There are a few different ways to “express yourself” during times of frustration.
You can pull a Steven Slater (Jet Blue flight attendant) and pretty much bare all in the moment; you can wait until you’re behind closed doors and vent to your closest friends and family; or, you can take some time to reflect before crafting the perfect blog post…for all the world to see.
The latter happens to be my favorite — in theory. The problem, however, is in the execution of the post.
We bloggers have little voices inside our heads telling us to be careful about every word we publish…there will be consequences. If we get too personal, we could sever relationships; if we give too much insight into our work, we could breach confidentiality agreements; if we give advice on dealing with career and/or boss challenges, it may appear we’re venting about our own situations; if we delve too far into our political/religious views, we could alienate certain audiences.
But isn’t blogging supposed to be about complete transparency? Unfiltered conversation? How can we produce genuine content when we’re worried about the consequences?
Are we all self-inflicting victims of censorship?
I recently came across a blog called The Spotted Fish that made me look at censorship in a whole new way. This blogger compared her current boss to a Dementor. If you know anything about Harry Potter, you know that these soul-sucking creatures are anything but pleasant… “Younger than me, and with little experience, she is the definition of a micromanager…She does not seem capable of kindness, empathy or warmth.”
I read a few posts back and learned that this blogger has a strong desire to quit her job (can you blame her??).
So who is this brave (and highly entertaining) blogger? A 30-something named someone from somewhere. That’s right, folks. She’s an anonymous blogger.
My PR colleagues and I have discussed how fun it would be to contribute posts to an anonymous blog. Still, our writing could never be completely uncensored. We’d have to leave out (or change) names of agencies, clients, reporters, coworkers, etc. We’d have to be careful not to promote our own writing, for fear of the posts being linked back to us.
I would imagine this blogger faces the same challenges.
So what do you think? Can uncensored blogs ever really exist? How uncensored are anonymous blogs? And although there is definitely a liberating aspect to them, are they worth the risk of “getting caught”?
09/14/10 at 1:27 pm
Eek!
It still sounds risky to me. I don’t think I could ever be that uncensored on-line because it really is such a PUBLIC space.
09/14/10 at 2:05 pm
I understand completely. I kind of see anonymous blogging like writing a fiction novel. A lot of the time, writers take stories from their own lives but change the key facts to make them “fiction.” I’ve always been a creative writer — so sometimes I wish I could write exactly what I want to write, without having to worry about consequences. I guess I’ll have to write a book one day
09/14/10 at 1:40 pm
It’s very risky. There is another instance of it working. A hockey blog called HockeyBuzz.com is run by the anonymous hockey blogger called “Eklund.” That’s not his real name. His original website “blew up” during the NHL lockout because he had insider information.
People have attempted to out him over the years, but to no avail.
Can anonymous, uncensored blogs exist? Yes, but you should expect the consequences once outed.
09/14/10 at 2:09 pm
Well it’s good to know there are success stories. I also came across an older blog that started out anonymous called Waiter Rant. It is HUGE in popularity…been around for more than 5 years. He eventually got a book deal and I think he outed himself. He’s achieved great success and has been featured on shows like Oprah. I guess there isn’t always a backlash?
Thanks for the comment
09/14/10 at 6:32 pm
Does anyone remember “Primary Colors” the novel that was supposedly written by an “anonymous” author? It didn’t take long for sentence diction and style to reveal the true author, Joe Klein. Even Deep Throat was revealed in time.
I believe that if you’re willing to put a comment out there in the blogsphere, you should be willing to put your name on it and stand behind it.
09/14/10 at 6:55 pm
I’ve never heard of that book… did the author receive a backlash when he was outed? Or was it no big deal?
I love my blog because I’m able to develop and enhance my personal brand through it. But at the same time, I completely understand why this blogger has chosen to remain anonymous. She wants her true voice to be heard and unfortunately, she can’t do that if she identifies herself. The downside to what she’s doing of course is that it is risky and has limitations (meaning she can’t develop real relationships with her readers for fear of being outed).
In my opinion, anonymous blogging takes some serious bravery.