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In some cultures, it is impolite to refer to someone by their given name. "Mr X" or equivalent is the polite way to address them, especially in (for example) a business context.

And yet, I almost never see this happening in online communities and have never seen anyone take offence at being referred to by their first name instead, despite the fact that in an in-person context they might do.

I'd love to understand why the two scenarios are different.

It sounds like the issue in the example you state was perhaps the "talking down", not the name.




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