User blog comment:Sarah Manley/Sneak Peek at the New Look - Community Activity/@comment-872086-20100826144118/@comment-1613840-20100826180604

While there are some small potential downsides, attribution also encourages users to make more legitimate edits and uploads which ultimately helps the wiki. Yes, this “multiple name” situation may happen, and was also brought up when we announced achievements. This is handled like any other issue on a wiki, such as vandalism or disagreements. The community steps in, moderates, and sets local policies that best fit their wiki.

About new users feeling “put off” of making new edits -- you are right in that on a smaller wiki a new user may see the same name multiple times, but this will indicate that they are the most active person (and sometimes admin) there, and so the best person to contact with questions or suggestions. We feel this is a better situation than a new user thinking the wiki is dead or not open for editing.