[conservative in nyc]

Just how do they find out who is behind the screen names???

It's not that hard. As the post screen says, loose lips sink ships.

There's this thing called Google. It allows anyone who wants to research your posts here and other places to piece together who you are. Once narrowed down (by geographical region, types of interests, etc.), it's not too difficult to come up with a profile. And if you've slipped up and posted too much personal information, it's not that difficult to turn the profile into a name.

The DUmmies were trying to "out" Buckhead shortly after he posted the famous Rathergate post. It didn't take long for them to figure out he was a lawyer from the Atlanta area. They narrowed down the suspects to a few politically connected lawyers and guessed correctly. (I think someone posted a picture of an Atlanta-area FReeper gathering to make it easier to identify him). If the DUmmies can do it, it's not rocket science. We know the lamestream media lurks here. And they are (theoretically) better at research than most DUmmies.

Loose lips sink ships.

[BillF]

The DUmmies tried to "out" Buckhead, but wasn't it the LA Slimes who "outed" his real identity?

Didn't the LA Slimes have investigative reporters & staff spend time working to uncover Buckhead? Instead of trying to uncover the source of the Rather forgeries, i.e., the wrongdoers and accomplices to a serious fraud, the LA Slimes went after a whistle-blower who helped expose the fraud of Rather's reporting.

Are you saying that the DUmmies helped the Slimes expose Buckhead's identity? I would doubt that most DUmmies would have the brains to help, but please enlighten me if they did contribute to the Slimes' efforts.

[muawiyah]

Senator Grassley has a couple of staffers who've spent entirely too much time on government computers trying to track me down.

[JustaCowgirl]

Just how do they find out who is behind the screen names???

There's another way it could be done, or at least verified, in certain instances. If an 'investigator' knows another's movements (attending frequent meetings, public functions, etc.) and suspects he/she might be a particular poster, you simply match up the times when the poster could not have posted to FR with the posting times of the person in question. If over a period of time the person's 'public times' never match their post times, they're likely the person.

This would work best for frequent posters, of course.