Anonymity – Do the pros outweigh the cons?

I’ve been thinking about an article Allan Cockerill wrote a couple weeks ago, about anonymity on the web.

In the article he talks about the cons of using an avatar or user name different than your own name, a discussion that struck home, since I actually use both.

Now let me say first, that for the average internet user, I still believe that privacy is more important than recognition. In other words, if you’re not doing business online then it’s better to be safe and stay as anonymous as possible.

If you are doing business online, identifying yourself might not be a bad idea, but even so, I suggest considering it carefully first, especially if you’re adverse to finding your information showing up somewhere like Wink or Intellus.

When I started this blog, my user name and avatar were easy choices, I used the same ones I’ve used on SU for years. Teeg is a shortened version of my real name, Te-ge (pronounced Teeg E or T G).

I do use my picture for my avatar on Facebook, but when I started out on SU, my son was a toddler, and he fell in love with the Pooh picture. He’d look for it everytime I went online. Having it as my avatar meant that I could work on my StumbleUpon page and he’d be totally content while I was doing it.

After he got older, I considered changing my avatar, but too many friends asked me not to, so I’ve been Pooh ever since. If you’d like to see what I really look like, here is a link to my Facebook profile. Feel free to add me as a friend.

So what do you think? Is it better to share your information or do safety and security outweigh other considerations? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.