Gary....
If one is a straight shooter, really passes knowledge that is serious and helpfull, contributes to a forum in a manner that is educational...then a true name is not necessary.
Now if someone wishes to harrass, nitpick and continually stir emotional topics then yes, it is nice to know who your are dealing with. It doesn't make much difference in the end, but at that point it is nice to know how much of a lack of character that person really has.
For instance let's use Klytus, if he really is from the UK and he really practises bonsai...he may be Tony Tickle, or Craig Cousinns, maybe Peter Chan...who knows. How fun it would be to just come to a web site and type jibberish, and screw up everyone's threads with stupid words with a pen name.
Now if it really is Tony Tickle, or Craig Cousinns or Peter Chan..I am sure that if mandated to use their real name they would not allow themselves (with their reputation) to be looked at as such an imbicile.
Then of course there are some of us that have nothing to hide and are so well known that using a cool name like Smoke just adds to the mystique.
Ciao, Al Keppler