Strong-Enough Pseudonymity as Functional Anonymity

[Zooko O'Whielacronx]

I can think of three different goals one could have for "identifying" the
person behind a name.  If goal A is possible, I say that the name was a
"verinym".  If goal C is possible, I say that the name was a pseudonym.  If
none of the goals are possible, the transaction was anonymous.

Unfortunately, there's no word for the kind of name where goal B is possible 
but goal A isn't.

Suppose "Alice the Argulant" visited the tavern that you own and operate in a 
virtual reality MUD world, and behaved badly and you had her thrown out.

Goal A: figure out the real human who operates the "Alice" persona, and break 
his or her kneecaps, or at least threaten to do so, while making it clear that 
you have the ability to make good on your threat.

Goal B: make sure that the real human who operates the "Alice" persona doesn't 
come back the next day under a different name: "Bobo the Burbulant".

Goal C: make sure that the real human who operates the "Alice" persona suffers 
a loss of reputation capital or escrowed gold pieces or something, thus 
deterring him or her from behaving badly.

I imagine it might be nice to have Goal B achievable in a certain setting 
where Goal A remains unachievable.

Regards,

Zooko the Zoogulant

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