Message boards and chat rooms?

Question

is there ever a risk/danger when registering a user name to use actual or my "real name"?

Answer 1

maybe

Answer 2

There are possible privacy issues, made worse if you give your correct date of birth as well, a field on many forums.

Visitors and forum staff then know your name, date of birth, location if you give that (or let it slip in conversation), giving a large amount of the information that would be useful for identity theft.

First name is just about ok, and I'd generally not be accurate with date of birth, shift it by a year or two, if you really want to get birthday greetings on the right day.