The really weird (and negative) thing that Facebook and Twitter have done? They made it strange and bad to have friends you only know from their handles again.
In the BBS days this was extremely common.
In the 90's it was a little less common but still enough of a thing that "Online friends aren't real friends" was a strongly propagating and infectious meme.
In the 00's and since, lots and lots of folks used their real names (for appropriate personal values of 'real names') online. This had the effect of making using handles extremely negative if not downright suspicious. Enough so that watching some speedrunners at AGDQ and SGDQ talk about how strange it was to only know folks by their handles there.
I find it very odd that demosceners sometimes don't refer to each other by their real names, but using some 'legal' name.
Sometimes people don't understand when I say "I'm Truck." "No, what's your real name?" "My friends call me Truck, you can too." "But your REAL name!"
(at which point I normally drink more beer or something.)
@thegibson @Truck @drwho
@niconiconi
I know irc people by their nicks- and they've shared personal life details over the years. If I were to meet someone else they knew in their personal life, I'd end them calling them by (some nick)'s wife or something. Eg. Mrs SirLardbot or NoodleF00's friend
