Why people do not use their real name in HN?

There are a two main of reasons.

* People are worried about reprisals from their employer. * Lots of people have a greater connection to the name that they have decided for themselves over one that was assigned to them at birth.

This is very common with tech people. Hence why Google+ had the nymwars when it tried to enforce a wallet name policy.

Why didn't you use your real name when asking this question?

I dream of discovering such a resonant and cogent truth that, like a seed crystal in a prepared solution, it gathers more and more truth about it...

Failing that great ideal, my words must stand for themselves, at least.

anonymity is sacrosanct on the internet. it always has been. facebook et al pushed for "real name policy" because they have an interest in building your social graph and sell you "relevant ads".

if that isn't the case then there is no reason for using real names. Reddit has proven that for years. tumblr even.

in my specific case, its a symbol of resistance and my political affiliations. At the same time, i will be hunted down by police for "spreading dissatisfaction towards the government". People have been arrested for "cheering for the 'enemy' country in a cricket match", so its really for my personal security

Why should they? Until Facebook tries to forcefully push people for that it never was the rule anywhere in the internet.

People loved anonymity and privacy, and paradoxically, it actually avoided toxic behave.

I don't use it, because it mirrors back to me. If I write something on hacker news that isn't main stream consent, I get down voted and that is a no go for reputation.

Also, may be my future employer want to do some background search on my person and this may come back at me. so generally I do not use my real name no matter where.

I use my real name because I want to stand by my public comments. I feel this keeps me respectful of others and also creates an online history of my thoughts and opinions on a variety of subjects. In short, I want to be proud of what I write, so I use my real name.

Real name where?

I cannot find any box in my profile asking for name…

the username says it all