A Guardian exposé yesterday identified former University of California, Irvine lecturer Jonathan Keeperman as the man behind the popular pseudonymous Twitter persona “Lomez” and the dissident-Right publishing house Passage Publishing. Far from a niche internet story, however, the investigation highlights a significant shift in this age of extremely online political discourse, which is itself increasingly indistinguishable from real-life political discussions.

The Guardian’s revelation — intended as a “slam dunk” that removes Keeperman from the beau monde of liberal academia he no longer inhabits — should make the remaining key “anon” players in the online Right sphere consider abandoning their anonymity. For those who have gained traction and already possess a degree of financial independence such as Bronze Age Pervert, who took the Amazon bestseller charts by storm under his real name, there’s little to lose and everything to gain from outing themselves. The marketplace of ideas has spoken, and the Overton window has opened sufficiently to allow them to operate on the outer edges of the mainstream.

Keeperman’s influence and the growth of his publishing operations speak to the PR success of a movement that is no longer relegated to the fringes, but is instead vying for a mainstream foothold. The involvement of Right-wing figures operating under their own names, such as Curtis Yarvin (who has long since abandoned his extremely online nom de guerre “Mencius Moldbug”), as well as the apparently successful crowdfunded financial model of Passage Press, suggest a reach and acceptance that militate against the obsessive need for continued online anonymity that a small-time, more vulnerable social media user might require.

There’s a pragmatic aspect to abandoning anonymity for such influencers. Operating under real names can shift the narrative from shadowy figures to accountable voices, potentially legitimising their perspectives for broader audiences. This is exemplified by Costin Alamariu, whose decision to start publishing under his real name a few years after his own doxxing has not diminished his following as Bronze Age Pervert but has won new fans in Washington DC. It now seems unlikely that a state or federal legislator could cause much of a stir, as has happened previously, by publicly praising Alamariu’s Bronze Age Manifesto. Lomez has spoken in public at various high-profile events hosted by organisations such as Urbit, and can even be seen in the resulting videos, albeit with his face digitally blurred.