To tie this thing into a current conspiracy theory of mine, since you're all talking about tripcode searchers...

Densha Otoko's trip code was nm4g8qV1Cg.

How long would it have taken, realistically, for someone to crack it in 2004? I'm interested in learning at what point it would no longer be plausible for someone to step forward and claim to be him, citing the tripcode as evidence.