Worked with a guy named Nikita who was on phone support. So many people in the US who couldn't wrap their heads around that normally being a mans name in Russia.

I don't get where Yvan would be confusing either. Weird people out there.

Although I honestly do have fond memories of the late 80's BBS era. But to the point those were local and largely only psudo-anonymous.

The Sysop knew who everyone was if they verified users. And here, at the time, the cost of calls greatly limited connection range. People were locals.