, it's more that if someone recognised something in a personal story, they would be able to search my username and, if I kept the same username longterm, piece together from threads over the space of years my age, nationality, politics, rough location, age and sex of my child, what I do for a living, in my free time, etc etc, and taken as a whole it would be very identifying.

If I namechange often, I can post frankly without worrying that someone who recognised me could then link that post to a series of other posts which could be cumulatively identifying.

When I get bored.

I name changed a while ago when someone did they must know me, having spoken about my job. I don't want some people to be able to link all of my posts if I know them in a professional capacity

All the time and I know lots of RL people through MN.

Plus it’s not always Christmas time!

I NC all the time as I live in fear of people recognising me (MN is my dirty little secret.)

I feel like everyone should as much as possible.

I've been here years, I NC every thread.

Why? I'm intensely private and I know my cunt of a SIL is on here.

I name change because I have a friend who stalks me on MN so as soon as they find me I have to change.

Never.

I don’t post anything identifying

@DibbleDoCus hahaha. Do you name change every time you comment on a thread though!

How do people search a user!?

A friend who stalks you? Lol why?

I never quite got how things could be outing and at first I thought it was a bit pretentious. I don't really post anything personal or identifying on here, but I am conscious that I do know people (family members and friends) who sometimes use Mumsnet and they might stumble across something that is obviously me - e.g. if I had contributed to the "show me your tree" or "show me your mantlepiece or "what do your grandchildren call you" then it would be pretty obvious to them that it was me. I would hate to think that they could then search my username and find all my other posts. Imagine if someone realised that "oh, FuriousFuggler is definitely xxxxxxx", idly searched to see what else I had posted and found a long rant about someone who was obviously them or saw me commenting about something from my past that they weren't (and have no business being) aware of.

I nc every 6 weeks ish I recon - mns got me through abuse, mh issues, infertility, pregnancy loss, university, and much more. I feel able to talk about things I wouldn’t be able to in public

i change every month or so - like above, i dont want randoms putting 2 + 2 together and coming up with me

I've been here about 11 years on and off. I also name change every few months when I think I could be identified by anyone advanced searching me - although there's no reason they would as I'm not exactly controversial!!

Don't think my mundane life is worth anyone stalking me

I name change quite often. I don't post anything controversial or even particularly interesting, it's more that posts under one username could be linked together and be identifying so I name change.

I've recognised someone on here before, never said anything IRL to them. And it was very easy as they mentioned something that happened local to me. Thought nothing of it until I saw another post of theirs which made me realise who they were. They revealed their whole life on here. It was very odd seeing their name crop up after that. Felt like reading someone's diary. So I post pretty mundane stuff and if I fancy contributing a personal story I name change. Someone who knows me may identify me from that one story but at least they can't link up everything else I've ever posted.