So I was thinking. There seems to be constant struggle for 'bitcoin privacy' but is it privacy we want or anonymity or both?
For me for a lot of things I do privacy is just not going to happen. I am US based, use regulated exchanges, and am part of a signature campaign that has a public spreadsheet.

I am also not anonymous since I have met at least 5 or 6 people from here, more have one of my phone numbers and dozens more had my old work address from when I bough stuff.

In the 'real world' people keep talking what privacy & anonymity really are. But isn't it more perceived privacy & anonymity.

Lets think about it. If I had not met anyone, never bought or sold anything here, only connected though a VPN so even the staff here had no idea who or where I was, in theory I was just a name here on the board. That would be anonymous.

But would it be private? That gets a little more deep and I guess depends on your view.
 
If I took the BTC from the signature campaign (chipmixer) and sent it to an exchange that just required an email address and converted it to a cryptonight coin then withdrew it to my wallet, sent it to another wallet and then to another exchange that once again just required an email address I think we can all say that the ability to trace anything at that point would probably be impossible. Now I have my private BTC. What do I do with it? The second I buy anything that requires shipping well there goes privacy. Yes you can drop ship someplace but unless you go to the 'we don't ask' mailbox location there is still a trace. OK, lets not buy stuff that needs to be shipped. How about gift cards from bitrefill or coinsbee? Well if you get a chipolte card get a burrito with it, they know something about you and where you got your gift card and where you used it. And so on.

With many of the users here, looking at this post and screaming and pulling their hair going 'What is wrong with Dave?" I will admit here and now that my privacy &  anonymity are gone and are not coming back unless I do a total drop off and reboot of my online life. That's not gonna happen.

But what about you? Do you care more about privacy or anonymity or both equally? And how much will you be willing to deal with to maintain it. And, if you really really really stepped far back and took a look with a critical eye, how much did you mess up over time that may of comprised it?

Just something to think about.

-Dave