There are a lot of good reasons for this, and let me just enumerate some right now:
1. Using your real name WILL get you fired from most jobs at some point
2. Using your real name could get you sued
3. Using your real name could get you serious death threats with visits from the FBI
Those are all pretty good reasons to be anonymous, and if you've read me for any length of time you may know that I've gone through all of those (more than once for the first).
A lot has been made recently about the decision of a previously open couple of bloggers identities goin anonymous. Some have criticised them for "running away from a fight" etc...
Those people are assholes.
See, I DO post with my real name, because I want people to know who I am and what I stand for, but there is an important difference between me, and most.
Actually two:
1. When I AM working, I make an obscene amount of money, so I can afford not to work for months at a time (the Travis McGee plan)
2. I don't have kids
If either of those statements were untrue, I would be another anonymous soul. I can afford to lose a job most of the time, and I can afford to find a new one frequently, In fact as a consultant, it's a frequent occurance by nature.
Others are not so lucky. They may be in a far more sensitive or public profession, or they may not have the financial freedom. That dose not render their contribution less worthy than mine; nor does it mean they are cowards of any kind.
I chose to live my life the way I want, because I could; because I had the money and earning potential. Had I not, and were I not, I can assure you my choices would be much different.
Oh and for those of you who ARE in theory anonymous, remember there is no such thing as either privacy or anonymity on the internet. Don't write anything you aren't prepared to talk with HR about; or you WILL be fucked over.
Posted by cbyrne at September 22, 2005 02:00 AM | TrackBack