Concerning Santa's pondering: "I asked whether the use of a pseudonym creates some kind of negative bias against the ideas expressed."

I think that would vary with the reader of the thread. Some might speak negatively of folks "hiding" behind a pseudonym with the complaint, "Well, how do you know who you're dealing with?" Indeed, how do we know even if the person posts her/his real name? We don't know, except by reading the writer's postings. All we have to go on, when writing to folks we've never met, is the consistency of their responses. Personally, I don't think it matters one whit if the poster uses a birth name, a nickname or a totally fake name, as long as he/she is consistent in name use. It's the consistency that allows us to determine the worth (this is subjective, too) of the poster's opinion.

The only drawback I have experienced from using pseudonyms is that occasionally, one meets a Mudcatter in person, say, at a festival or house concert or folk club. We all are introduced to each other with our "real" names, and don't find out until much later that we had been chatting online in Mudcat. In other words, we "knew" each other already... and didn't realize it!

My 2 cents, for what it's worth.
~Barbara