"name changed for this"

[changedforthisjustincaseiabu]

I don't get it...

Posters start their outing post with 'name changed for this in case friend/mil/DD/etc is on MN'. They then proceed to describe the entire situation, with specific details, but in theory nothing 'outing'.

Surely if said person is on MN and currently going through the scenario mentioned, it should not be too hard to spot that said scenario has been posted about. All the poster has achieved is not enabling their friend/mil/DD to identify any previous MN posts/replies they have made about other situations not involving them.

Do posters generally understand that notwithstanding the name change the other protagonist can still identify themself in the posted scenario and can still read all of the OPs opinion about it? Or is 'name changed for this' generally understood to be some sort of magic invisibility cloak that prevents certain other people in your life from reading your opinion of them on MN?

Am I missing something?

So let's say someone has an argument with someone else,a lot of the time they're so over it /angry they don't even care if that person recognises the situation. Sometimes they even hope they do. What they don't want is that someone else having access to posts about their relationship,children, work woes etc. Some people do post things that are very serious or could get them in trouble in RL .

Then comes the issue of new poster=troll, which can be fairly frustrating and time wasting, for both OP and the people commenting.

You might not mind your MIL/sister/friend/coworker know you're angry at them but you definitely don't want them to know you've been abused/are hiding from an ex/yours or your children's health or mental health issues etc.

KaptenKrusty But then you leave yourself open to 'interesting first post' comments if your OP is even remotely contentious.

Posters are nosey. Trawling through people's history is some people's favourite pastime. Mentioning a name change is a quick way to prevent posters troll-hunting the OP.

Surely you are more anonymous if you don't mention the name change at all though??

Definitely...but MN posters can be unforgiving People seem to be more afraid of troll hunters and goady comments than actually outing themselves.