Anonymous Blogging
My name is Jack and I am a semi-anonymous blogger. This blog is my refuge, my bat cave, my fortress of solitude. It is a retreat I use for so many different purposes. It is my shrink, the place where I air out my thoughts and engage in my own therapy. The place where I empty out the mental closet and try to figure out the solutions to the puzzles of my own life.
My anonymity is intentional. It always seemed to be the best way to stay safe in what I share. Some of what I write is deeply personal and not the sort of thing that I would share with friends, family or strangers. But the blog changes the boundaries of what we reveal. The sanctity of the keyboard is inviolate, or so it would seem.
The reality is a bit different. Surfing the blogosphere has led to new friendships. Some of them are relatively superficial and some are far deeper. The nature of the communication makes it easy to learn an awful lot about someone else in a short time. Some argue that these friendships lack depth, but I disagree.
Here in the blogosphere you can laugh and cry with other bloggers. You get a sense and a feel for who they are and what their families are like. Just as you do in the real world, but here it is probably faster. Here you read 100 things about a blogger, learn about their hopes, dreams and nightmares.
In the real world you might learn these things as well, but you’d probably have to go digging for it. Not here. Here it is out there, an offering to the masses.
And so I come to the point at which I remark that there are some opportunities that have arisen because of blogging that require shedding my anonymity. It might not be a complete removal of the curtain that hides the wizard, but it is enough.
So once again I find myself trying to determine if it is worth giving up more of the curtain. Do I lift the shades and show my face or do I stay secure in the cave. I just don’t know.
I suspect that at some point in time I’ll say screw it and just come right out as myself. Shedding that mask offers a lot of benefits and I suspect that it will be quite freeing.
Still I hesitate. Still I guard what little privacy remains because there are benefits to it. I don’t hide in the shadows because I am embarrassed or afraid to do otherwise. Ok, maybe a little, but overall not so much.
In the coming days there are going to be some changes. I am kind of excited about following this yellow brick road. Let the flying monkeys come and do what they will, I am equipped with a banana launcher and a big chip on the shoulder.
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