Anonymously Yours....
This post has been long overdue...Had been wanting to write about this one for maybe about 2-3 months now...But never got around to it...Yes this post is about anonymity in the blog world....
There are a lot of people out there who scorn at anonymous comments ! They have even gone to the extent of disabling them...Others like me enable comment filtering...That's another way of keeping anonymous comments at bay...or maybe , like in my case, to prevent spamming ! After all, I don't want my personal space in blog world to be someone else's ad campaign...Its more like a 'Stick No Bills' in front of my compound wall....
But, coming back to the topic...why is anonymous comments looked down upon? The world wide web is a virtual place meant for virtual identities....Atleast that's my take on it...You are being too naive if you think that having an e-mail id lends credibility to your opinions...
I, for one, have a pseudo name, but that's not to hide my identity...It's just fun...I have my blog address prominently displayed in my orkut profile (yes, so who says I'm not narcissistic anyways !)...and a very little effort of any one's part will reveal my true identity...
There may be others out there who use pseudo names to protect their identities...for their own set of reasons...does that make their opinion any less valid? I know of a lot of friends who leave comments anonymously 'cos of the sheer laziness to sign in...
Ok, now coming to the biggest grouse against anonymous comments....sometimes, these are used for flaming...and for leaving non palatable comments ...But, my point is, someone out there thinks you are a jerk...and he/she says it...accept it or ignore it...or maybe even call them a jerk back...but why say that if you wanna call me a jerk, please add your name (real/fictitious) at the end?
The web is a virtual world, and it will remain so, if you want the comfort of meeting flesh and blood, then step out of your cubbyhole and feel the breeze on your face ! (And maybe even a fist :P)
There are a lot of people out there who scorn at anonymous comments ! They have even gone to the extent of disabling them...Others like me enable comment filtering...That's another way of keeping anonymous comments at bay...or maybe , like in my case, to prevent spamming ! After all, I don't want my personal space in blog world to be someone else's ad campaign...Its more like a 'Stick No Bills' in front of my compound wall....
But, coming back to the topic...why is anonymous comments looked down upon? The world wide web is a virtual place meant for virtual identities....Atleast that's my take on it...You are being too naive if you think that having an e-mail id lends credibility to your opinions...
I, for one, have a pseudo name, but that's not to hide my identity...It's just fun...I have my blog address prominently displayed in my orkut profile (yes, so who says I'm not narcissistic anyways !)...and a very little effort of any one's part will reveal my true identity...
There may be others out there who use pseudo names to protect their identities...for their own set of reasons...does that make their opinion any less valid? I know of a lot of friends who leave comments anonymously 'cos of the sheer laziness to sign in...
Ok, now coming to the biggest grouse against anonymous comments....sometimes, these are used for flaming...and for leaving non palatable comments ...But, my point is, someone out there thinks you are a jerk...and he/she says it...accept it or ignore it...or maybe even call them a jerk back...but why say that if you wanna call me a jerk, please add your name (real/fictitious) at the end?
The web is a virtual world, and it will remain so, if you want the comfort of meeting flesh and blood, then step out of your cubbyhole and feel the breeze on your face ! (And maybe even a fist :P)
Comments
Now, whether one should ignore them, or call them back or anything else would depend on how irritated one is ;-)
@bd: irritation is one thing, but I don't thnk it should be based on whether the comment is from an anonymous source or not...the content of the comment is what one should respond to...
and the "guts to say your name" - that doesn't work in the virtual world...i feel it is far easier to create a virtual fake identity (this i don't thnk requires any guts) than remain anonymous...if one considers a comment better jus because 'they had the guts to atleast say their name' then i feel one is not aware of the ways of the web !!!