I don't understand why this is being downvoted, but I had a similar experience meeting some people from an online community that I'd been a part of - drove 300 clicks to meet them and they looked nothing like I'd imagined them to be! It was a very cool time - we just called each other by our handles because that felt more natural than using the real names.
My handle was more embarrassing out loud than it was on the internet :).
hah, i had a similar experience. originally i spelt my nick "embe", but once i heard someone on an in person meeting pronounce it with a stress on the first e, and a short low stress second e, that sounded totally wrong, so i changed the spelling to "embee" to get them to pronounce it right.
My handle was more embarrassing out loud than it was on the internet :).