Three reasons not to blog anonymously.

Before I go infuriating the secretive masses out there, let me honestly say that some of my favorite blogs — Dear Jane Sample, Daily (Ad) Biz and View From the Bottom, just to name a few — are anonymous. I understand why, and I don’t think less of them for it.

That said, I would still advise 99% of starting bloggers to consider going the public route. Why? Oh hey, glad you asked. I’ve got a list right here:

1. You’ll be outed anyway.

If you’re using your anonymous blog as a way to talk candidly about the people around you, it’s just a matter of time before those same people find out. It may take a while, but when the dam breaks, it can wash out the village in minutes.

Many bloggers have embraced the secret-identity approach since the infamous sacking of blog legend Heather “Dooce” Armstrong in 2002. But when you’re writing with any level of detail about your life, there’s simply no such thing as an impenetrable dome. Ad bloggers were reminded of that recently with Dear Jane Sample’s creepy and cautionary tale of being borderline blackmailed. (Warning for the G-rated crowd: her language is a bit salty.)

2. You won’t get credit for your own work.

Maybe you’re blogging just to get opinions and annoyances off your chest, and you don’t care if anyone ever reads about it. But more likely, you want people to find your work. You want an audience, some appreciation, maybe even a nice pile of ad revenue.

Once your anonymous blog becomes a hit, you’ve been backed into a corner. Do you go public to cash in on your fame? Will that require some revisionist editing to take out all the times you mocked your friends, family or coworkers? Or will you remain in the shadows, missing out on opportunities for book deals, speaking gigs and other potential perks?

3. You contribute to a culture without accountability.

Once you’re blogging anonymously — even if you focus on playing nice — you’ll face a daily temptation to vent about anything and everything. This approach has given voices to millions who might have gone their whole lives without speaking up, but it has also created a conception that bloggers are anonymous critics lobbing tomatoes from the crowd.

When you write under your own name, you have accountability. You have repercussions. You’re vulnerable. These pressures makes you more likely to put together a sound, well-reasoned argument that you can stand behind.  And that’s something this world needs more than ever.

COMING TOMORROW: Stories from behind the anonymous curtain.

Comments

[Dave Allen]

Dave, that's a fair assessment but this throws up another point to ponder - have we lost sight of what is a blog versus a micro-site or a plain old web site? Just because a web site is built upon a blog platform - Wordpress for instance - doesn't necessarily mean it is a blog.

A blog, short for web log as we all know, is a personal online diary. It can be run anonymously without creating harm. Beyond that I would argue that any web site that runs stories that include comments, criticism, reviews and thoughts on varied subjects should always have an 'About' link that points you to the who, what and why behind the sites' POV.

As we saw with the fake "Steve Jobs has a heart attack story," being first to post a breaking story is not as good as being first with a story that has been fact checked. Silicon Alley Insider has egg on its face today. Anonymous or not just post accurate, honest commentary.

[wheatley]

Though I always enjoy your blog, I have to disagree with you on this one. Your three reasons for not being anonymous assume there is no middle ground. For example, I may not care if I'm eventually outed. The reasons I started blogging anonymously may now be irrelevant, circumstances may have changed, or a host of other reasons might make me take a "so what?" attitude to being outed.

As for reason #2, it's not always about getting credit. If personal recognition (glory?) is why someone blogs, then by all means they should not do it anonymously. However, self-aggrandizement is not why many people blog.

Finally, regarding accountability: I'm not sure this one washes either. If a blog has a reputation as being mean and nasty, then it will only attract those people looking for mean and nasty. In a sense, we are what we blog. It doesn't matter if we blog anonymously or if we put all our personal information online. Readers will be attracted or repulsed by what we write. So in a sense, I'm accountable to my readers (both of them) regardless of whether they know my real name or not. I'm also accountable to me.

[David Griner]

Wheatley, I realize these reasons can't really serve as a three-fold test for how people should blog. Nor do I really think that I'll sway too many opinions on the matter.

But I do feel like the "default setting" for bloggers these days is anonymity. And while it offers some security early on, it can become a liability in the long run.

Again, I give the caveat that how you blog is totally up to you, and I won't judge. But if someone asked for my opinion (and a few have), this post is probably a good summary of what I'd say.

Thanks for the great feedback.

[Jane Sample]

David,

I agree and disagree with you ... I can't decided which, to be honest. Probably because I am currently analyzing my own anonymous blog. And I think anonymous bloggers get a lot of slack, unfairly, from people. There is a misconception that being anonymous makes you less accountable for what you right, which is not true. Unless you’re a jerk and then you’re not accountable in your daily life anyways, so why should you care about being accountable in your blog?

Having spent some time pondering this, I’ve started this pro/ con list of blogging anonymously:

Pro:
- more creative freedom – not being under constant scrutiny allows you to blog about controversial topics that you, might not talk about under your own name for free of being jugged.
- Separation of blog from personal/professional life – not everyone blogs in order to gain fame or help their careers. Some people do it because they like it and would prefer to keep the two separate. There is also always the fear of being fired from your job, or looked at differently, even judged based upon your blog rather then your work performance.

Cons:
- Fear of being outed – even if you have not written anything to be ashamed of, being outed by someone else is never pleasant.
- The accountability debate – being anonymous actually puts you at a disadvantage as your critics will use your anonymous status against you. Your sources and research will be questioned, your character and the good old “ you would never say that under your own name

[dailybiz]

Great post...as an anonymous blogger, I have run into the issue of wanting to take credit for what I have written but feeling a bit trapped by my identity.

After all, I have not only built a brand around the blog but have also pissed off a few people in an insular industry.

Not that I am mean-spirited. It just happens.

That said, it does let me talk about ads in a way that I couldn't if I was worried that an honest critique would make it harder for me to shop my book, to be on a new business team, etc and so on.

It's a fine line, and I think that Wheatley says it best when he says that you are what you blog. I don't say anything that I wouldn't say to someone's face. Even Bob Garfield's.

[bg]

There’s room for both personas. I thought long and hard about this before starting mtlb 3+ years ago. At first, I didn’t want to ‘put myself out there’ because I thought I’d be too self-conscious about what I was writing.

But that was a non-issue soon enough and I felt that people might take me more seriously if they could put a name to the blog. That's not at all to say the anons in this thread are any less serious or have any less cred because they are withholding their real names.

On the contrary, I never though anonymous status had anything to do with content, and isn’t content what a blog is judged by anyway? You can tell the difference. Anon haters in comments? Fu... forget them. Easily dismissed as they usually have nothing to add. But anon blog posts that have an interesting POV? Nothing wrong with that at all.

The other hurdle I crossed was the inclusion of photos of myself on various sites like Facebook or Twitter. Even though I had my name on the blog, for all intents and purposes, most people didn’t know me. Since I was going out and doing a very public self-promo tour, seemed to make sense that I might as well get used to it. At some point in all this anyway, if you end up at a conference or visiting an agency, your pic is likely to somehow make it online anyway, so why hide.

As for blog vs. website, lines are blurred already. Look how many agencies now favor a blog over a website.

[rodica]

An interesting group to look at is folks from virtual worlds (such as Second Life) who blog under their avatar's names. They may or may not disclose their real identity, but since those blogs are created for other people who also contribute via avatar names, I would argue there is some accountability. The practice itself serves a very specific goal that makes them an exception from your rules (which are quite good from a professional perspective). :)

[Ad Broad]

David, thanks for this insightful post which, as you point out, evoked many thoughtful comments. Funny. It comes at a time when I am again asking myself why I blog anonymously. But every time I go over the pros and cons (well enumerated here) I decide against coming out. I mean, how many freelance jobs can you get if you're known as the oldest writer in advertising?