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I am an anonymous blogger and I thought about asking a few question to the WP community?
Are you an anonymous blogger? If you are, why so? What reasons do you have? (personal, political, just like that, etc.) Do you think that blogging anonymously is better than being known? If you are anonymous are you able to garner the trust that a name has with it? What do you do to try to be anonymous? (not comment on other wp blog when signed in, mask your ips etc)
I use a nom de blog just because I don't want my real name all over the place; it's rather distinctive (i.e. *not* something like "Jennifer Smith"). Then someone put up a link to my site on their web page with my real name, sigh.
yes, because i want to be able to bitch about my family and friends without them knowing it's me.
absolutely because you can hold less responsibility on your content. you can bitch without worrying of repercussions, though that's not fully guaranteed of course. it's a bit like insurance.
You are not an anonymous blogger; you are a pseudonymous blogger. It's different.
You have an identity online unless you never have a username or a blog, and what you do here gives you a certain reputation. Sometimes it's been the case where a pseudonymous person's opinion or statement can be given more weight than a named person's, because of the relative reputations of those people. Look at Atrios and the Bush government; people are more inclined to believe Atrios' statements than the White House statements, because the White House statements have been misleading while his statements have been accurate to the best of his ability. Look at Guido Fawkes in the UK; his "real" ID has come out, but it doesn't actually add credibility to the site, quite the opposite: it makes people worried that he'll suddenly go soft.
The Federalist Papers were published pseudonymously, as were many of Jonathan Swift's finest works, because the writers wished to live their day to day lives free of pressures, including the pressures of celebrity. Once a writer is known for having a certain viewpoint, he's expected to be up for an argument about it at any time of the day or night, and sometimes you just don't want to live up to that.
“Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.”
– Oscar Wilde
Oh, and I'm not all that closety about my real name, but I know that more people know raincoaster than know anyone named Lorraine Murphy, so I stick with the brand name that has the bigger penetration, in marketing speak.
so what is an anonymous blogger in your terms?
There are no anonymous bloggers, because a blog has an identity after awhile. It has a character. And that's your pseudonym, even if you don't have a screen name. Before I had raincoaster.com, I had a blog called Terminal City, and there I was still raincoaster, but there are lots of people whose usernames are their blog names. The blog name then becomes their pseudonym.
Anonymity is the condition of not having an identity. Pseudonymity is the condition of having an identity independent of your official name and in most cases (not all, as in my example) having the official name hidden from view, disconnected entirely.
There are anonymous people on the internet; commenters who don't have usernames, lurkers, etc, but without the willingness to put a piece of your character out there, you can have only the most transient of effects. A mask is both freeing and powerful: I used to collect a list of cool screen names, and it was very interesting reading. People tell you things about themselves just with their names.
Some people try to blog without putting any of their character or opinions into their blogs, so they don't give away any clues to their identity. But if you don't give any clues to your character your blog will die; I've seen it a hundred times. Not even the blogger can stand to read it, and it dies within three months.
Truman Capote said that women who choose to become blonde are blonder than those who were just born that way. It's the same with choosing a name.
Sorry, I get wordy on these "social aspects of blogging and personal identity" issues. Don't even get me started on Role theory!
raincoaster
That's quite a view. Agreed, once we put a pseudonym or a pen-name to a blog it no longer remains anonymous in the real sense, moreover it gets associated with the particular name we chose to use. However in the broad sense of the term the blog does still remain anonymous.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch encourage and support anonymous blogging, wherein anonymous does mean a person not revealing his true identity though he/she does have a virtual identity. I think being anonymous (or using a pen name as you would suggest) does give some sort of insurance as sulz suggests. Though we know it well that we can not be totally anonymous on the web.
Oscar Wilde's quote is nice, I guess should put it on my blog :)
US courts have also determined that an anonymous blogger (or pseudonymous; we know what we mean, though) giving testimony must testify accurately and to the best of his ability if subpoena'ed, but need not reveal his identity. That's an interesting development, eh?
I just hosted an event on freedom of speech and banned speech, so I'm loaded with these quotes and things.
Don't even get me started on Role theory!
heh heh :)
So when you roll the dice, do you do it overhanded or underhanded? :)
I don't: I stuff two 10-sideds up the nostrils of the nearest geek and I throw HIM. Underhanded, but quite far. It doesn't count if he doesn't bounce at least once.
But what if he makes his saving throw?
That's when the DM cheats and drops in 3 dozen goblins.
raincoaster: that took me a while to read. =P i now understand what you're saying.
so just curious, why raincoaster?
You should see where I live: it's so damp I found mushrooms growing under my curtains last winter.
I guess I'm a pseudonymous blogger on these forums, but on my blog itself I count as anonymous because I never refer to myself by name, nor does anyone else. Kind of Edward Norton in Fight Club, or Roddy Piper in They Live.
You are "The Protagonist" then. Sorry, it's the default in WordPress, the way "The Middleaged Cat Lady" and "The Emo Self-Cutting Angelina Jolie fan" are in LiveJournal. < /snark>
Someone I know was insulting a photo agency on his own blog because of the Anna Nicole video of her trying to be saved. Someone from the agency anonymously blasted the blogger on the blog. The blogger checked the IP address and it showed the address of the photo agency. HAHA!
Outstanding! That's exactly what should happen. I would have posted that IP in their comment. If you're not too proud to pimp out the video of someone dying, you shouldn't be too proud to do so under your own name.
And I'm a huge, HUGE hit whore, but I wouldn't go near that video with a ten thousand foot pole. What's heartening is that my readers don't seem to be looking for it either. A crotch shot of a living tramp is one thing, the CPR video of a sad OD is quite another.
I wanted to say something but that photo agency is on my blogroll. lol And I think now we're not suppose to even use tagged images. I emailed them before and it was okay. But now I heard from someone else that we can't. I still use them and they do know because it shows on their site as a ping. But I haven't gotten an email yet from them. And today they were mentioned all over tv on the whole Anna Nicole trial because her mother was paid by this agency. I so want to say something on my blog. Eh. :(
raincoaster, pseudonymous blogger! It makes so much sense. I wrote a post titled "Interview with an anonymous blogger?", but if I wrote it know I would title it "Interview with an pseudonymous blogger?"
Speaking of pseudonymity, it's ironic that in the forums we have to use our username (even if chosen long ago) instead of our blogging nickname. Nor can we delete comments here :(
Actually you have an hour (I believe) to edit your post after you make it.
You also have a moderator who is willing to delete posts upon request. I've done it before. :)
So glad the Doctor is in :D
I did edit my initial test post, but there was no delete option, and at the time it didn't work to erase all the text of my message...now, however, the blank post is gone.
I think I have a work around for the username issue, but if it doesn't fix it, I may coming asking for favors :)
Just change that avatar: it makes me hungry every time I see it! Mouth-watering.
done!...so, the avatar is changed in my profile and at the top of threads I've started, but not yet on my comments--I'm assuming that's just a normal delay.
yup, it's working now.
Actually I believe the 1 hour editing time was reduced and we now have only 5 minutes to edit a post so I'm going to use this one as a test to see. Posted at 3:02 PM daylight savings time.
I tried to edit the post above at 3:11 PM and it said the post was too old.
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