I *think* I am the same in person as I am in here

Most of us do and are. The effect on others can still be different between readers of Mudcat messages and personal acquaintances. Writing messages to threads allows us to do more thinking than if we had to reply immediately (as in oral conversation or online chats). Some of us use this opportunity to reveal aspects of their personality which may go unnoticed otherwise. This may be intentional or not, to their advantage or disadvantage.

The very few Mudcatters I know in person are those who lured me here. Nevertheless, I have the feeling as if I knew some others, just from their messages, better than I know some other people I often meet in person. Physical appearance, voice, etc. can be deceiving, as everybody knows.

Of course, some choose to disguise themselves in Mudcat as well, for verious reasons. The most obvious example is a lady who fights for a do-gooder agenda but chooses a different GUEST nickname when she feels like insulting others (in desperate self-defence, as she probably believes). "Astroturfing" is another famous example. Like most kinds of deception, this one seems easier than it is, and takes a lot of planning to be really successful.