I struggled with the idea of putting my real name and photo out there. Eventually, I settled on Pat. S as it cannot be associated with a full name, and used my photo. I was happy with that compromise. 

As a military member especially, I'm very careful about anything that could effect a security clearance, which is one of the reasons I didn't want to use my full name. 

A major down side to  anonymity is that it can really cut you out of mass media exposure.   The mainstream press really wants full names rather than 'anonymous sources'.    They need attributable sources for their reporting, so "anonymous" doesn't work.  I had to pass on an offer to write at US News blogs because they wanted first & last name and bios.    I also missed out on tying my blog to an interview with SmartMoney  magazine cause they wanted full name.   I didn't think about that when I started Freeby50. 

If I had known I'd be missing such media exposure then I might have used my real name and just limited the candid things instead.   Something to think about if you're starting out.   You can't easily change it 3 years down the road.

It means they think your writing is good enough for their site (you said it was a large website).  That is awesome!

If you don't want to give up your identity then take the confidence in knowing you CAN get hired at a large site and find a gig where you can stay anonymous. 

Or use it as motivation to write more for your site and build that out more.

As far as I'm concerned, you can tell a lot about yourself without having your name on something.  Sure, if you have a blog about nuclear reactors, it'd probably lend you some credibility to have an About Me page with additional information, including a name/whatever.  Personal finance/finance is basic math, and sustainable living doesn't take a doctorate degree to understand--so who cares about credentials?  

In some ways, I feel like having personal details about myself, especially age, is sure to hurt me in a few ways.  Saying that you're "a college student" is another way to say "I don't know anything about anything" to people who are older.  I think that view is most often wielded by people who don't take the time to learn from mistakes of others (since apparently I can't, I'm supposed to learn everything from my own experiences), but hey, that's their problem.   I don't talk about anything that is necessarily breakthrough, nor exceedingly difficult to understand, so I don't know why it matters, but I know it matters to some people.

Anonymity makes people evaluate your content for the content, not for the person, which is a good thing, in my opinion.  That said, there's still a lot of people who value the packaging more than the content, probably more so than the opposite.  Humans...how do they work?

Anyone?

I can understand why sites are trending toward the fullname/picture, though.  If you put your name on it, you're probably also going to make sure it's 100% awesome, all the time.

Because my husband's business is a luxury niche, it would be awkward if clients googled our name and found my writing about us living on a very low income. For me, perception isn't all that important, but for his business, it is.

I wanted to be anonymous at first as well but then I just stopped caring eventually. If you want to go all the way with your blog you're going to have to eventually start using your real name. Are you comfortable with that?

Frugal Trader still hasn't revealed his name and he's doin' pretty darn well.

I think it depends on goals.  I'm still not sure under which circumstances you would HAVE to reveal your name - that is, and not be able to achieve success regardless.

Second, Figure out the dollar amount you are willing to sell your anonymity for then ask yourself, do I have a chance of making that and more?