The Bloggers With The Most To Say
Privacy Please!
Hey everyone! I had a blogging issue come up just yesterday that has honestly been plaguing me for a while. To be anon or not to be? And if so, how?!
I came out of the anonymous blogging closet a month or so ago only due to the fact that my fiance (now husband) and mother both found my blog through just randomly searching the internet for blogs. They said when they read it that they just knew that it was me. So I suppose my question is- how in the world do you stay anonymous yet not be so vague as to keep your posts interesting, detailed, and true to you? It seems like such a thin line to walk that it would be impossible to keep it up for long.
Also- has anyone ever found your site that you would have preferred not to? And how did you deal with that?
I came out of the anonymous blogging closet a month or so ago only due to the fact that my fiance (now husband) and mother both found my blog through just randomly searching the internet for blogs. They said when they read it that they just knew that it was me. So I suppose my question is- how in the world do you stay anonymous yet not be so vague as to keep your posts interesting, detailed, and true to you? It seems like such a thin line to walk that it would be impossible to keep it up for long.
Also- has anyone ever found your site that you would have preferred not to? And how did you deal with that?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by cooper on -
I imagine to stay anonymous you don't post your name or nickname, you location, your bio, or write anything personal that might be recognizable by anyone at all you are familiar with.
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Permalink Reply by Maxie on -
well I guess the first step would be to block your blog from being searchable.
Other than that I'd say you leave out all names and locations... but most of all don't write about anything that you REALLY wouldn't want your family/friends reading about.
No one has ever found my blog, but I made the mistake a while back of telling my best friend about it and now I have to semi-censor myself in case she ever reads.
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Permalink Reply by Cee on -
I think there are two sides to every coin -- being annonymous is important because what you blog about might come to bite you in the bottom later on - whether it be potential employers or things like that.
Like someone has previously said, it's important to leave out names (or use fake names of people) and locations... or anything specific that might be used to identify you.
Besides the site I run, I have a LiveJournal that is all personal stuff.. that one is friends-only, so only my friends can see the content. I use real names, etc on that one.
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Permalink Reply by PP on -
I TRIED to do the anonymous thing after my first blog was found and I was given hassle about it, but the people hassling me found my new one - ironically through my 20sb page, which I hadn't expected them to do! - so now I just try not to let it bother me and just be careful occasionally about what I post. I know from my statcounter that there are a few other people I know in real life reading (not to mention someone in my work, as the name of my company comes up on the particular IP address and it's not ME reading it!) but I try not to let it bother me. I found trying to remain anonymous a bit too much of a hassle anyway, as it was difficult not to reveal too much.
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Permalink Reply by NoOrdinaryBen on
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Once you get over the cushion of anonymous blogging, it's not such a scary thing to have what you write connected to your name. I find that as you build a community of readers and relationships with them, you end up revealing your identity anyway. Anonymity is a great way to get your feet wet (gross expression) in the blogosphere, but I think ultimately you end up compromising it for your readers in the long run. Just be true to yourself in your posts and you don't need to be anonymous unless of course it's a professionalism thing.
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Permalink Reply by Princess Pointful on -
I have been posting anonymously for nearly two years without a reveal *knock on wood* yet! It is more that I like the freedom of writing without knowing people I know will read it (even though I don't really write anything too incriminating) than I want to be cut off from my readers, and I have met a number of bloggers in real life or as Facebook friends. My blog is not google searchable, which probably does diminish my readership some, and I don't take about my city, friends, etc by name. I'm sure that if a friend found it, they could figure out it was me, but what I try to diminish is the chance that they would ever find it to begin with. No one I know blogs, so that is helpful in that regard.
It is a lot of work, and I'm sure I have worked myself up to thinking anonymity is more important than it is, but I appreciate feeling this freedom. Plus, it's kind of fun to have a secret identity!
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Permalink Reply by Your Ill-fitting Overcoat on -
I approach this the same way Kyla Bea does. I use my real first name and pictures of myself, but I don't use my last name. My blog is searchable and most of my real life friends read it (and link to me from their blogs), so my anonymity is kind of a joke, but it's important to me that my blog isn't obviously linked to my real name. I never tell employers or coworkers or new dates about my blog, but it wouldn't be impossible for them to find it.
It's a fine line-- mostly, I just try to never write anything that would end the world if a certain person read it.
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