Sorry, don't buy it. I have almost a unique name. Only people I know of named Harter are me, and my Uncle of the same name. Additionally she does not even address the fact that all of these are bigger problems in real life rather than over the internet.

Do you know how many people get phone books? More than there are people on the internet, I guarantee it. I bet you not if a tenth of the people have an unlisted number. This creates every single one of the problems listed save cyber harassment based on gender. Literally nothing else she lists is even close to unique to the internet, nor is it even a bigger problem because of it. Getting stalked, harassed, spammed, etc are bigger threats coming from people who have real life contact with you.

Try again.

Actually I have a reason. Gnizmo was the name of the Gnome Necromancer I made in EQ. I did not feel Harter was a good name for one, and I like to fully connect with my characters in game. I used it on the EQ forums I went to so people could better identify me in game should the need arise. Since then it has just kind of stuck as my default name since people from forums recognize me by that name most easily.

It also provides a guaranteed name as no one else seems to use it, but my first name is often taken. It is a common last name in many areas so people claim it figuring it is reasonably "safe" for an online pseudonym. I obviously do not shy away from people knowing who I am though. If people feel the need to harass me they can try. Worst case scenario I turn the issue over to the police and they handle it for me.

Umm, do you know that the whole stalking harassing etc. problems are quite a bit more difficult in real life than on the internet? Thought it was common sense, I guess it isn't. Where as in real life you actually have to bother going through the trouble of getting the books, looking up registries etc. on the internet it really only takes a few clicks.

Try again though.

Wow. Way to miss the point entirely. You can use the internet to stalk people you know in real life. Plus you are guaranteed to live near them making it much easier. So your entire point kind of isn't one.

You get my name on the internet on a forum. The guy in California will get my name in real life to stalk me? Will he jsut pick up his shit and come over here and ask me for my name? Or maybe he will use the human telephone thing? Maybe a little birdie told him?

If he is in California then how is he stalking you? Do you really believe you are so important that someone will spend thousands of dollars to track you down? This is one of the paranoid, and unrealistic scenarios I referenced above. You are much more likely to meet someone face to face who will stalk you then anyone on the internet even accounting for the increased contact.

That's exactly the point. He can get my name right there without putting any effort into it. If he was in the ass end of nowhere it would be much harder for him to even begin getting my information, than if he got it  through some forum online. He get's it puts it in Maltego and voila. Otherwise if he really wanted to do something, he'd have to put the resources into finding out who I was, which is harder to gather online than you might think, unless he has access to the ip Addresses, which he doesn't through a forum.

I.. uh... what? Ok, so he has your name, and address. What does he do now? Spend thousands of dollars to come pay you a visit while completely abandoning friends, family, and jobs? In this specific case also getting a passport and traveling internationally creating a much bigger problem if he gets arrested. I am not following how this point supports your argument at all.

Points 1-8 minus 3, including 3 if I was female, from the already posted.

Which is more of a problem in real life than it is over the internet. The majority of the people on the internet are not able to effectively stalk or harass you due to location problem. IE they don't live near you. Everyone you meet in real life is, and you freely give out your name there. I addressed this already.