jeez, man, chill out. :roll: I was just using one possible scenario.
(But yes, it does happen, depending on your job or industry. In my line of work, people could certainly be googling my name on the internet, and not for sinister reasons, either.)
People may not want their full names mentioned. Why should they have to wait for someone to post it before they have to say anything? Do you think that putting their last initial instead of their full name is going to make it more difficult for your friends to realize who you are talking about? I doubt it, which is good, but it will at least help in protecting their identity from other people who have no business knowing that sort of thing.
Look, it's just standard practice on fornits. I'm not making this shit up off the top of my head. If you don't want to do it, fine, it's not a rule, and it's not TOS. Hopefully the people you mentioned won't mind either.