> This kind of policy goes a long way towards the perception of professionalism at any web site. Does it, though? Looking at HN usernames, some are clearly nam

> This kind of policy goes a long way towards the perception of professionalism at any web site. Does it, though? Looking at HN usernames, some are clearly names (mine, yours), and many are probably not (patio11, JupeterMoon, hackuser, on__3, to use some from the comments of a neighboring thread). I don't think this detracts at all from the professionalism of the discourse here, nor from the perception thereof. Similarly, I wouldn't weigh the professionalism of a hypothetical StackExchange user differently if their usernames were 'SparkleMermaid', 'ArmadilloRocketeer', or 'Iheartpython' -- I notice the content of their writing before I notice their name. Heck, the sandwich-themed name of your company shouldn't make one pre-judge the communities you've built, or the perception the work you've done to build them. Am I that much in the minority that I don't care if your username is your initials + favorite 3 digit number, your real name, or a reference to your favorite Star Trek episide? Is this because I grew up in a time when handles were either assigned-by-name or completely made-up, depending on what system you had joined? Maybe it's the influence of having been a lurker on Slashdot and HN, where clever nicknames were commonplace, yet one's choice of nickname nearly never was the basis for judging value of contributions.