I was under the impression that there are crazy, psycho people on the internet who if they have too much personal information, they will track you down and chop you into small pieces.

There might be. But we all know crazy people don't use phone books. They also don't target whatever complete stranger happens to be in the house next door. They find a target, travel to the location, and chop them into small pieces.

Such piece activists are widely feared.

But I have been using my real name on the net for ten years or so and I have never been chopped to pieces, not once. If I ever will be, I would be surprised to read in the paper that my killer knew my name.

There might be. But we all know crazy people don't use phone books. They also don't target whatever complete stranger happens to be in the house next door. They find a target, travel to the location, and chop them into small pieces.

YOu did not have the misfortune of marrying one of them!

A "screen name" should not be a second personality, I think.

I agree. My name is...drum roll please... Angela Marie, and my birthday is on the 8th day of the 8th month. I think for the most part people have been taught to use their real names cautiously, cause you never know about those

psycho people on the internet who if they have too much personal information, they will track you down and chop you into small pieces.

For that reason, my last name is none of your business

I'm a certified Russian Linguist (thanks to the US Army for squandering a million dollars on me!), I've been a slave to Corporate America making big bucks, but now I'm a simple housewife and mommy to a cute little boy. I look just fine without any makeup. I don't have much of a brain, but I'm working on it.

I don't worry too much, perhaps I am just very naive.

My real name is Brandie, which pretty much everyone on here already knows. Some know my last name as well. I live on an Army base on the island of Oahu (Hawaii), and many on here know my address as well, lol.

I'm a stay-at-home mom and the wife of an Army medic. I share lots of personal details in my blog and tend to be very open on JU.

I like to know about the people I correspond with on here, and I consider myself a very trustworthy person, and one that is safe for others to share personal details with. However, I do understand the reluctance of some to open their lives up to the big, bad internet, and I respect that.

If I get to know someone personally, great. It makes my experiences with them deeper and more enjoyable. If not, well...I can still laugh at their funnies and appreciate their brilliant thoughts and get pissed off at their ignorance, hehe.

LW, I realise some people have good reasons to remain anonymous. You guys are not who I was referring to.

I also know more about you than about, say, "Furry Canary", and have an idea about the person I am talking to when I speak to you.

It is however very doubtful that a full 90% of JoeUser posters have such reasons. I believe most are just not very personable.

As for the idea that I have no right to ask people I talk to who they are... I can only say what they used to say at the London School of Economics:

Pfft to the lot of them!

My real name is Brandie

Nice to meet you, Brandie. And thanks for what your husband is doing for us!

I doubt if many could even tell ya whether FC is male or female. I know I cant.

The ultimate privacy. People don't know who she is or what he does. People barely talk to him/her.

My JU name is my first name and initial of my last name. No mystery there.

I am Amy. I live in Texas. I am currently doing home daycare but am studying to pass my RPR test so I can work as a court reporter. I have three wild boys. One husband who is in the Navy and not around enough. A sheltie named Bingo. Not enough friends and I need to go load my dishwasher.

I can only say what they used to say at the London School of Economics: Pfft to the lot of them!

and I guess that "pffft to you back" would be the standard response at London School of Economics? Hmm... whole lotta pfffting going on!

While I agree you have the right to ask, I also think that they have the right not to answer for whatever reason. Even if it is simple comfort and not life and death. It's not like your signing some kind of contract that requires full disclosure (I hope).

and I guess that "pffft to you back" would be the standard response at London School of Economics?

It's a cultural thing. I don't think Americans know. It was a radio show "I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again".

Why does everything become about rights and rules?

I simply ask people who they are and what do I get? Somebody informing me that I have no right to ask and a few others telling me that they are under no obligation to answer my question.

What has the world come to?

That's the sort of reaction you expect in a totalitarian regime. People refer to authority (JoeUser rules), won't tell anything unless they have to, view with suspicion anybody who doesn't act that way, doubt that it is my place to ask (how could it possibly not be?). It's weird.

I simply ask people who they are and what do I get? Somebody informing me that I have no right to ask and a few others telling me that they are under no obligation to answer my question.

Well, the truth is you do have a right to ask, but it's also true that nobody is obligated to answer. Some people simply value their privacy more than others. Personally, I respect other's right to privacy.

Well, the truth is you do have a right to ask, but it's also true that nobody is obligated to answer.

Yes, but why is telling me that more important than answering my question?

If people don't want to tell me who they are, why find excuses? Why not remain quiet? What's the point of telling me that there is no rule forcing them to answer? Why tell me that I have no right to ask?

What's wrong with you people?

When somebody asks me something on the street (or anywhere!) I do not tell them they have no right to ask; I do not tell them that I am not obligated to answer; I do not inform them about my pet theories of how much one should tell others and why; I do not involve them in a lengthy discussion about freedom of information versus privacy, I simply answer their question or decline and walk away.

That is what I have always considered the normal practive among human beings. What I have seen here is frightening.

Some people seem to be obsessed with rules and rights, but not for real or imagined reasons (like someone who fears a real or false danger) but simply because they can be. But they are not climbing mountains, if you get the analogy.

And that is plain weird. It's the weirdest thing that has happened to me for some time. And my life is pretty weird to begin with.

I am genuinely shocked.

Well, if that shocks you well... then that shocks you.

Well... here is something to consider. Communication is only about 25% of the words that we actually use. The rest comes about with gesture, facial expression and intonation.

Me answering these personal questions on the street to a stranger would have a lot to do with that 75% that can not be transmitted on the internet.

Considering that I am not going to get that 75% from anyone on the internet (and I'm not going to get into web-cam) then sorry... just don't have enough info... to get more personal than I do.

I don't see it as a rule or a right... just the way that I communicate with people. Call it a comfort zone. Some people like talking about their prostate surgery with the stranger sitting next to them on the plane. Some people prefer to read their book or answer just the basics.

Sure, people can use the anonymity of the internet to be an ass... once proven then, as you said, do the internet equivalent of walking away.

Why on earth you would consider interaction on the internet to be normal communicative interaction between people is shocking to me. But then, that's my comfort zone talking.

Why on earth you would consider interaction on the internet to be normal communicative interaction between people is shocking to me. But then, that's my comfort zone talking.

I wouldn't walk up to a stranger I see talking somewhere to inform him that I believe he has no right to ask the question he asked and that I am under no obligation to answer.

Yet, several posters here have done the Internet equivalent of that.

If there is a comfort zone involved, why doesn't that keep people from doing that?

Also, and I cannot even begin to tell you just how happy I am about that, telling people you talk to who you are is not the same as informing them about intimate health problens and surgery related to it.

And to me ANY communication is normal communicative interaction. Heck, I am friends with many people I have never met outside the Internet or Usenet. Talking to people from all over the world on the net is simply not as different from talking to people in person. Before the commercialisation of the Internet, the majority of Internet users used their real names; so please don't tell me that not doing so is a normal reaction to a completely different medium or world. It's not.

Well, at the end about half the people have told me what I wanted to know (or enough of it).

And one half has informed me that I must not ask them and/or that they won't tell me (and that that is completely normal).

I am glad to learn more about people I believe I know. And I am surprised to learn that there are people who take an active interest in telling me that I must not know more about them. (If they hadn't told me, I would know less about them!)