This entry is dedicated to Ryan Jerz, who frequently rants about anonymous bloggers and blog commenters. One of his posts is so persuasive it almost makes me want to shout out my real name to the world. In a more recent one, he admits he's obsessive about it. I respect him and his views; he gives very good reasons for them. I also respect him a lot for blogging under his own name.

I admit I hate being criticized and I hate confrontations, and I know Jerz doesn't consider those good excuses. I would do as he suggests and force myself to be thicker skinned—and use my real name—if it weren't for the reasons below:

• I am looking for a job. I know employers do searches for names of potential employees before hiring them, and I don't want any of them to be turned off by any of my views or be afraid I'll write about them on line. I could work for a Clinton or McCain supporter, but I can't count on their wanting an Edwards and Obama supporter like me working for them. I would be loyal enough not to write about my employer, but how does a potential employer know that?
  
• My husband has a job. I would like to write about news in his field that the mainstream media don't cover, but I don't want his boss to get nervous about it.
• I don't want to offend or shock family and friends with my views. For example, a relative was killed in Iraq a few years ago, and it would be extremely painful for his mother to read in my blog that I think he was killed so Halliburton and Blackwater could make money. (It comforts her to believe he was keeping terrorists away from America.) It's something I would never say to her face, but I want to say it to everyone else as part of my own small effort to stop the war.
• Some people I might criticize can retaliate in ways other than commenting on my blog. Employers not hiring me is one example. Another is the law enforcement community, which I think has an "us against them" culture and a self-induced superiority complex. I'm afraid that if I criticized them under my own name I'd be strip searched and thrown in jail the next time I forgot to use a turn signal. (Look at how they've treated the driver who had the green light and hit the trooper ("one of their own" as we hear ad nauseum) in the intersection as she was running the red light at 75 mph with lights but no siren! Officers at the scene claimed there was a strong smell of alcohol from his breath and vehicle even though the breath and blood tests found none in his system, according to this morning's RGJ.)
  

As Oscar Wilde said, "Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask and he will tell you the truth." Surely Jerz and Cory Farley edit what they say (avoid telling the whole truth) to keep from hurting people they care about or biting the hands that feed them. (Farley has picked up at least three more jobs since retiring.) I know Diane Cohn has had second thoughts about things she has posted to her blog and removed them. (The only blogger I'm convinced doesn't care whether he offends anyone is Jake Highton, who has tenure as a professor; see his comments on his new boss in "No media reputation is left unstained.")

Nevada Mojo discussed why women blog anonymously in a recent interview in My Silver State:

[S]ome of it is probably related to protecting ourselves for even having an "opinion" in Nevada that is different from the mainstream in the northern part of the state. Several years ago, I was stalked online by a nutjob who didn't like my "progressive" opinions that I posted on a local bulletin board deep in the heart of "anti-fed" rural Nevada.

...Another reason I blog anonymously is due to my job. I have to keep my "opinions" separate from who I work for. I'm sure I am not the only one who does that!

I thought about this a lot before I started my blog, and I set up up my online identity carefully so I would be free to say whatever I felt like saying. Besides learning it's next to impossible to be completely anonymous on line, I was surprised to discover how much anonymity limits what I can say and do:

• My topics are limited because I can't write about anything that might reveal my identity—either to strangers or to people who know me. For the record, I have not told anyone I know about this blog. Anyone. Once a secret like this is out, it's out. (Just ask Myrna the Minx. Her real name just keeps popping up.)
  
• It's hard to market my blog when I can't talk to people about it (or pass out business cards or wear a T-shirt with the URL or anything else I might think of).
• I can't interview people by phone or in person, so my material is limited to what happens to me, what I overhear and what I read.
• I can't network with other bloggers or ask anyone for advice.
• If I'm applying for a job that requires writing or computer skills, I can't use my blog as a work sample.

In fact, using a pen name takes away as much freedom as it gives me.

In one of his posts, Jerz describes the unpleasant feeling of having an anonymous correspondent suggesting they work on a project together—with that person remaining anonymous the whole time. I don't blame Jerz at all for being uncomfortable with the idea. What if someone you met or knew was also a person you were familiar with on line with a phony name and you didn't know it? That person would know who you were, but you wouldn't know who he or she was. For example, it would be creepy for me to meet Jerz somewhere and not let him know I'm "Ann" as well as the real me. (I hope Mr. Ann isn't with me if that ever happens, because it will be news to him, too!)

If it comes to that, I guess I'll have to reveal myself and then create a new pen name and start all over!