I linked my fannish and legal identities when I ran for the OTW Board, and I've been pretty open about linking them since then. It's not even a big leap, as my handle contains my name in it anyway.

There are many legitimate concerns about linking identities, and I can't fault anyone for keeping the walls up. But just to speak from the other side of the experience, I have had zero scary or even annoying repercussions from linking my identities. I can only hope that more people can come to share the same level of ease that I've been lucky enough to have.