[mikeschmatz]

> I tried reasoning with them, that I just wanted to view content and did not attend to write answers or interact etc, plus, they had a valid email address and facebook profile (also fake name on facebook). They fought back "we actually want proof of your real name like a scan of ID". I danced around and did not end up giving them a scan of my id, but I changed it to my real name.

I don't understand why you bothered arguing with them instead, I dunno, creating a new fake account?

[sundarurfriend]

This is exactly what I did. I had even provided my real name already, it just didn't fit in the Western firstname-lastname format that they assumed everyone had, and so they disabled my account. I tried showing them that this was the cultural norm here, but they wanted a govt ID scan to "prove" it - all for a glorified social network.

Instead, I created a new email ID, gave a fake name, and registered with that. I gave up on the site soon anyway, but now I'm glad they forced me into registering with fake details.