I'm with you there, S_K, insofar as I would be far more concerned about a small minority of people in the 'real world' finding me on any of the boards to which I contribute than about board members finding out who I really am.   The consequences of their taking something I post here out of context and either being offended themselves or quoting me out of context are not worth the risk.  Access to, and distribution of, the content of public messageboards is extremely easy.  It's really not like other discussion fora where someone out to cause mischief, or merely deluded, would have to make a serious effort to get involved - and an impossibly serious effort to get third parties involved.  We can come and go as we please, which has many advantages but also means anyone else can come and go as they please.  I don't know about here but on the BBC boards it's possible to get someone's post removed without even registering.   

Having myself been recently declared a 'snob', I find it difficult (in the present context) to know which is the more snobbish: a) to complain that people are not using their real names because they choose not to, or b) [with regard to the startling and unnecessary information given in the latter half of the above] to assert that people may nonetheless use pseudonyms 'out of necessity' whenever it suits them, even though they 'should not' do so out of choice also when it suits them.

My name is BAZ - I say what I say when I want to - when challenged I like to defend what I say where I can. I am not 'hiding behind' the name, but merely using it!

Baz

To be honest, I can't imagine it happening - I work in a relatively obscure technical field in which there are not many participants, who mostly know one another and recognise each others views and positions.  As in any professional community, there is gossip and there are rivalries and there are certainly one or two people you wouldn't seat at the same table at a conference dinner.  But anonymity is not an option, even in the unlikely event that we were to set up a message board.  

I think the difference is that, in the wider world, nobody much is going to pursue my field as an interest unless they are professionally involved - which is completely different from what happens on these boards (which themselves grew out of a clumsy decision by the people who run TOP to restrict the discussions there).

The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
   It isn't just one of your holiday games;
 You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter
 When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
 First of all, there's the name that the family use daily,
   Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
 Such as Victor or Jonathan, or George or Bill Bailey -
   All of them sensible everyday names.
 There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
   Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
 Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter -
   But all of them sensible everyday names.
 But I tell you, a cat needs a name that's particular,
   A name that's peculiar, and more dignified,
 Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
   Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?
 Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
   Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,
 Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum -
   Names that never belong to more than one cat.
 But above and beyond there's still one name left over,
   And that is the name that you never will guess;
 The name that no human research can discover -
   But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
 When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
   The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
 His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
   Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
     His ineffable effable
     Effanineffable
 Deep and inscrutable singular Name.

I'm not sure which case you are talking about (might be better to message privately about that).

The best thing about anonymity is that it allows people to come up with all sorts of spurious excuses (for anonymity) without running the risk of being personally associated with those excuses. 

But there may be another side of the coin Ian - some other people may feel themselves to be just too important for everyone else to be permitted not to know who they really are. Indeed it should not be a surprise when such people occasionally go out of their way to remind us! We should also not be too shocked to note that their proclaimed "modesty" in doing this expresses itself by an attack upon those who choose to remain anonymous and thus appear to be "cowards".

Baz

Whether I post as Anna Jones or Anna Daptor it still might not be my real name.

I don't use my real name because a) I live in a small town and b) I am the only person with that surname who lives in this town.  I did, years back, when I first joined a message board use my real name and it resulted in a stalker.  Therefore I use a pseudonym for security reasons.