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?
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.