If I made headlines in a high-profile computer crime case several years ago and choose not to divulge my legal name online, what business of that is yours? If I were well-known in another field and wished to retain my privacy while participating in this forum, should it matter? My Perl and programming advice would be the same. My opinions stand on their own.

If you and I were to enter into a legal contract, that would be a different matter. Creating an account here is not a legal contract.

For whatever reason, some people prefer to keep personal details personal. If you discovered the truth, that may also surprise you. I don't think it's fair to assume that Abigail has any "lifestyle issues". Nor would it be fair to expose personal details without consent of *the person involved*.

That's just common respect. If your positions were reversed, Abigail would owe you an apology.

Abigail may not hale from the Americas, or English-speaking Europe. Perhaps Abigail chose the name based on transliteration of a birth name, or perhaps it is an ambiguous name, like 'Evelyn'. Another possibility is that Abigail thinks none of this should matter.

You are entitled to be surprised. You are not entitled, though, to post a meditation entitled, "chromatic worked at the NSA as a counterterrorist!" You are not entitled to spread your assumptions that chromatic has a problem with veracity or that chromatic is on the run from the law.

To summarize, the unstated assumption that the hidden identity of any Monk is up for debate without the consent of the person in question is, in my opinion, wrong.

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