An interesting thing happened the other day. The identity of a pseudo-anonymous internet troll kown as Franc Hoggle, who writes the blog "Grey Lining" was revealed (probably) to a number of Hoggle's internet targets, and they had a discussion about whether or not to out him. The general consensus was that he should be outed as well as drawn and quartered, but that it would be a violation of Internet Ethics to do so. That is not going to stop his name from getting out into public. If one group of people can figure out who he is, others can, and eventually were' all gonna know who this guy is. But in the mean time, there could be an interesting discussion about the questoin of pseudonymous blogging and commenting.
I think that conversation will mostly be happening here: "Elevatorgate" Clannenge #4
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Not as much fun as the Herman Cain v. Rick Perry death match. I have to say that "Hoggle"'s blog has a certain flair, but I'm certain that y'all have good reason to dislike him. This is a continuation of "Elevatorgate"? Wow! More proof that everyone is thinking about sex pretty much all the time. And it makes sense: People who don't think about sex are less likely to leave offspring, so it's a trait that will be strongly reinforced.
--bks
While I understand that there are good reasons for using pseudonyms, my suspicion is that those reasons lag far, far behind the popularity. And they're generally less effective than people think. Keeping a secret while posting on the internet is much like holding contraband while appearing in court. It can be done, but depending on it working out is very much a mistake.
Most people who want to be controversial won't quite hit the mark.
Those who want to hide their foolishness mostly fool themselves.
I'm happy for the mechanisms to be there. I don't plan on revealing anyone's identity. But some of this needs a dash of cold water.
Posting while intoxicated and not using a spell checker is a bad combination.