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Real Name For Open Source Development?
An anonymous reader writes "Do you contribute to open source projects under your real name or a nickname? The openness of open source can be encouraging, but software patents you have never heard of can become a nightmare if a patent troll sues for implementing 'their' scroll bar. A real name also means you end up in the big index we call search engines. An assumed name could be an additional layer of protection, but what are its pros and cons and is it worth the hassle when asked to participate in a meatspace meeting?"
Matthew Riley MacPherson never posts using his real name.
-Matthew Riley "TofuMatt" MacPherson
I have a website
An open source project is an unlikely target for a patent troll. Trolls by definition are not in business actually implementing the technology that is the subject of their patents, so your open source project doesn't hurt them directly. Unless you're making lots of money selling your open source software, there's not much they can hope to sue you for.
If you are looking to for personal liability protection then you should create a corporation under which you do all your software development, which might even include hobby or GPL work. This is probably overkill, but it may be a good idea if you think that there's any possibility of building a business around your hobby work in the future. In that case you might be able to claim some tax breaks for the cost of your computer, internet connection etc.
Hiding behind a pseudonym is only helpful in the case where you are doing something very illegal or commercially disruptive, in which case you need to do a lot more than just choose a handle, eg offshoring, money laundering etc. See online casinos, spammers, and porn sites for ideas...
you should always use your real name when publishing online!
Right now the only project I actively contribute to is my own. Of course I have my real name on the project site and in the copyright headers. However, my username (on the site and the repository logs) is more of an online nick. The downside of this is that I get lots of e-mails and forum posts where people assume that nick is my real name.
Of course once I'm at the point where I care about liability protection, I'd rather form some sort of LLC to contain my efforts. I really do want to contribute in a way that people know its me, since what's the point of contributing to a project you can't personally claim credit for?
As long as I sign my code as Blue Salad, they'll never guess I'm really "Green Salad." Muh haha
I'm always using my real name when commiting any patches to the Wine project. :P
Negative side is that I can be found quite quickly in Google, but maybe I'll get famous at some point
I bothered to read every letter of a contract I signed with a company I once worked for and it had the peculiar verbage something to the effect of "... every idea or product developed by the employee during their employment at CompanyX is intellectual property of CompanyX." I got some clarification which resulted in the understanding that that particular phrase was left open so that if I went home and wrote an NLP engine from scratch while I was employed, it was their intellectual property. Let's just say at that time I needed the money and my foot in the door so I did take that temporary position.
From that early moment on, all contributions have been pretty darn anonymous. Remember, you're not just protecting yourself, you're protecting other OSS developers, other OSS companies and more importantly the users.
> Do you contribute to open source projects under your real name or a nickname?
Real, of course. Why would I want to hide?
> The openness of open source can be encouraging, but software patents you have never
> heard of can become a nightmare if a patent troll sues for implementing 'their' scroll
> bar.
As a pure unpaid contributor of source code you have no patent liability.
> A real name also means you end up in the big index we call search engines.
I've been using my real name on the Net for more than twenty years. I don't see the problem.
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
Just use your Hacker alias for submissions. (yes, I know it is Hax0r or whatever people are calling it this month) As long your alternate ID has a positive karma, instead of a negative one, physical meetings are still ok.
It won't be easy to prove to a potential employer that you work(ed) on the project, so you might as well not include it on your resume unless you're tenacious about it.
I've never had any problems submitting my code as Bill_Gates55, but RMS1953 can sometimes get me into trouble. Of course, nobody would believe me if I used my real name; Girls don't program.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
...use someone else's real name?
Find a great idea while mining through software patents? Use a name of someone you'd like to see twist in the wind and implement this concept in your favorite Open Source project. What could be more fun?
When in doubt, go the safe route where you have some degree of control over your personal information. I contribute to a few sites here and there, not to mention the few I run myself, and I write every single word under a pen name. There are a few reasons why I do this, mostly privacy issues related to avoiding unwarranted judgment/stigma from something I wrote. A pen name/alias/handle protects from this problem, but also has the added benefit of being able to 'reveal yourself' at a later date if you decide to forgo the privacy stuff.
That being said, I specifically choose to NOT assume an alias here on slashdot. I have my reasons for doing so, but they are of no consequence. The point is, you should think about your choice and the consequences of it. After weighing the information, if you are still on the fence, you should err on the side of caution and assume an alias.
Invexi - a Phoenix, AZ based web design and web development company.
I see no reason not to use my real name.
There are ... security related... projects one may contribute to, that one would tend to use a nickname instead of ones real name... ;)
After logging in slashdot still does not take you back to the page you were on. It's been that way for 20 years.
Well, Hans Reiser used his real name....
Need I say more?
Ever since releasing my first open source OS back in '91, I've been using the pseudonym "Linus Torvalds", which I thought was a sufficiently ridiculous name that no one would ever confuse me for anyone else. Imagine my consternation when some joker from Finland started getting all of these awesome jobs and invited to speak at conferences and whatnot because everyone thought he was me! He's been milking it ever since.
Where is my misunderstanding of copyright law? I'm sure there must be one if this is even a topic of discussion.
How can you claim copyright, and thus release under an open source license (GPL, BSD, etc.) if you remain anonymous?
Is not the bedrock of the entire concept of open source licenses dependent on copyright law?
Posting anon because I'm afraid of how ignorant I'll be shown to be. ;)
I post anonymously because I'm an insensitive clod.
Actually, I tend to answer questions on forums with my real id, or with a login that easily leads back to me. But I submit complete code blocks under one of several fake ids, and from my home system. Though I doubt I'd get fired for any of the code I've shared, we don't have any explicit policy at my job, and I don't want to test my boss's understanding of "trade secrets."
I never use my real name online, or at least as little as possible. The reason is I don't want future potential employers to be able to Google up any dirt - real or perceived - on me. If I want to bring some of my OSS work to a prospective employer's attention I can do that. I can also pretty much prove that I am responsible for this feature on that program, or that my contributions are legit.
Having you real name associated online with just about anything is IMO a bad idea. The risks are high and the benefits are almost nonexistent. The odds are 10-1 (I just pulled that number out of my ass) that dirt will outrank achievments if you use your real name and someone Googles for you. That one time you got drunk and went off on some insane rant 5 years ago WILL come back to haunt you no matter how many other positive things there are.
Either as a user or developer, if you have enough money/influence that the patent holder cares to sue you, it won't matter much if you post anonymously: your real name in all likelihood will be discovered in due course.
If you want to be protected by the patent terms of Open Source licenses, which for example was important in the JMRI case, you need to be properly identified. Otherwise, you may have a hard time proving to some judge that you should be protected because the plaintiff should have known that you were "Blue Salad".
Also, the project should make your identity known in the software package as copyright holder. Apache is terrible about this, they strip attribution from most stuff.
And I have a problem with anonomously-donated or anonymously-licensed Open Source, because how do you know the anonymous person actually had the right to donate and you won't run into trouble down the line.
Probably the best thing you can do is assign your copyright to an organization that keeps your identity private. Maybe FSF and some of the incorporated Open Source projects would do this.
Bruce
Bruce Perens.
I found some horrible prejudice when I submitted things under my real name, so I'll always use a pseudonym for my first few patches. But while I never actually *stop* using the pseudonym, I'll gradually start e.g. signing emails with my real name; that avoids trouble and lets me get some credit for my actual self.
I am trolling
Well, that's easy enough to ignore. ._. It's easier to get people to look at the code if they think you're a guy... They don't patronize then.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
It depends on how proud I feel about the work that I am submitting ...
Sometimes when I'm really drunk and I've only made the spacing larger to improve readability
I don't use my real name, because by that time it getsh difficult to shpell anywayz.
Hic!
RTFM is not a radio station.
I'd guess you are contributing to gain some reputation, either community, professionally, or both. Otherwise, why would it matter? If it is privacy that is your highest concern, then don't do it.
- Do what you feel comfortable with doing.
- Protect yourself and your personal and professional reputations.
- Don't participate in pissing matches, especially on Internet available forums.
- Don't be a dick (e.g. that ruby on rails rant guy that said indicated past clients wanted to work with him yet in reading his rant you knew you didn't want to work with him).
-fragbait
In the open source community it really does seem that either one is fine. This isn't like the old days of D00DZ and WAREZ and C0DEZ where you used your handle to keep the feds from figuring out who you really were. Nowadays it's more of a tradition. Most people are going to be able to match your real name and your screen name, and that's fine. I do a lot of development using both, and people are generally cool with it.
That's strictly in the online sphere, though. If you're sitting in someone's office working out a consulting contract to build some open source software then yeah, your business card had better have your birth name on it if you want to be taken seriously.
Tired of FB/Google censorship? Visit UNCENSORED!
Stay hidden.
If you have a good product, the money will find you.
Real name. How can others check if I am allowed by my employer to contribute? Or if I am not tricking them into violating copyright or using someone's patents somehow? FLOSS developers should pay more attention to this!
A few years ago I switched from using my handle to using my real name. I encourage other contributors to PortableApps.com to also use their real name. When companies are considering bundling your software on commercial products they like to see that an app is maintained by "Joe Thomas" rather than Ko0lDude23.
Portable versions of Firefox, GIMP, LibreOffice, etc
All right, you've got me. I've been posting code using the pseudonym "Linus Torvalds" for years, but I guess the jig is up.
Why wouldn't I use my real name?
Michael Brown?
I often use my real name when contributing to open source projects, and have contributed to many over the years.
However there have been specific cases where I wanted to submit a patch but not have it tied to my name (in some cases for fear of unjust litigation, in others just so that my name wouldn't be associated with the project for personal reasons). I've never to my knowledge submitted patches that were generated by illegal means.
I used to use an obviously fake name (like 'Anonymous Coward') for submitting such posts (always with a valid e-mail address so I could be contacted), however The Linux Kernel folks decided they didn't want such pseudonyms in their Signed-off fields, so now I just use a made-up real looking name for those types of cases.
To me it is pretty ridiculous to require a real name, when there is no method of verifying such a thing for most projects. I understand a valid e-mail address, and I've always used one, but what did the kernel (or Wine, or any of other such projects) gain by requiring me to make up a real looking name instead of using an obviously fake one?
I personally prefer to use a unique pseudonym for each thing I do. Then I can link it to my real name if there's any advantage to doing so, while keeping as much privacy as possible.
Those who have always been able to use their real name can do that only because they've never met any of the creepy stalker people online.
Free emails don't cost anything and you can forward them to a central location to sort out your identities if need be. Heck, I don't even remember how many identities I have these days...
My real name is the same as someone who is already a kernel developer for Linux as well as the name of someone who works at Microsoft as a programmer. I am neither.
Pro: someone suing has to first prove the the alias is really you.
Con: If you want to assert your ownership, you have to first prove that the alias is really you.
Con: Professionals use their real names. Are you a pro or a teenager?
Moderating "-1, Disagree" is simple censorship. Have the guts to post your opinion.
I release all of my open source software using my pseudonym "Linus Torvalds".
Hey,
so there are already a bunch of answers that agree with the basic premise that you may want to protect your name because patent trolls may come after you.
Can anyone give even one concrete example of a patent troll going after an open source contributor? It seems incredibly unlikely to me. Surely they go where the money is - they sue Microsoft or Cisco or similar. Why stuff around suing people that even when you win the pay off is crap?
I think the key premise here is just FUD.
--Q
What if you generate a PGP key and use it's ID as you "name". In that case, anyone holding the private key is essentially the copyright holder, right? ;-)
From that early moment on, all contributions have been pretty darn anonymous
But what happens if someone finds out? The project is still in just as much risk. That's honestly not very kind either.
Far better is to clarify and modify that contract you are about to sign. Even the lowliest peon can easily ask to have a clause put in along the lines of "The IP section does not cover inventions made using my own equipment outside of company time" (have a lawyer write the real thing). Because otherwise by blindly agreeing, even your posts here on Slashdot are owned by your employer under the typical agreement.
ALmost any company will let you add an addendum like that to your employment contract. Do not be overawed by contracts, they are simply a starting point.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
And although the project I am contributing to may 'irk' some powers (HAL).. I still believe it's the right thing to do.
Ok.. I'm contributing.. On my free time.. No hope or expectation of any form of return (except for some sort of pride - and sometime recognition from my peers)..
Basically.. it's just *FUN*..
And I believe it's the right thing to do !
But do I feel like I have to hide who I am ? Certainly not ! I am proud of what I do (however modest my contribution might be)
--Ivan Warren
PS : I did feel compelled to provide my full name on that particular subject.. go figure !
PPS : The project I contribute to is the hercules mainframe emulator.. google it if want to know more (shameless plug !)
As somebody who uses a lot of open source applications in some critical work I would hope that the people behind it feel good enough about what they are doing to put their name on it. If you are unwilling to put your name on it then I think it is better for the project that you leave it those who can take pride in their work.
"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety" Franklin
My last name has 2 L's in it. I put 3 in it which really isn't even noticeable when you read it. No more searchy search findy find!
I've had this handle for a very long time, and I keep it now for mostly historical reasons. On the other hand, I don't mind people knowing that my real name is Corbin Simpson, that I'm a student in Oregon, or that I attend Oregon State University.
I certainly wouldn't ever disclose a fake name, or ever admit that it was false.
~ C.
All of my open source code contributions have been submitted with my real name. Doing the work with my real name has helped me get consulting work and my current salaried position.
Employers like it when you stand proudly behind your name, instead of following the all too common formula.
By using a fake name to sign your work you are in effect telling people that you "don't stand by your work". OSS will contnue to meander along if there is no accountability in the industry in this case.
You may say "well people in closed source don't have accountability for their code" but that is a moot point because closed-source is a different beast when compared to OSS and since OSS is still "gaining ground" it has to hold itself to a higher standard than closed-source.
This isn't a bad thing, it's always good to hold yourself to a higher standard than your competitor.
IMO the arguments for a pseudonym in a typical (hear that, not a-typical!!!!) programming situation are total bullshit. Now when it comes to breaking DMCA, or some other "fighting for a right" issue then I can understand where anonymity is involved.
Oh- I'm posting anonymous because I'm lazy, not because I don't want you to know who I am.
Depends on whether I'm working on something work related, or something game related, because what else is there?
Name one contributor who's ever been held personally liable for his contributions.
the user name ltorvalds. It tends to ensure that my patches are accepted at a higher rate. In fact, I get a higher acceptance rate than when I use my other screen name, rMs
I am the penguin that codes in the night.
Reiser brutally murdered his wife. That's not funny at all.
If you do it because you want to protect yourself legaly, you must know that you do something wrong. Stop doing it. OTOH there can be many other reasons you do something under an alias. I started using my alias to have a completely sperate name offline and online. That way I would not be confused as if I were speaking for the company I worked for.
A nickname is nothing more then a just that, a nickname. It is a name that you are known by in a certain group of people. Take somebody who is called Robert Williams (Random pick).
His mother might still call him Bobby, his brother Robby, his wife Rob, his best man, Robster, his huntingmates Gunner, his employees Mr. Williams, his drinkingbuddies Moaner (don't ask) and his kids call him daddy first, dad later.
All different names for different groups of people. I am sure that most people will have different names in different groups.
The main difference might be that your online allias will be one that you picked yourself and all the others are given to you.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
...Barry Soetoro
You are hanging out with the wrong people.
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
My name, Michele when read with non-italian rules (ch = k in Italian) is considered a female name and you cannot even image how many people (almost exclusively Americans I must say) at first think I am a girl, yet nobody had problems looking at my code. And yes, is an awkward situation anyways.
Contribute using the SHA1 hash of your real name as your anonymous nickname. If you ever want to be identified you can verify that it was you who made the contributions.
I think there is a world market for maybe five personal web logs.
Which projects do you contribute to because I've never seen that problem before. Maybe you are just being too sensitive about the issue because it's on your mind when you post the code?
Apache strips attribution from source files to avoid anyone feeling they own a particular bit of code instead of the community in general. Authorship is maintained through the issue tracker and the subversion commit records.
Moreover, no contributions to Apache are anonymous. All contributions through the issue tracker require the submitter to provide a license for use of the work in Apache. All committers who provide significant works are required to sign a contributor license agreement.
Apache is one of the most thorough open source projects when it comes to ensuring we have clear rights for the works we distribute.
Who said Freedom was Fair?
The answer to this question should be relatively easy to come to, just compare the PROs and CONs of semi-anonymity:
PROS - very hard for anyone who wishes you ill to find you through the project
but not entirely impossible, subpoena of ISP records and such will probably
be succesful, but run-of-the-mill stalker or process server will not.
CONS - harder to take credit for your efforts, but that can be mitigated
if you use a public email address from which you can privately
(or publically if you so wish) name your true identity
Seems to me that of the above list, the PROs are a lot stronger than the CONs.
Anyone else want to add to the list?
I'm not an open source developer, but I find myself in a situation similar to the article's description. For the longest time (mostly due to lack of effort to come up with a good name), I used my real name online. I set up my e-mail address using it, my Slashdot account, etc. The world knew me as "Jason Levine" and I was fine with it. A couple of years ago, my wife set up a blog and decided to stay anonymous. She took great care not to link her blog-identity to my "public online-identity". A few months back, I decided to start a blog of my own and figured I might as well go anonymous also. My "alter-ego" links up to my wife's blog-identity but not to my "public online-identity." More and more, I've found myself wishing that I could go back and change my existing accounts to point to my more anonymous ID. (No, I won't reveal it here.)
If I had it to do over again, I'd probably have chosen a nickname and stuck with it. Of course, then you might find that you outgrow your nick and want to change it. Still, you'd be able to tell people "I'm taking NickNumber1 offline and will sign up again as NickNumber2" without compromising your anonymity.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
I have a female friend who programs. She runs into the problem of people know she's a girl, so she obviously can't program. I've worked with her, and know she can. Sometimes I run into problems that she can solve. Sometimes she runs into problems that I can solve. That's teamwork though, not a failure of either of us to be able to do our work.
Sometimes I've gone talked to her clients, and said exactly what she said, and they believe it when I say it, because I'm a guy and must know what I'm saying. It's not good, but I don't mind backing her up when she needs it. Really, she shouldn't need it though. Now we just have to convince the rest of the world of that.
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
In oz, and probably many other places for that matter, your real name is what you are known by, there is no requirement to have a formal change from the birth certificate name registered by deed poll, it just makes it easier to deal with all the various institions such as banks etc.
So if you regularly use and are known as drunkenoaf for example, that is your real name.
Tracking down aliases that are linked to it that have an analogue address etc should be a doddle for most the the readers here, let alone someone unfriendly..
I find that username consisting of a letter followed by a unpredictable string of numbers is enough to let people know you can't be tracked.
Support the FairTax
Just submit all patches as anonymous coward... then those pesky lawyers will have fun trying to find out just exactly which AC posted the code...
--- Users are like bacteria -> Each one causing a thousand tiny crises until the host finally gives up and dies.
And stayed hidden for some years before getting public... http://www.ohloh.net/projects/ffmpeg/contributors/19252190931444 http://xine.cvs.sourceforge.net/viewvc/xine/xine-ui/doc/README_uk?revision=1.3&view=markup to avoid being bothered by software patents (despite them still being illegal in France and EU in general)
It should be G&ecute;rard Lantau. Seems /. isn't totally UTF-8 friendly...
My name is InsensitiveClod, you anonymous coward!
terrorist! get him!
p.s. scott green says hi.
I never use my real name. I don't claim any royalties, and that way I am not pursuable and my code is not claimable by any of my various employers who have various grasping IP clauses in my hiring contracts that range from offensive to absurd.
"No good deed goes unpunished"
What I find hard to believe is that your mother named your brother "Noël". What a ridiculous name! No wonder she had second thoughts and decided to leave you Anonymous.
(never mind the fact that I'm writing this using my Slashdot pseudonym...)
Seriously though, don't be afraid. Fear is the mind killer.
I didn't agree with this when I first read it 10 years ago and I still don't. But, I do enjoy pointing out these hardline unilateralist viewpoints by purported advocates of Free ideologies
Just sign your legal name, and your federal government employer's name too.
Ticket closed: Works for me.
On Internet always focus on WHAT and not on WHO.
I'd like to buy homeland for our 10 million people. http://twitter.com/mahadiga
I tried to make some patches for WINE a while ago. You know, just for the sake of contributing and fixing bugs in the code. Nothing else. Didn't care about fame, recognition or whatsoever. Yet these bastards demanded a real name to commit the patch... so I had to make one up!
Sorry state of affairs IMHO.
-1:Naive
Gee, I'm reporting what I have found through practical experience. You are reporting what seem to be some fears you picked up in high school of authority.
Most companies will label you a trouble maker if you question anything in the contract.
That is such bullshit. Companies of any size run all that through HR and legal departments, which have the most minimal contact with the people you actually work with (by mutual choice). I have angered HR people before by questioning stupid policies (unrelated to current discussion, it was disagreements I had with them over theories they had why people were quitting in droves) and it has ZERO impact on my ability to advance in the company (which I proceeded to do years after)
They will only hire you if they don't have a less troublesome alternative available.
And now we reach the most obvious demonstration of your Naivete. At the point you are signing contracts, they HAVE ALREADY AGREED TO HIRE YOU. It's not that the agreement is all that binding, but the practical reality is the guy looking for a candidate is done looking. HR is done looking. No one cares about a few words in a contract, they get small changes all the time from the other employees that are not sheeple who blindly sign anything.
Wake up, you have way more control over your life than you think.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Why not just strike out said section
That's obviously preferable, but a bit harder to convince HR/Legal of - saying you have some other ideas you wish to keep separate is totally understandable and easy to get approved. I'm just trying to present the easiest path for someone new to the concept of asking for alterations in contracts.
Because no-one really reads anything very carefully (even most lawyers) it's way easier to get a paragraph in that negates another, than to seek to strike out something altogether.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Real name. It means I'm one of only two people I know who is mentioned in wikipedia. Of course, I'm unlikely to top the amusement value of the other. :)
Using a fake name offers at least the possibility of deciding later if you want to be known with a particular project. Since you speak with both voices, your pseudonum can out your real name when you choose, and when it is to your advantage to do so.
This assumes, of course, you're not outed some other way first. But at least the possibility of remaining anonymous is there. Use your real name first, and you can't ever take it back.
Pavlov wouldn't be so famous if he'd used a can opener instead of a bell.
If you do it because you want to protect yourself legaly, you must know that you do something wrong.
SCOTUS has ruled that desire to exercise one's right to privacy is no indication of suspicious activity. I'm not mentioning US Supremes cuz it's enforceable worldwide, but to show that learned persons who studied the concept in depth disagree with your statement.
Remaining anonymous to protect oneself legally only implies concern and caution that someone is doing something wrong. Yeah, you might win in court, but it's better to avoid meritless litigation, patent trolls,etc altogether. It also helps avoid becoming collateral damage in the ideological/economic war between the proprietary and libre sides of the marketplace.
Pavlov wouldn't be so famous if he'd used a can opener instead of a bell.
A few years back, an open source project working on a railroad train/computer interface thingum got sued. Google it, it was even here on /.
In any case, you don't have to be directly in the crosshairs to lose money to a troll. In order to get the money, and to avoid losing, trolls will drag into the case most any name they can justify. It's a hassle, it's costly, even if you're not the direct target. In litigation like this, there's no assurance you'll be able to recover expenses if you're just collateral damage.
Pavlov wouldn't be so famous if he'd used a can opener instead of a bell.
And YOU anonymous coward are from, um, somewhere...
Pseudonyms != anonymity. Data can be easily aggregated (and tracked) into "personal profiles". I used to have a spam pseudonym & email, but over time it becomes an identity that (with effort) could be traced back to me.
The only way to get real anonymity is to have a new pseudonym for every different occasion. Probably more pain than its worth. Even Tor is so painfully slow that I stopped using it after finishing a trip to China and having access to my emails again.
Actually, I'm not sure it's the ch that does it. For me it's the 'e' on the end. I'm not sure exactly how wide-spread it is in languages, but male names tend to end in a consonent, female names in a vowel. Note how 'Micheal' is clearly a male name.
It's the fact that Michelle is a woman's name, and much more common than Michele. I had never seen a Michele before 8 months ago, and you are the second. And I am in America.
A name is nothing more than an identity. It is not an individual. This applies to either birth names, legal names, aliases, nicknames, login names, etc. In California, common law states that any name that you regularly use in public affairs is a legal name. My brother changed his name that way. The real question is whether to use a name that is traceable to an individual, and with how much effort. All you need is to be able to prove the individual behind the identity, should you have a requirement to do so later. And if you want anonymity, you have a name that is not traceable.
It's the "e" on the end, just like GP stated. Think about it...
Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
In Italian very few names end in consonant (I cannot recall any that is not of foreign origins). I thought it was mostly the ch cause that way it would sound like Michelle, while with 'k' is way more like Mike.
Yes probably Italian names are not very common there, although here Michele is a very common name.