For content producers it has a very real effect - that behind the scenes linking doesn't threaten to expose your real identity to creepy people on the internet.

For content producers it has a very real effect - that behind the scenes linking doesn't threaten to expose your real identity to creepy people on the internet. It does expose it to YouTube people, but I think that's reasonable given that there's money involved. It also (so long as you aren't receiving a check) doesn't actually require any connection to your real name anymore.