anonymous blogging, trolls, misogyny and ethics

[rm]

http://ethicist.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/24/is-it-ok-to-blog-about-this-woman-anonymously/

Chat amongst yourselves. I'm off to save the world (er, so not really, but let's pretend, okay?)

Comments

/me brandishes Communist Manifesto

[sethg]

Isn't there a certain amount of class bias at work here?

If I'm, say, a computer programmer with a blog, that blog can be an advertisement for myself; it can be a way of showing off my professional chops or at least building up a network that can later be milked for contacts. (Not that there's anything wrong with that. Or in hoping for that. Ahem.) In that kind of environment, using my real name works in my favor, as long as I don't reveal parts of myself that are too out of the mainstream for my profession.

If I'm, say, a Wal-Mart greeter with a blog, there's very little I can say under my own name that will advance me in this way ("Hey, I love what you posted on the art of shelf arrangement! There's an assistant manager position opening up across town....") and a lot that could hurt me. So it's much safer for me to use a pseudonym and only reveal my real identity to people I've established relationships of trust with.

Re: /me brandishes Communist Manifesto

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

This. The author is missing out on that privacy piece that's pretty crucial to anyone who wants to blog and hold down a day job.