Because big-name companies are trying to eliminate privacy, on the internet or otherwise, because they're trying to become more powerful than they have any right to. Simple as that.

I tend to avoid these, and anything that asks for my phone number. They just don't need to know.

If they start making use of real names mandatory, what'd be the next step? Making it illegal to use a false name on the internet? Wait, that's already in place, isn't it?

While I'm all for anonymity in certain ways, the internet tends to be full of good people letting their bad side loose because they know no one can find out who or where they are. With the rise in companies and government gathering a large chunk of their data from online searches, we're seeing a lot of people either getting screwed (IE post pictures of yourself drinking online, get turned down for a job because of it) or being outright paranoid (me) because of their online speech or behavior. Anonymity or it's lack thereof both have outstanding pros and crippling cons.

On the one hand, with anonymity, we have the option to voice opinions that are not mainstream without fear of immediate and terrible reprisal. But on the other hand, WITHOUT Anonymity, I'm pretty sure things like online gaming would be a lot less stressful. To a more extreme degree, things like cyber-bullying would be a lot less likely to happen if people knew that their username had to be John Smith and not 5m0k3xW33dx420. Also, pirates are kind of killing a lot of things. My annoyance with Diablo III is proof enough of that.

It's all an issue of balance. How much of our individual freedom are we willing to gamble for the potential protection of everyone? Personally, I vote for a certain level of anonymity to be stripped.

It depends on what I'm using it for. Facebook and G+ I tend to be communicating with people who know me by name. Here, on Twitter and YouTube fewer people would recognise me by mu real name than by an alias, so really it's down to how useful it would be to use whichever name.

Im just glad FB hasnt decided to ban me yet. My fb name isnt real. I have gone against what youtube has tried to push and created yet another pseudo name to put in. What are they gonna do? Find me and spank me? I just dont want my real name all over the net.

My name isn't Fred.
Never has been, and "Frankly," I'm thankful it isn't.

I'm not quite shy about my identity IRL. If anything, I'm an arrogant bastard and I'm quite proud of what few achievements I have out in the real world. However, the last ounce of humility in me is telling me, "Nobody cares. Post something relevant, don't brag and don't treat yourself like a celebrity. You're not important and what happens on the internet means nothing."

Also, the new forum layout is ugly.

I'd be extremely limited if my actions on the internet were tied to a real-world alias. Not because I do anything WRONG, but it'd change a lot of things to the point of it being overwhelming and destructive.

I submitted well over 700 wallpaper images under the alias TopHat. An accomplishment I would never tie to my real identity; not because I'm not proud of the work but because I wanted to contribute something pseudo-anonymously. Things like this carry a different message when it goes from "TopHat did a thing" to "Actual Name did a thing." It feels a bit more selfish and devalues it, I guess?

There's also the whole Salty Tears thing, which I don't think I need to clarify as to why I'd rather not have a real name tied to that~

That's okay, Teej, after Salty Tears is done everyone's going to know you as Caprice anyway~

I hate real names on the internet. It makes me feel like I'm leaning over and looking into someone's window, bursting into their house while they're gone, rifling through their personal belongings.

I guess it's because once you find a name, and especially if it's a unique one (like my own), then people can find where you live/your family/nearly anything on the internet.

So I'm staying as Hol.

You've been trolled, haven't you.

I haven't, so anon doesn't bother me. Most of the time, anon only goes after the people who deserve it, anyhow--and they're usually stupid enough to post their real name/location/date of birth/god knows what else.

I guess I don't see the harm in someone trolling someone else. But trolling to me is like water off a duck's back. I had some idiot on DA draw hate art of me, and I insulted him so bad he blocked me and I was done with him forever.

Trolling is just words. Stalking is a different story entirely.

Then mute voice chat? It's not hard.

I don't have an Xbox or PS3 because I hate FPS, but my friends say you can make private rooms and all that sort of thing.

Overall, my greatest fear for the Internet is the scenario when 20 years down the line, probably less, we start to tell kids about how the internet was a free and accessable databank of limitless knowledge, before promptly concluding with "Man, those were the good days."

Google can beg all they want, but I will continue to refuse. In fact, I started using Youtube without signing in because of this exact reason. (Well, this was the second reason; my very old Youtube login cookies stopping working was the first.)

And i'll even applaud those people who take advantage of that to mock Google by using a totally non-real name. Such as that of a fictional character, or a phrase (e.g. "Bad Apple" or "Rubbing Alcohol").

I also know one person who was repeatedly kicked off of Facebook despite using her real name, in part because she shared a first name with an anime character, whom she really liked and used as her profile photo.