For those who werent around back then, Blizz was planning to turn the official forum into a social networking site without pictures, more or less. You would be forced to use your (full) real name as your posting name.
in addition to the mass stalking this would include (for female players...), there was also the fundamental issue of, well, basic privacy. You should never give your real name or personal info out to total strangers on the internet. This is common sense, you never know you're dealing with until you get to know them, and especially so in an online gaming community. any random person (associated with wow or not) could have easily found your real life name simply by taking a look at the open to everyone board.
Thankfully, Blizzard didn't go through with it.. the community rallied hard against it, and I've never seen so many people in the wow community of such like minds. Blizz gracefully bowed out with something to the effect of "we're revising our plan due to player feedback", and it was never heard of again.
But it has to asked, even now.. what were they thinking with this? World of facebook (without the faces, I guess) is the most sketchy idea they have ever come up with, on almost every level. How did it even pass the drafting ideas board, let alone be on the verge of become a realistic feature?
even now, I have to ponder.