CNN: Formerly anonymous bloggers share their coming-out stories with CNN The writers can be forced to give up their identities by courts or technology Earlier this week, a judge ordered Google to give over the identity of a blogger Another outed blogger says she was fired for her online opinions
via www.cnn.com
When I first started blogging, back in 2006, I tried very hard to keep my online self and my "in real life" self separate. While not particularly anonymous, I tried to keep my last name out of the blog.
After a while, I realized that it was pointless. The more content I wrote, the more my Dad and brother put up and linked to my site, the more I realized that I just needed to keep my nose clean.
On my personal blog I never write about things that happened at work. In fact, I never blogged at all about technology (I am a collaborative computing specialist and email admin) because I felt that the company I worked for "owned" my technical expertise by virtue of my job there.
Only after I was laid off last year have I started a professional blog (Beyond Messaging) and blog about what I do for a living. Now I am using my blog to try to move forward job searching and reach more contacts in the world of email and collaboration.
Another reason I don't blog anonymously - I am frankly not all that interesting to have anything to hide. I do blog my political opinions, but I use the following rule of thumb - I don't write anything I wouldn't want my mom, boss, or next door neighbor to read.
I can't recall receiving any hate mail from my blogs. I post pictures of my kids. I suppose its possible that someone could figure out where I live and stalk me, but no one has made the effort so far. Like I said - I guess I am not that interesting.
