@Fido,
Well, if there are any senators on the forum, I may think twice before voting for them. LOL! But there have been a few members who have been very open with their identities, their professions, etc. And of that lot, many of them have been the most productive members on the forum (and vice versa). But in the end, I don't think that your real identity matters as much on the forum, only the content of your posts. In fact, anonymity may be the best thing going for the forum. How many places could you imagine where you could just walk into a place and be judged on equal footing with your peers by just signing up and contributing the best you can.
To tell the truth, I give anyone the benefit of the doubt as to whether they are this or that. It usually reveals itself within a period of time if they were true to their word or not. But to tell the truth, for those that say one thing and are in fact the other, I don't really have that much problem with that either. Some people need a blank slate to reinvent themselves and build their own self confidence. If the forum can facilitate that, then I would support them in whatever capacity they needed. But as I have said quite a few times before, of the few ways we can really determine the character of the people we converse with here on the forum is to look at what they have given us previously. Rankings, profile statistics say
a great deal