i never use my real name online.
i've disclosed it to maybe...
three people who i've met online.
i disclosed it to those people on the understanding that they never disclose it to others.
i insist that they continue to refer to me as 'alex' so that mistakes will not be made.

it isn't about my having something to hide in the sense that i'm not authentic in my online interactions
it is about my protecting my privacy about such things as:
- my psychiatric history
- my past dx's
- my most intimate thoughts and feelings and desires
while i might well share such intimate details with very close friends i do not share such intimate details with co-workers and employers and such. i don't think it is about hiding things so much as certain things being inappropriate for them to know. i don't tell them the colour of my underwear i don't tell them about my early relationship with my mother i don't tell them about my attachment to my therapist i don't tell them about my fears of abandonment. i do talk about that stuff online, however. under the name of alexandra_k. people who know me well call me alex, i guess. i know one person (who i met online) who i have subsequently met IRL. he still calls me alex and i much prefer that. less liklihood of error.