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?
Well, what I mean is the real name association with what’s being shared. Maybe I’m mistaken here, but much of my time online it was more anonymous/pseudonymous up until more recently (by which I guess I mean the past decade or so now?) with more folks posting & sharing a lot under real names and/or in relation to photos/videos of themselves.
Real names were common on Usenet.
It is true that the
fingercamp often went by their Unix usernames, and that culture often carried over to newer communication platforms. I don’t think that parallel culture ever went away, though. It is seen here, for example.