Viajero wrote:
172 has announced on his user page he has left. I know
that this is
not the first time and I also know that not everyone on this list will
necessarily find this unfortunate, but I think it is a pity as his
contributions have been enormous.
Hmm, one of the farthest-gone of Wikipediholics quitting? I give
it a week, maybe two. :-)
Over the past couple of years, I was using a pseudonymous account, and
the name I was using in my Wikipedia email account was not my own.
Given Wikipedia's sketchy reputation in some circles, I wanted to
avoid any possible negative consequences in the "real world"; and I
did not want the less-than-friendly environment on Wikipedia to come
back to haunt me off-line. Unfortunately, when the community knows you
as 'just a number,' you don't tend to be treated so well.
The irony is that he's left so many clues to his identity that
it would probably take a PI two hours to get him on the phone;
people on the net are just not as anonymous as they think.
The other irony is that he would probably experience less conflict
editing under his real name; on the average, WP editors are more
deferential to a known professional than to a bare pseudonym.
Stan