It helps to distinguish who everyone is, and it also gives the paranoid people the option of just going by their screen name.
FReeper parties are fun, but I know that this entmoot will be more than fun, it will be a blast! The main reason being that there is nothing really to disagree about since we all love LoTR, whereas in political discussion there will always be disagreement.
She don't know us vewy wew, do she? ;-)