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?
Right around the time “don’t get into cars with strangers” and “don’t meet people from the internet” changed to “invite a stranger from the internet to your home and get into their car”.
We realized that the internet wasn’t quite as scary as daytime talk show hosts were making it out to be, and got comfortable with oversharing. People also realized you could make a living and maintain a professional presence on the internet, and that’s not quite as easy to do if you’re going by Xx_vIrGiNsLaYeRz_xX. I think eventually Facebook was the one to normalize it for everybody, but we were definitely pushing that way for a little while, anyway.