Guest Post by Willis Eschenbach
Why do people not sign their own names to what they write on the internet, and in particular on this blog? I thought I’d ask people this in the form of an anonymous poll. But before I do that, I want to get the full range of possibilities, so I’ve decided to crowdsource the poll questions. To date I have a number of possible reasons someone might give for posting anonymously, which are not mutually exclusive.
Here’s the first cut of possible reasons why someone might post anonymously:
- I’m concerned that putting my real name to my ideas will cause me trouble at my work.
- I’m concerned that putting my real name to my ideas will cause me trouble at home or with my family.
- I’m concerned that putting my real name to my ideas will cause me trouble with my friends and acquaintances.
- I’m concerned that putting my real name to my ideas will cause me trouble at my school or university.
- I’m posting from a country which discourages freedom of speech.
- I’m concerned that someone will take violent exception to my views about climate and threaten me or my family.
- I feel more comfortable posting anonymously, but I’m not sure why.
- I’m concerned about putting any personal information about myself on the web for any reason.
- I find it easier to express negative views when I post anonymously.
- I’m posting from work on company time, or the equivalent (e.g. posting when I’m supposed to be studying).
- I don’t want people to be able to research my previous statements.
Now, my questions about all of this are:
- What else would be another reason that someone might have, that should be listed on the poll?
- What other questions (age, sex, etc.) would it be useful to know?
- How about the wording of the questions? Is it neutral, is it biased?
- Order of the questions? Which ones first, which ones last?
Many thanks for your contributions, the relevant ones will be included in the poll.
w.
PS – Please be clear that I’m interested in possible reasons people might post anonymously on WUWT, not a justification or an argument for or against posting anonymously. This thread is to design the poll, not to debate anonymity.
[UPDATE] Added from the comments, with my thanks. Note that in the poll people will be able to choose more than one response.
- I feel able to express more confident views if those statements aren’t personally attributable to me.
- I’m posting for relaxation – not “publication”.
- Using my real name is just asking for ad hominem attacks.
- I don’t know who might read the post and what they might do with it.
- I don’t wish to disclose my formal qualifications, or lack of them, or that I am in a different field.
- I can say things that I would be embarrassed to say in person.
- I’m lazy.
- I work with people who believe Albert Gore is a scientist.
- I work with clients/customers or in a market where skeptical views are not welcome.
- Metaphorically speaking, I have relatives in the old country …
- To be honest, I also say some pretty stupid things, occasionally, especially when imbibing the suds.
- I am concerned about identity theft.
- It’s a chance to let out my repressed wild and crazy inner personalities.
- Stalking is always a concern to a female.
- I have someone constantly Googling my name.
- It’s traditional since the beginning of the web to have a handle.
- It allows me to “compartmentalize” my opinions on very different subjects.
- I enjoy “trolling”, stirring things up.
- I have worked for oil companies, mining companies or agribusiness and it would likely be held against me.
- I use a moniker because it describes what I am and how I see the world in 3 words.
- I post anonymously for the same reason I do not register a gun.
- Who wants to be responsible for my stupid ramblings when I am involved with Jack Daniels? Not me!
- I am under an implied contract to never make public pronouncement under my name that might in any way embarrass or disadvantage any segment of a multifaceted corporate endeavor / large university / international organization.
- Greenpeace said “We know who you are. We know where you live. We know where you work. And we be many, but you be few.”
- If I posted under my own name, it would be tantamount to expressing my political views to all and sundry and in my industry/job/school would convey a lack of professionalism.
- I am concerned that my age, gender, ethnicity, educational level, etc are factors that can affect the people who read a comment and many of them unfortunately then respond in a biased way.
- I have been attacked for my views.
- It is like putting on a superman suit, you can say anything, be anything and fly anywhere. And if any-one with kryptonite strikes you down, what does it matter, tomorrow you will be Clark Kent.
- To express things I wouldn’t have courage to express otherwise, the same reason many students are hesitant to put their hand up in class.
- I’m not even half as paranoid as I should be.
- I don’t wish for my thoughts and comments from years gone by to turn up whenever someone does a search on my name.
- I enjoy putting forward an identity that says more about me than my name.
- It’s good that no-one on the internet knows if you’re a frog.
- It would be easy to connect up my posts, email address and ultimately my credit cards. Spam and fraud would then follow.
- I don’t want to be associated with my job when posting on technical subjects.
- I am concerned about the UK defamation law.
- In my country you could be targeted by the consensus people.
- I have a common name and use a pseudonym so that I can search for my postings.
- I am concerned it may cost me business/lose me funding.
- I want readers to judge my comments on their content, not their provenance.
- I plan to run for president and want to be able to change my opinions as may be convenient.
- I am pleased to get some protection from the cloud of gnats hovering around the net.
- A future employer might have issues with some of the things I post.
- Didn’t Zorro and the Lone Ranger wear their masks because of things like this?
- I am the sole support of others.
- I’m not British / American, and for an English speaker my name is difficult to remember / sounds weird / carries a silly pun / leads to misunderstandings.
- I think it is fun to call myself by my handle.
- I don’t care.
- My name is the same as a wanted criminal / bad person.
- I don’t want current comments being dredged up in a possible future political campaign.
- I want to maintain plausible deniability.
- Posting anonymously offers an opportunity for crowd-sourced criticism before having my name attached to a bad idea.
- I I do a fair bit of sub-contract work for companies that have bought into the green dream, so I’m invoking my very own version of the … uh … precautionary principle 🙂
- A rabid green has haunted me in other forums.
- I was stalked relentlessly by some creep who decided that it was fun.
Updates to the other questions:
- Would you seriously consider using your real name after a reasonable period of retirement.
- Would you prefer to be able to post under your own name?
- Career
- Age
- Sex
- Location
It has also been correctly noted that I am describing posting pseudonymously, not anonymously.
It strikes me that I haven’t looked at the other side of the equation, why people post under their own name … ah, well, one thing at a time. My own reasons for posting under my own name, in no particular order, would be:
- I want to be able to claim ownership of my ideas.
- I refuse to be intimidated by the dangers of the world.
- I am much better mannered when I have to take responsibility for my words.
- My claims tend to extravagance when I post anonymously.
- I grew up a cowboy, and criticizing someone from behind a mask of anonymity feels like shooting someone from ambush … and a cowboy can’t do that, it’s in the contract, ask Tom Mix.
UPDATES from the comments regarding posting under your own name.
- I am retired, and don’t care if people read what I post.
- I prefer to say what I think and feel anyway without hiding under a cloak.
- I don’t post anonymously because I have a martyr complex.
- I think it is cowardice to post anonymously.
- Because I don’t follow the herd.
- I say what I mean and am terribly honest at it.
- I believe it is simply good manners to identify yourself when talking to people.
- I have no concern about people reading my opinions a decade from now.
- I can’t lie with a straight face.
- I have to stand for what I believe as who I am, otherwise what I say is all posturing.
- I started posting under my real name after making an ass of myself anonymously in a blog comment section.
- Using my name forces me to keep my posts measured and decent.
- I feel uneasy posting anonymously.
- It’s a matter of clarity and honesty.
- If such things as climate change are important we should pony up and admit where we stand.
- I’m confident enough in who I am to not be concerned about what others think of my opinions.
- Since my work is not publicly funded or grant funded, I’m at liberty to say what I wish without concern of losing my job.
- A person of worth will stand up in their own name for what is right and against what is wrong.
- If they want to google my name, they should do it if they don’t have better things to do.
- I have never not posted with my own and real name. Why would I do otherwise?
- I feel free to change my opinion should I have reason to and will defend or dismiss my former opinions accordingly.
- It would be cowardly for me to hide behind an alias.
- A screen name feels like hiding behind a false front.
- I think that in the long view we as a society get along much better when we know each others names.
- If I have too little courage of my own convictions to sign my name to my opinions, why should anyone pay attention?
- I don’t fear professional retribution as most of my peers hold similar views to mine or are just plain disengaged from the topic of global warming.
- It’s a statement that I will not be intimidated.
- I am totally uninterested about what other people think of me.
- I’ve had my own name a long time and have grown attached to it.
- I consider my self responsible for my own opinions.
- If I write something, I’ll stand for it, or I would not write it.
- I dislike anonymity on principle
That’s it to date, I’ll add more as they come up. I must say that I find the variety of reasons much wider and deeper than I had expected. Ain’t life grand?
Indeed, I rather like this process of crowdsourcing the poll questions. It strikes me that this is a kind of appreciative inquiry that could be of use in other contexts where there is a wide variety of opinions.
w.
I simply prefer not to be traceable if someone wants to locate me. It goes back to threatening phone calls years ago. I don’t have an address on my checks and my phone number is unlisted, too. If anybody here had a really good reason to contact me directly, Anthony knows who I am.
I float tentative ideas in blogs, ideas that I’m not yet sure about. Blogs offer an opportunity for crowd-sourced criticism before having my name attached to a bad idea. Ideas surviving the blog test are ideas I feel more confident to put into serious publications. However, my blog name is not such an inscrutable or cryptic pseudonym: just my real first name and the initial of my surname.
Most all of the founders of the United States wrote under psuedonyms for various reasons, as did many notable Europeans of that and previous centuries.
Noah Webster gave, I believe, a couple of reasons why he did. But the main reason he gave was that when he was young and with no reputation, he wanted his ideas considered on their own merits without an appeal to the reputation of the writer.
Today is not much different. Many people appeal to the status of the writer rather than consider the merits of the argument.
OK S.
I taught my chilren never to reveal their identity or location over the internet. I promised them that I would do the same. There are too many nut cases out there, and it is much easier for them to locate you if you give a real name.
Rather than having to give lots of other false information and make up stories, the pseudonym is the closest thing to a firewall I can think of.
Privacy is something that has value and is best protected, unless you are in the media business, politics and such and you need the attention of the masses.
I doubt that most kids today who frequent these open social networks realize how thier posts are likely to be a burden for them in the future. You can change your setting to private, but there is always the wayback machine. It’s out there for life.
Not big on leaving my full name – just initials… just because I value my privacy more than anything that I say or opine on the net and because I’m not ‘anybody’ in academic circles.
However when I fling funds – that data, containing my name, address, phone #, is real.
🙂
When I write any limerick surreal,
I sign my emission with “Neil.”
Why? It’s half of my name!
If I ever get fame,
I’ll tell you the other half. Deal?
I can understand some of the legitimate concerns that have been expressed here. I use my real name for two reasons: it makes me think twice about posting something (sometimes thinking three times would have been better, still) and it’s a statement that I will not be intimidated. And no, I am NOT the physicist at Trinity.
Interesting question. If I write something, I’ll stand for it, or I would not write it.
If someone knows your name they can probably find out where you live. With that info they might do harm to you or your family. There seem to be a number of psychopaths in the country who might do exactly that. Ted Kaczynski, a.k.a. the Unabomber, would be one such example. Also one of the global warming skeptics (a former professor of climatology from Canada) had to go into hiding because of death threats.
So for safety’s sake I think it’s better to remain anonymous.
I am saying something that is likely to be stupid and don’t want it tied to me for the rest of my life.
The real reason is,
1) I know future employers/others will Google me and there’s a good likelihood they hate skeptics (I work in acedemia), and don’t want this to be held against me.
2) I don’t care enough that the added validity would be worth attaching my name to my statement.
I don’t use my real name because it could very well negatively impact me at work. I am a librarian, but can’t get full time work. As such I get paid the going rate, but don’t get benefits. (How’s that for solidarity?)
I would like full time, but I know that if I used my real name that I’d be very unlikely to get it.
If I was retired, or independently wealthy, I’d use my real name without a worry.
Well my name is Steve and I live in Sunderland, so I guess thats only semi anonomous.
🙂
Some of the comments are really good, especially about young men in the 17 and 1800’s using a pseudonym because they wanted their arguments to be considered on the merits.
Can you imagine Tom Friedman’s or Krugman’s arguments being considered on their merits? Those two don’t want that.
My wife is terrified that I will make an inadvertent remark about muslin and some member of our family will be terrorized. I am worried that the D*p*rtm*nt of Houseland S#c#r#ty searches for anyone who might cast doubt on muslin.
OK… Unfortunately that won’t work for me.
Signed: Sonicfrog!
Why do I post under my name? I say what I mean and am terribly honest at it, especially since I can’t lie with a straight face. I want folks to know that “I” said it, regardless of whether it was smart or stupid, not someone named snigglefrits. I wear who I am, with all the good and bad of who I am, visible and easily discerned. The consequences be damned. So much so that if Bill Clinton had my personality, he would have said, “Yes I did.” before the inquiring mind had finished the question.
as I said on KK’s pole,
when ya got the best handle in the debate, it’s kinda hard to give it up!
I post under a variety of different noms de plume. Keep everyone guessing 😉
I just thought thats the way its done. Why is it important. If you ask for real names ill do it.
Yes, to all of the above.
Also a clever nom de plume (or nom de guerre?) demonstrates just how clever the writer can be.
I formerly used my nom de guerre for identification.
(One of my hobbies is Cowboy Action Shooting . You choose a “Cowboy” name, get dressed up like an 1880s cowboy and have shooting competition with period firearms. Cool, jsut like you were 13 years old, again. Only this time, the guns are real!)
Then Anthony wrote that he had little sympathy for those that wouldn’t identify themselves. So, I started to include my real name also. This IS Anthont’s blog.
But….. There is also a philosophical reason for using my real name. Some seven or eight years ago I came to realize that there is an actual war going on in this country. A cultural war, perhaps, but it is still a war with real casualties. For example, denying the poor people in Africa the technology to deal with malaria costs them about 1,000,000 lives a year. 1,000,000 mostly poor, mostly black, and mostly children and pregnant women. The casualties due to just that issue have been on the order of those lost in a World War. (Malaria has been a subject on this blog if you would care to look it up.)
So…….in the “culture” that is mine, a person of worth will stand up for what is right and against what is wrong. Using an alias is a very minor thing, but it would be cowardly for me to hide behind one. The slow painful deaths of about 30,000,000 poor black people somehow require `it of me.
I must admit that I am retired, so I don’t have much at risk by using my real name. I do understand the risk to others that may be employed at “liberal” organizations. “Liberals” are vicious and vindictive and there is a real threat if they have power over you.
Back when the Democrats controlled Texas, voters were required to sign the backs of their “secret” ballots. If you voted “wrong”, you or your father, uncle, etc. could be fired if they had a County job. This is not a joke and it is not made up.
It really is a war.
Regards,
Steamboat Jack (Jon Jewett’s evil twin)
I use my own name.
But it is risky these days.
I regularly post comments at about a half dozen sites. I starting using the abbreviated “Dr. Dave” to prevent fallout from the ultra-liberal, government-funded organization I worked for at the time. I continue to use “Dr. Dave” for consistency. I’m the same “Dr. Dave” you see at PJM or American Thinker or any one of a number of other sites.
I use a handle because of my own experience of being accused . Anthony has my real
e-mail and name, as I recall. Right now anyone openly doubting or critical of the local
windpower development in my area is considered anathema, doubter, infidel. There are
local people who scour Google for any critical names. I kid not…
One woman who is very critical is now off the internet, btw…
I used to write letters to the local paper where one has to use your real name. One day a semi intelligent moron did not like my response to an editorial, story short police involved. I am also employed with a power utility, my views don’t match their politically driven ones about C02, windgenerators etc, thus I prefer anonymous.
There are some very good reasons for anonymity…but also some very bad reasons used by people who lob scurrilous bombs while hiding behind a tree. I despise these cowardly people.
Can I suggest an automatic subtraction of 20% from the credibility coefficient of anyone who speaks anonymously?