You're making it seem like my default assumption is completely off-base, and yet I think that "harassing people for having 'obvious' fake names" is reaching so

You're making it seem like my default assumption is completely off-base, and yet I think that "harassing people for having 'obvious' fake names" is reaching so hard, my assumption is almost innocuous by comparison. I mean, just think about it: why would people harass someone with a name of "xyz123" but not harass someone with a handle of "xyz123." The distinction is a non-distinction and, yes, people are being hysterical for no good reason. Publications like The Verge (and Vox, and Kotaku, to name a few others) pander this kind of social hysteria as a means to get clicks, and by extension, ad revenue. I personally think it's disgusting.