Posts Tagged ‘anonymity’
Don’t you know me from somewhere?
Bloggers have the right to stay anonymous. We’re continuing our battle to protect and preserve your constitutional right to anonymous speech online, including providing a guide to help you with strategies for keeping your identity private when you blog.
- Electronic Frontier Foundation > Bloggers’ Rights
When I first started thinking about blogging, one of the first questions I asked myself was whether or not to do so anonymously. Well, I probably didn’t word it like that. I’m paranoid by nature and generally shy. So it was probably more like, “Do I really want people to tie me to whatever ramblings I put on the internet?” And now that I’ve actually posted something, I still don’t have the answer.
The odds are that if you’re reading this, you know me since, at this point, I’m doing my own advertising. (“Hey! Read my blog!”) So talking about anonymity might seem a bit silly. But it’s actually a pretty serious subject. The quote opening this post was one of the first places I went when I was doing my research. I knew I’d be blogging about my work at some point and I wanted to see what I was getting myself into. I’d heard the Washingtonienne saga and while I’m not comparing my possibly upcoming blog post on effective internet marketing to the details of the sex lives of Congresspeople, people can and do get into trouble for blogging.
So how much is safe to reveal? I kept the bio on this site relatively short. But do I give up some air of respectability by not revealing who I am? Being anonymous does give me a shield to hide behind. I like that. If you take a look at my blogroll over there, about half of those are anonymous (or at least started anonymously). And one of the main reasons inspiring me to do this is that I’ve enjoyed what I’ve read from these blogs for a long time.
In the end, I guess it won’t matter that much. I’ll stick with my faux pseudonym and just reveal what I want as I go along. And if I ever spout some opinion that makes you, the reader, want to know more about me, call me out. Just don’t be surprised if I keep it on the down low when I get back to you.
