Would you want to know if you were recognised??

[JeremyVile]

Because I think i know someone on MN from RL, well actually i know i do, we used to work together.
My first thought when i realised was "ooh how exciting i'll give her a nudge".
We used to get on really well but i wouldn't say we were friends as such. We had a laugh at work but that was it. She left and we didn't stay in touch.
But she's a regular poster and some of her posts have been fairly personal. The last thing i would want is for her to be embarrassed, and i know that for a lot of people the beauty of MN is that its anonymous.
It would be great to catch up and i would certainly have no intention of bringing up any of her issues but my over-riding feeling is that its probably best left alone just incase.
So if it were you would you want to know?
I cant really answer my own question as i'm a cowardly name-changer for really personal issues !(for the very fact that someone may know me in RL who i wouldn't otherwise have chosen to share my problems with).

Haven't read the whole thread but I'd want to know DEFINITELY

Yes I'd want to know too.

I wouldn't be upset at having revealed personal things to someone I used to get on with either. And on an internet forum you can't expect to be totally incognito unless you never give any details away ever. And that would be boring!

Wherever I've posted I would prefer people not to say. Sometimes they have but I think it's bad form to mention it.

I am in the opposite situation. I know that a friend on mine knows who I am on here (she sometimes quotes my posts back to me) but I don't know who she is. I feel quite uncomfortable tbh - I wish she would say who she is, I feel that she is spying on me a bit - not that I post very often.

yes, I'd want to know. Always nice to get back in touch with people.

Think i'm with you on this one Xenia.
Pollyanna - tell your friend to stop being such a freak this very instant, she gives people like me a bad name!

I've been spotted and don't mind at all. I am pretty hopeless at keeping incognito.

Although I'm aware that quite a few things are off limits for me to post about, if I'm going to be like that.

Pollyanna, that's really unfair of your friend. If I were you, I'd change my name without telling her.

i would much rather know that id been spotted. tho my names not much of a disguise, and cant change it now!

i'd like to know too, mostly because I'm nosey and would want to know which of my friends is also a mner!

I'm with Xenia on this... I would preffer not to know, basic courtessy, what is mention in one place is not to be taken to another context.

Actually, I so much would preffer not to know that I have just changed my name because I'm dead sure I have been identified in a couple of occasion and... TBH... Mumsnet know more personal things about me than my own mother!

I'd rather know. If it's me you can post it here. I'm a high discloser irl though. Although someone I used to work with = no problem, someone I work with NOW = not so mad keen to be spotted tbh but would still rather know than not know.

I think I'd want to know. I've already been spotted on here by someone in rl. I do forget though and I#ve posted some really personal stuff on here and totally forgotten she knows who I am. She;s never said that she's seen it though. It's a risk we all take I think.

AH, www, part of the little bit of work i was doing today was on that - about anonymous postings that might bring an employer into disrepute etc. and the difference with say a Facebook page.

I'd be happy to know

I would want to know. Mainly because I'm really bad at keeping up with people (especially from old jobs, etc) and would think it lovely to "bump" into an old friend online.

I don't post anything on here that I wouldn't tell people in rl after a few drinks

i'd want to know, i reckon! ((oh god, is it me??))
That means she has the option of disguising herself if she wants to for personal stuff.

if you do contact her, do it tactfully though, don't 'out' her online...maybe a CAT or summat

i'd want to know. even when posting personal stuff i rarely name change but thats cos i always think no one i know from rl will be on here. that's probably quite stupid isn't it!

as vixen said, I'd want to know but I would not want my RL name printed out online. ooo noooo

I'd want to know, even if it were just so I could change my name if I felt I needed to.

Just checked your profile and its not me!

I wouldn't bother (as long as my real name wasn't on here) but I change names for anything personal

Message withdrawn

I would rather not know, although I deliberately would never post personal or potentially embarassing stuff. I work on the assumption that we never know who's around.

To be honest, if she's such a regular poster, hopefully she might see this thread and either choose to contact you privately, or just perhaps be more aware of the issues surrounding this and if she's bothered she may consider name-changing for more personal posts.

So I wouldn't delete this thread either - it might just be the nudge someone needs!