apbbnbanb_07, is the initials of me, my wife, and my daughter.
The 07 is the year we were married.
Sorry to confuse, it is also my email and when I give it to people they stare at me like WTF?

 

No need to be sorry, but it is a hard one to remember and repeat.
Mind if I call you Alex to keep it simple?

 

Sure, why not.

I've been called worse!

 

Worse than your own real name? Sorry to hear that, but if it makes you feel any better, so have I.

If you don't already know, I'm Richard. I don't hide it and it's been posted all over this site by many.

 

I can't see why everyone doesn't use their real name on forums.
I belong to many, and always use my real name.
Hiding behind a username to me is foolish.
I have nothing too lose, and nothing that I need to protect from the internet.
How come you guys don't use your real name?
Bob.

 

Can't speak for anybody else here...

When I learned to program computers in the fall of 1972 (long-LONG before the advent of public usage of the Internet) I was asked to create a "User ID" and while casting about for an ID of six bytes or less, I thought of my World History professor that had me (Dale Shipman) and another guy with the name of Ken Sharp in the same class. Said professor was also a Marx Brothers fan and he promptly dubbed us "Shipo and Sharpo", and so I used it as my user id on that old IBM 360 Mod 20. Long story short, I've been using it ever since.

 

As a Moderator, I can think of a number of reasons. Dale, you too are a Mod on another website, can't you think of many reasons to want your true name concealed?
Like you, I often post my first name in a profile, but never my last. I don't want just anybody able to look me up on the web and do.... whatever to me, my finances (yeah, right) or my personal information. If they want it, they are going to have to work a little harder for it.
Those I get to know better, I can reveal more of myself in a PM or e-mail.... or even through a phone call should it come to that.
Perhaps you have a common last name. I do not. There are relatively few of us in these U.S. and I might be much easier to find than e.g. John Smith.

 

I suppose I'm pretty close to using my real name, since my username is my initials. It was the first thing I thought of when I wanted to register here, so I kinda stuck with it.

Glad I didn't go with vincent04mazda6 or something. Especially since I don't have that car anymore. Lol. Maybe next summer I could change to vincent03focusZX3? Or better yet, my username on Focus Fanatics is YouMustFOCUS!.

 

That's cute!! I like that.
I'd hate to have to type it in too much though... especially if its case sensitive.

 

I'm not too concerned with my name due to the fact when they search it they will most likely find a football player with a salary WAY more impressive than mine.

They can take his.