Stanley Bing uses the language well. It reminds me a little of Damon Runyon. However, he skates around the reason many of us have a fake persona here on Slate: FEAR!

There are a number of intense posters here who might react to a post to the point of hunting down the poster with the intent of inflicting bodily harm. Thus, while it is somewhat of an inconvenience not to be able to identify certain posters for the purpose of offline communication, many of us are hiding behind pseudonyms, even though we may reveal quite a bit about ourselves. For instance, my position is:

THERE IS NO GOD!

Now, I can't promise that there will be angry responses to that statement, given that I have revealed an ulterior motive, but there is a reasonable chance there will be some readers who feel compelled to reply angrily. And that is why we are all fake people here.

I WILL HUNT YOU AND YOUR FAMILY DOWN... and offer you a cookie. Or at least I'll offer a stranger a cookie and hope that it's you. I'm not into poisoning people, but I can assure you that it'll be one of the best cookies you've ever tasted. As for this God you refer to... Do you have the recipe?