Darwin’s post on the ‘anonymity’ aspect, that a lot of bloggers value, sparked a few thoughts about the phenomenon that may be of interest to some of us. I guess most of us bloggers – on kottu, at any rate – blog under pseudonyms precisely because we don’t want to be identified. However, some of us pseudonymous bloggers don’t really care too very much if we get to be known for who we actually are, whilst others make every effort to conceal their identities come what may. And the reasons for concealing an identity would of course depend entirely on the individual.

Here are a few reasons that come to mind about why you may want your anonymity retained:

You don’t want family and/or friends knowing – for whatever reason
You write about controversial stuff that may compromise your profession or situation at work
You write politically sensitive posts that may endanger self, family or friends
You write about personal experiences that may be embarrassing
You engage other bloggers or individuals regarding personal views
You don’t want to be bothered by readers who are attracted to content or images and want to get personal or make contact
You make up content and put it out there as ‘truth’
You write insulting stuff aimed at whom you choose to target
You are really, really, shy
You are really super-nice, but want to appear otherwise

Do any of these reasons fit your profile? If not, are there any others that you could turn the rest of us on to?

Should be interesting if you care to respond.

About these ads