I remember that. One of Blizzard's employees posted his real name saying "Whats the worst that could happen?"

I think he had a bunch of pizzas and other crap ordered to his doorstep in his name within an hour.

Links?

Shhh! I wanted it to be a surprise if Elenarie took actually fulfilled my request.

You're on your own.

Are you stalking me?

Definately not - there's little enough pricavy and freedom of speech in the UK as is (we have no legal, constitutional kind of right to the latter), and with more CCTV cameras in the UK than mainland europe combined (or perhaps it wa the states) the last thing we need is that.
I can understand about the spam/ trolling thing, but that would not be the way to go about it.

Trully, revolutions are a tring of the past, these days, people are actually willing to give away their freedoms and liberties. Let's all abandon names and surnames, and adapt a numbering system, it will solve the problem of mistaken identities forever. Woo!

You might as well be asking him "When did you stop beating your wife?"

I'd rather not use my real name online for a variety of reasons, mainly that what I post online is no one's business but my own. There is also a matter of safety.

Think about how one innocent post can open up an internet backdraft? Think about what can happen if any idiot can track the individual down in RL with their real name.

There is also the issue of employers firing people just because they find a post or lifestyle objective.

There is also the issue of people sharing the same name. When I type my name in google, I see multiple people sharing my name. At least with usernames they all have to unique.

I'd rather keep things as they are rather than being forced to use my real name online. It is not that I'm doing anything objective, it is just that I value my privacy (or at least the illusion). Yes, the internet is crazy and offensive place, but it is the last hub of true free speech.

If someone search your name in the net, all your forum post, downloaded links, home address, mail address, work address, phone, facebook, +google, are all available for free for the whole world to know and see. It's that want you want? and think about the countless spam, ads, and trolls that you will receive each day. Only for the reasons to keep the 'more' retards and idiots from using the net?

No thanks.

The initial idea may seem logical, but sometimes we need to think about where the initiation of a system like this could lead. Consider the "bigger scheme" of things.

I continue to be pro-gun rights despite the tragedies of school shootings, daily murders, etc. The reason for this is although limiting assault weapons and number of bullets in clips could very well be the right thing to do (and I'm not saying it's not), I also have to consider where this kind of thinking could lead, such as banning of all guns and then the possibility of super bad government occurring with no means to defend ourselves. (or even just self-defense on a daily basis) Ultimately, I can't control all the mentally ill shooters, the gang members, the parent who didn't educate his child about firearms - those that bring a bad name to weapons. I can only educate/control myself and control my Glock, and try to set an example.

Similarly, there will always be trolls, etc. that bring about "bad stuff" on the Internet. Sadly, like with firearms, the worst of them will seemingly get the most attention. Does that mean we should work furiously to keep trolls off the internet? I don't believe so. Fortunately the Internet is not controlled (afaik) by a select group of people, but millions that own online "property" and can decide what they want to accept and what they don't. Naturally some bad (or at least spammy) apples slip through, and I'm not against taking certain measures to prevent that stuff from happening (coughSpamInUserReviewscough), but consider what could happen in "the big picture" if some measures lead to more radical measures and so on a so forth...

(something like that)

Using their real name on Facebook and Twitter doesn't stop many 'retards and idiots' from spouting their ignorant/racist/hateful/trolling shit.

What? Does Blizzard want to implement this shit again and their number one fan is trying to justify it?

I don't always abide by that logic, but I HIGHLY AGREE with simply ignoring them.

That's part of freedom of speech, having to put up with stuff you don't agree with. I've found that avoiding stuff that upsets me (like r/politics) or ignoring harsh, broad-brush, unkind statements from any side lets me focus on more reasonable opinions.

No, think about the consequences and long term. Sometime, you can't simply wipe out the negativity, it's part of life, with everything good there's must be something negative about it. If they're going to implement this, it's going to take more changes than real name alone. Imagine your wife or children being stalked 24/7. Also, what if they sell your info to other firm / company? Internet is a powerful tool, it need to have some boundary.