Part of the internet's allure is its ability to let us be anyone we want to be with as little as an e-mail address and a furtive pseudonym idea. So when Google initially nixed the ability to create Google+ user profiles under aliases, the masses weren't happy.

However, responding to user outcry and general online hubbub, Google has now amended its previous position, and will begin allowing support for alternate names alongside initial profile identities.

Previously, in the initial Google+ sign-up process, questionable profile names were flagged by Google's algorithmic recognition system, and users were prompted to try again with a name on the up-and-up. The same system will still recognize alternate names, but will begin to allow specific exceptions like nicknames, maiden names and names with alternative spelling.

The reason for the change, Google says, is simple. "With Google+, we aspire to make online sharing more like sharing in the real world," wrote Google+ VP of product Bradley Horowitz in a post on his Google+ page. Initially for Google, that meant an exact correlation between one's "real-life" name, and his or her Google+ user ID.

As Google+ chief architect Yonatan Zunger wrote in a Google+ post, "It is indeed important to have a name-based service rather than a handle-based service. This isn’t a matter of functionality so much as of community." Think of the difference, Zunger points out, of interactions between someone with the user name "Mary Smith" as opposed to "captaincrunch42."

But, of course, there are still rules users must follow. Pseudonyms aren't legitimate profile names to Google unless you can prove you've established an identity using said pseudonyms. So if you've made a name for yourself in the online world under the name "trench coat" (to use Horowitz' example), you'll be able to use that name for your Google+ profile.

You must also be prepared to back up your claims. Google's recognition algorithm will flag any profile names that don't look like real names, prompting users to submit proof of identity for verification. So if "trench coat" is your magazine-writing pen name, be prepared to send in a few clips to Google staffers who will check you out.

The new Google policy is something of a middle ground situated between Facebook's and Twitter's identity policies. The former requires users to submit their proper identities for a Facebook profile, while the latter is virtually all-inclusive, even allowing the existence of parody accounts mimicking actual people, provided the mock account makes clear its nature.

But at least for Facebook and Google, the prohibitive stance on identity-masking makes a certain amount of sense. Google has revamped a number of its Internet properties over the past year in an attempt to more fully integrate its services as a platform.

Your Google profile, for example, allows access to personalized Google search results, a customized experience that comes with first signing in to an Android phone, and tailored YouTube channels specified by you the user. Facebook has its own tendrils spread across the web, where users can sign in to other web sites in order to use a variety of services.

All of these services, of course, come complete with ads served. And advertising is only as effective insofar as it targets the appropriate user base. Pseudonyms and alternative identities undermine that efficacy.

Google says the new nickname features will roll out over the coming weeks, though it seems the extent of the changes aren't set in stone quite yet. Google says it will be taking community feedback on identity issues into consideration as the changes proceed.