Thursday, February 16, 2006

Anonymous from McGill

65 page views, 13 comments left, and over two hours on the site.

Thank you very much for the comments, Anonymous from McGill. They are interesting and concise. I'll try to respond to them in a timely manner. As mrne, the elder, and cathy know, I can be bad at responding.

Logging in as Anonymous without a moniker brings out something I have been thinking about for a while. I am very lucky have only had a few confrontational comments from unidentified anonymous people. The majority have been regular comments. Though I do worry that it may increase one day. I have continued and will continue to allow them in order that people are not hindered from commenting by being required to register. But I do ask that people leave a moniker such as 'hj', 'fred', or 'the worlds best suduku player'. I don't know why but that little tag makes me feel better.

Again thank you everyone for the comments and feel free to keep them coming (with monikers).

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey, it's me. I basically read your whole blog in one go (skipping the parts I'm not interested in, like music). I wasn't sure if anyone would ever read my comments, but I guess you get some kind of notification. And the IP address apparently.

I don't normally give a name when I comment on blogs because I don't want to take on any kind of identity. If a blog won't let me comment anonymously, then I usually don't comment at all.

Please don't feel obligated to respond to my comments. Like I said, I didn't even expect that you'd be aware of them unless you were browsing old entries.

Unknown said...

It's cool. Anonymity is not a problem as long as the comment are reasoned like yours. Thanks for the interest.

Anonymous said...

I think a person has every right to be concerned about leaving a name and address behind them in order to leave a comment on a blog but that should never stop you from using something amusing to fill the space of identity either.

Frankly, I could go around pretending to be someone else online in every single thing that I do but in the end, I still shake hands and introduce myself in the outside world, I sign my cheques, dutifully write my name on applications, and hand out my resume to complete strangers.

There's just something very odd about people wanting to remain anonymous online when everything else they do in their lives is quite the opposite. It's also ironic, given that a very small percentage of people are even worth snooping up on, while the rest of us secretly yearn to be recognize, even celebrated for some hidden talent.

I mean, if you were say, Nelson Mandela, I could understand a desire to remain anonymous, and perhaps using the moniker 'Billy Bob' would successfully throw us all off your scent, but then what are the odds, huh?

Unknown said...

OMG!!! Nelson Mandela is checking out my blog! Or maybe it's Clinton? Ya know, Wil Ferrell is in town.

Thanks, Paolo. I was hoping for some input from other bloggers. I agree with your points. I think everyone is a still a bit spooked about online identities. It's common in the news to hear about someone getting burned by what they write or even getting dooced. That said, comment strings are totally different than someone's actual blog where all their thoughts are collected on one page.

Anonymous said...

paolo, I have been burned before. Had someone come across something & figured out it was me.

The thing about leaving tracks online is that they stay there indefinitely, and someone can come across something years later and misinterpret it.

Unknown said...

afm: Yes, that is the greatest fear.