And your name is?

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Dear Gentle Readers,

Earlier I wrote about the sometimes exceedingly frustrating bother of trying to figure out a person's name.

Since that time I have often thought to myself, while guessing at someone's given name, "Wow. This is so hard. I should write a blog post about it." And then I remember that I already have.

But today I would like to address another question. Frequently when someone is asking a question in the great wide world web, they do not sign their question with their given name. They become "DR" or "tinkerbell16" or "Bro Smith" or "Sleepless in Atlanta" or "P. Johnson" or absolutely no name at all.

Now the whole point about writing personalized letters is to make them personal and yet be professional. It is ever so hard to do so when you begin with "Dear Mr./Mrs./Miss/Ms. Johnson" or "Dear tinkerbell" or "Dear Brother" or, simply, "Dear Friend."

The worst of all this is I can't say anything nasty about them since I'm the one who hides behind my one name at work and my myriad of pseudonyms elsewhere.

Yours Sincerely,
Slowlane

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