De ponders going underground. As someone who blogs in anonymity, I can tell you there are a few guiding principles. Some are obvious, others I had to break or fuck up to learn.

The first thing about blogging incognito is to actively limit your exposure. You only want certain types of friends reading your blog. Any member of the general public is fine, but don't run around telling everyone to keep in touch with you via yur blog. If they don't know you well, you're blogging is going to make them think your a nutcase or an asshole or both. Close friends, on the other hand, are already aware of these tendencies and don't really seem to care. My wife, sister, and I think occasionally my big brother read this blog. No one else who reads here could point me out in a lineup. It makes things easier that way.

Obviously, never use real names. Even real first names, regardless of their relative ubiquity. I made this mistake once, and an acquaintance from my past popped up one day to tell me he thought I was a dick, a betrayer of his trust, and that we were pretty much never going to hang out again. At the end of his little tantrum he, pouting and stomping his foot for emphasis, demanded I remove the post(s). I saved the writing because I enjoyed it, scuttled the site, and resurfaced on a different one. During my hiatus, I made the effort to go through the offending stuff and change the instance of every real name, using a the 'Find and Replace' function in MSWord. I don't even use fake names, because if you're going to go to the trouble to give someone a fake name, give them a really good fake name like Brick, Chowder, Slingshot, or Jean Luc Picard.

While we're on the topic of names, try to avoid identifying your employer. Employers and blogs have never made good bedfellows, just ask any of the number of people who've been dooced. Also, it's not a good idea to be specific about the city you live in.

Establish an anonymous email account via gmail or somesuch. You can use it as a proxy, so you can communicate with folks off the blog without having to send them an email from thisismyname@thisismyISP.whatever.

Blogging in anonymity is a weird thing. You want to connect with folks, but you want to do so without showing them your ass. The reason this oxymoronic dynamic arises is the amazing exposure you get via the web. You're not just writing in that free local rag, or reading poetry during open mic night at some hole in the wall. Anyone can read your blog, which means if you want to blog anonymously that you've got to put up a semipermeable membrane that allows you to control how much people know about you. Which, as any good anonymous blogger can tell you, should be nothing.

UPDATE:
Forgot this one. If you're already blogging and wish to start anew without losing some of your loyal commentariat; there's a loophole. It is possible to send emails out to your regular commenters (the ones who only know you through the blogosphere) telling them you're going under deep cover. Most of the time they'll respect your wish to be on the downlow because everybody loves being part of some big secret. Although they may occasionally slip. Look, I'M NOT PERFECT, OKAY!? more...

Posted by: shank at 04:49 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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