Who's this then?

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Chelmsford, Essex, United Kingdom
The occasional blog of an Anglican priest in rural Essex

Tuesday 16 June 2009

Be a man be a mystery man

Night Jack, the police blogger, has been outed by the Times and disciplined by his force.

I found out about him through the Ugley Vicar, who linked to a pretty scary post (which you won't be able to read now as its all been taken down. I also found the excellent Get out of Jail free through Night Jack, so I owe him thanks for that at least.

Anonymity online is a touchy subject for some; "noms de plume" can enable people to say stuff they wouldn't get away with under their real names. Then again, if they need to hide behind a pseudonym, should they be saying it in public in the first place? It's easy to forget that blogs and discussion forums (?fora) are in fact read by more people than you would expect.

I like the idea of online identity, but it needs to be accessible, thus I know who Elizaphanian, Cranmer's Curate, Revise Reform and Pluralist are, because they do not try to hide, they just have a nickname. You can find them yourself, I can't be bothered to do all those links.

Perhaps Night Jack should have watched Bambi


What do other people think?

1 comment:

  1. tricky one isn't it - when I started blogging I didn't want any links to "real me" but it has got more & more blurred over the years. Facebook connections helped there! I use "fibrefairy" on several fora including Twitter and I think anyone who wanted to find out who I was could - but at the moment I keep the lines blurred - I'm not entirely sure why any more! The more I venture into more "public" life in real life the less easy or useful it is.

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