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> The point of this story is…

The point is that without the identifying information it might as well be a creative writing exercise.

Good anecdotes have power because they actually happened and are verifiable to some degree. This is neither.

Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird is a creative writing exercise which didn't actually happen and isn't verifiably true to any degree. There were never any Finches, Ewells, Robinsons or Radleys, yet readers often find it quite powerful because they're perfectly aware the story's events have played out between real people many, many times. They don't need to be told the real names of people who have been in lynch mobs to know real people have been lynched. Email servers aren't quite as heavy a subject, but we know these things happen.

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