This may sound crazy, but on some posts lately I’ve been seeing symbols / numbers instead of letters. Is that intentional? Or is a glitch?
Ex. L3ah, [name_f]Sophi[/name_f]@, [name_m]Ol[/name_m]!ver
No, that’s people voluntarily censoring themselves because they’re afraid that someone will look up their name and see that post.
I personally think it’s silly. I would just not post at all if I was afraid of people finding it, but whatever.
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It’s intended for privacy, to make a name (possibly their kids’ names) less Googleable.
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I only do it if it’s a rare name or one that isn’t on the database. But I agree @Theodora_Phoenix I might as well just not say it at all.
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Same.
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People often use it for the names of their real children (usually just for sibsets or combos, which would be distinctive), and most definitely for surnames. It means that the name can’t be googled, so people can’t be identified.
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For extremely common names I think it is a little silly, but if it’s a really rare name, not in the database, if someone looks up their name and finds someone talking about it on here, I just think it would be a little weird.
I think people just don’t want Googling their children’s names to bring up their Nameberry posting history 
It’s not necessarily just about physical safety, it’s just — why not keep your posts and any personal things you share here as un-Googleable as possible? TTC and relationships and birth and breastfeeding and all that stuff (even just nametalk itself) can get quite personal and emotional, and I guess people would rather all that wasn’t easily found, if someone they knew happened to Google their kids’ names. (Or even the child themselves, in the future!)
It’s also used a lot when people are talking about sibling sets they’ve come across “in the wild” — R0man and Beck3tt, rather than writing the names out in full. Again, it’s just for privacy and so no one Googles their kids’ names and comes across a post about them on NB.
I think it’s very rarely about a fear of physical danger, and more about a desire for privacy.
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I agree with everything @katinka said, and I also might point out that if the post was asking for feedback about the name or sibling set, it may not all be positive.
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