Why do many ebay usernames have asterisks?

[sygyzy]

In the last 3-4 auctions I have bid on, every other bidder has had asterisks in their usernames like s***s, f***b, etc.

What is this? Some sort of privacy filter? I tried searching within eBay and using google but came up with nothing.

 

[Ns1]

new privacy protection from ebay

 

[sygyzy]

Do you have any more details?