Comments on: Blogging Anonymously

By: The Devoted Dad

The Devoted Dad — Sat, 30 May 2009 18:46:27 +0000

Great topic. I continually assess where I am at with this topic as well. I avoid major identifiers for me, yet provide my first name as well. I figure that if some body came up on the street and asked me my name, I would tell them my first name. I am anonymous with my kids and wifes names though. As for pictures, I avoid any picture that reveals A) location B) skin- in other words- a no to pictures with swim suits or diapers. It’s my own comfort level. I agree that in order to connect with your reader there has to be some comfort level. It’s just how comfortable are you with which level. Good discussion! -Jason

By: Lis Garrett

Lis Garrett — Sat, 30 May 2009 12:28:27 +0000

I’ve been blogging since January 2006. I’ve never posted anonymously, and I’ve openenly talked about my family. But that’s just who I am and the business I am in. I can’t very well run a parenting e-zine and social networking site if I’m disconnected from my audience. They need to know who I am and to know that I ‘get’ them. But that’s just me and my experience.

The ONLY problem I had was when I wrote a post about my then 6-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son playing dress-up together and posted photo of the two of them in dresses and makeup. I received hundreds of links to that photo from a *very* dubious website. I quickly removed the photo and alerted several authorities about what was going on. It scared the sh*t out of me, to say the least. Yes, there are scary things that happen on the web, but there are scary things that happen in real life, too.

If you’re going to share, you just need to be careful about what you share.

By: The Dadical

The Dadical — Sat, 30 May 2009 03:28:17 +0000

Anonymity on the web is a farce. I agree that you don’t want to flaunt your family with google map directions to your home, but fooling yourself into thinking that you are anonymous is a bit naive. Very, very few people put forth the effort required to maintain any true firewall for their identity.

By: Apok

Apok — Sat, 30 May 2009 01:07:36 +0000

Peronally, i’ve had an open internet personality since 2002. I find that the worst people I encounter in life are outside the Internet. Also, it’s just more fun when you can share pictures and stuff.

By: WeaselMomma

WeaselMomma — Fri, 29 May 2009 19:17:57 +0000

I like my anonymity. People I have formed real relationships with know my name and even my address. Not only do you readers read you site, but you don’t know who all of your readers are. Do what you are comfortable with, but be cautious about it.

By: Kevin W. Grossman

Kevin W. Grossman — Fri, 29 May 2009 17:37:25 +0000

I’m going to blog about this myself soon, so thank you for the timeliness. When I started personally blogging (already had been professionally) I wanted to have a certain level of personal/professional transparency because I did want to get my name out there for business and my personal endeavors. My wife had no problem with me posting pictures of her and I – but that changed when she gave birth. I agreed to not post pictures of our child in a public forum (with rare exception of identifiable headshot); we only share them with friends and family in our TotSpot account (great service) and Facebook. I have not experienced any problems to date with any of the crazies online.

By: b

Fri, 29 May 2009 16:49:30 +0000

Thanks for all of the great comments! It seems to be playing out about how I thought it would, fairly even splits. I agree with those of you who say that only put out there what is comfortable. I think that’s a good way to look at it. I’m sure as time progresses I’ll lower the screen a bit. As long as I don’t put up anything that completely foolish like credit cards and such.

Again, thank you all for the comments, this is the reason I love to blog, hearing from others and learning from you.

PS – Maybe once WP 2.8 comes out I’ll be able to reply directly to individual comments, until then this will have to do.

By: Otter

Otter — Fri, 29 May 2009 14:38:59 +0000

I gave up keeping the family hidden early on because it was harder to write taht way. Keeping everything a secret limite my ability to tell a story. Since I had the unveilling it is much easier to blog about my life.