I know at this point a lot of it is related to money, but there was a transitional time that led to this point that I’m still confused by.
What details changed about online spaces that made many folks more comfortable sharing so much under their real names between the “Be careful!” times to where we are now?
Facebook. Simple as.
Definitely Facebook’s policy of demanding real world names and crushing down on anonymity and pseudonyms, around 2014: https://www.protocol.com/policy/anonymity-real-names-jeff-kosseff#toggle-gdpr
EYY I remember when they did that. That’s when I quit cold Turkey
I’ve been the weird one where I refused to make a real Facebook account and would make a throwaway with fake names when I’d need it for classes. What would prompt the creation of another throwaway would be when Facebook would lock my account and demand I send in ID or picture verification.
Yep, most definitely. They were the first.
MySpace I think