When Anonymity Trumps Transparency

A few days ago, March 24 to be exact, I wrote the article, As a Blogger, are you Transparent? In that article, actually in the comments, I stated:

Ah, but go to any number of blogs and do one simple task. Look for the author's name. Some don't give any name (not even an alias) and some give just an alias. They have no profile/about page to indicate who or what (male/female) they are.

That's not very transparent at all.

As a man, I sometimes forget something very important, as I did in this instance. Online predators, stalkers, and other assorted nasty people do not normally target men. They target women and children. Take for example, the case of a female blogger who received death threats on her blog. Kathy Sierra made it very clear, and in her own words, that she was terrified.

I'm sure this has happened before and will happen again. It should never happen. We live in an imperfect world, however, and there is nothing we can do to completely stop it from happening.

It's up to you, especially on a noncommercial blog, how anonymous you want to be. Just don't make me call you "hey you" when I'm attempting to comment to you directly.

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Vic Grace on 2007-03-30 at 7:09 am (Reply)

First thanks for dropping by. I am female and do not use my real name although the names I chose are other versions of the meaning of my name. I also avoid stating exactly where I live because it is such a small place. As far as being transparent I don't know if I am or not, I don't air my dirty laundry anywhere so why on the internet.

Matthew Jabs on 2007-03-30 at 8:30 am (Reply)

Yeah…an alias is better than anonymity.

Good point RT, this is an excellent post with a very important message. As men it's very easy to forget something like this, because we don't have to think about things like that, but women must be more careful than most are.

Thanks for bringing this to light.

PS…Ha ha Paul, I beat you again on commenting!

Comedy Plus on 2007-03-30 at 9:08 am (Reply)

Hi RT,

As you know I'm female, but I have a very good reason for not wanting my name out there. Sometimes I wonder if I've put too much out already. I cannot tell you how many times my life has been threatened. Comes a point one goes underground.

You have to admit there are some real winners out here in cyberspace. Thanks for understanding about females. Now, my stance wouldn't be flight…it has always been fight. So, just call me comedy…

The Curmudgeon on 2007-03-30 at 11:33 am (Reply)

I read about these death threats somewhere else today. Now I've followed the link you provided; it's extraordinarily disturbing.

Anonymity for a blogger should be for the blogger's protection — and not used as a hideout to which a cybercreep can retreat at will.

I had been under the impression that no one — not even us anonymous bloggers — is truly anonymous; that we could be found out without overwhelming difficulty if we made it important enough. In this case, I hope I've heard correctly.

coach on 2007-03-30 at 2:48 pm (Reply)

Unfortunatley we live in a world where we must protect ourselves from those that would do us harm. I did appreciate your original post about transparency and it prompted my to update my "about" page for my blog. What I have written there is very much in keeping with this post. To some degree everyone needs to be thinking about their "online face".

hari on 2007-06-09 at 10:37 am (Reply)

I think apart from all this "danger" business from online predators, I think many of us are genuinely uneasy (for no particular reason) in sharing details with total strangers, whether in real life or online.

RT Cunningham | Untwisted Vortex | Philippines on 2007-06-09 at 11:04 am (Reply)

I always ask why someone wants the information when it's not readily apparent. I have refused to give personal information in a lot of circumstances and later found out it was a good thing I did. If they don't need to know, then don't give them the information. Every little thing counts these days.

An American Living in the Philippines

When Anonymity Trumps Transparency