The Case For & Against Blogging Anonymously: For The Sake Of Sensationalism Or Proper Debate?
Wednesday, June 4th, 2008Yesterday Gerard asked me to do a survey, where I saw this question:
It got me thinking about our favourite anonymous bloggers in Singapore, ie The(new)mediaslut, Thenewsocialite and WorkWhore.
Hisham has speculated that NewSocialite is Brian or myself, well it’s not me because
1) I believe in transparency and trust
2) I don’t make terrible grammatical errors
Why do they blog anonymously? I can think of two main reasons why people choose to blog anonymously:
1) It allows them to say things they would otherwise keep silent about (within good reason)
2) Posting as themselves would get them into trouble due to confidentiality issues
I think WorkWhore falls within #1. He/she brings up issues going on in the local blogosphere and runs commentary. If he/she were to post as him/herself, perhaps he/she could not speak as freely as he/she wishes. Also, there’s the added benefit of not taking sides publicly.
Why do MediaSlut and NewSocialite blog anonymously? As far as I can tell there’s nothing confidential. In fact NewSocialite doesn’t do much besides regurgitate what other people have blogged about. Does that warrant anonymity?
Claudia says she suspects NewSocialite is someone we’re familiar with (ie someone already active in the local blogosphere instead of a lurker or newcomer). I tend to agree. Unless there’s a good reason that I fail to see, I must say I’ll probably be very disappointed when the identity is revealed and his/her credibility will plunge.
What do you (especially the local community) think of these anonymous bloggers? Are they contributing to the community? Or just exploiting their anonymous positions to sensationalise blog postings? Comment below.
ps: If you’re a blogger, why not do the survey too? It’s real quick and you’ll be helping someone out!
Tags: anonymous blogging, new media slut, new socialite, why blog anonymously, work whore
