> "...a time when we didn't use our real names, we'd both change identities and did not expect our identities to be perfectly congruent with our IRL selves." i

> "...a time when we didn't use our real names, we'd both change identities and did not expect our identities to be perfectly congruent with our IRL selves." i've always been struck by the concept of names (formal name, pen name, courtesy name, etc) as alternate identities, which is prominent in the chinese historical/wuxia dramas i guiltily indulge in (e.g., often a character employs a different name, and the other characters all the sudden have no idea who this character is within the reality of the drama). it seems like the panopticians are encouraging netizens to adopt a similar assortment of names and identities to compartmentalize our public and private lives.