Anonymity

It's a funny thing, anonymity. When I set up this blog, I chose to remain anonymous, at least insofar as not revealing my name or face, even not divulging my location or vocation for a while. This is all quite common practice in blogland, so no surprises there.

But the more blogs I visited, the more I realized that lots of people did not opt for anonymity. At least, they appeared not to. We have no real way of knowing that the names and profile pics people use are genuine. For example, some people may think that the normal-sounding name Sue Ellen Mischke is the real moniker of the blogger at I've Made a Huge Mistake. Those who have been ardent viewers of Seinfeld will know otherwise.

What is interesting, though, is how the realms of anonymity change. For me, anyway. I have put pictures of my face, albeit just the eyes or just the lips; I have put pictures of my tattoos; I have revealed information about my job. All of this stuff means that anyone who knows me would certainly recognize me from my blog.

Beyond this, I have a reasonably large circle of blogmates now. And in many ways, these blogmates are no different to real mates. Something happened over the weekend that made Wife and me laugh a lot. The first thing we thought was, Can we blog about this? But it was of such a personal nature that neither of us wants to! Because that anonymity is almost not there anymore. Strange.

It's not like I set this up to be a total say-what-I-could-never-say-to-my-friends fest, but it's interesting that certain things shall remain unsaid. I shan't be revealing details of my sex life on here. It's not that I think people shouldn't. Absolutely, I think people should! But I won't be.

I assume everyone has something they won't reveal. Maybe it's only their real name; apart from that, anything goes. Maybe it's that they are KKK or BNP members. Maybe they hate Arabs, or Jews, or gays. Maybe they were molested as a child. Maybe they've got a month to live. Of course, the secrets could be nice ones too: a teddy-bear collection; a regular giver to charity; a Samaritans helpline worker.

So, what's your secret? I pretty much expect no comments here! But if you're here and you feel like sharing, click the anonymous option in the comments box and go ahead. Thanks.