I have to agree with Finny--there's jerks everywhere. Just avoid the ones you don't like. I have also had the experience of only knowing someone by their faire name. This is primarily because the faires I do attract people from all over California, and I have many faire friends who live pretty far away from me, so I only see them at faire. I actually do know the ones who live in my area. I had the experience in the last year or so of discovering that "Molly" is a faire name not a real name, and the lady in question is actually called Catherine. I now see her frequently outside of faire, and have a terrible time remembering to call her Catherine. I am also starting to have trouble remembering whether today is 1586, 1856, or 1901, and what accent to use. For convenience (my own), all MY faire names are a variation of Sam. I have enough trouble remembering what year it is, without forgetting my own name as well.

The real reason I do this is that I like to play dress-up.