Certainly most of us anonymize for obvious reasons: safely delivering the smack without fear of reprisal, just like the snowflakes who get to evaluate us at the end of every godforsaken semester.
Those of you who don't anonymize, I realize you probably don't post smart-assery and smack like the rest of us, but don't you think you're guilty by association? Do you care?
My bet is many people don't realize that they have done so. On the one hand I don't think it's very smart (and watch I will have overlooked some change in my blogger profile that now shows my name), on the other hand I don't think the blog is responsible for maintaining our anonymity when whe don't keep up with it.
ReplyDeleteI'm totally anonymized. I went to the trouble of setting up a gmail/blogger account in Archie's name and everything. If people are that worried about being outed, they should do the same.
ReplyDeleteI guess I would flip the question around and ask: what's the worst thing that could happen if you were exposed as a CM poster?
My sense is that beyond a little embarrassment, not a whole hell of a lot. Am I totally wrong about that? Is there something truly actionable here that I'm overlooking? I just can't imagine someone not getting hired, or getting fired over something on this blog.
AA, I guess you just never know how you might be judged. Remember a bunch of weeks back when someone was wondering if they didn't get the job they interviewed for because they decided to kick back that night at the local titty bar. Buddy could probably do the job as well as anyone else they interviewed but when people know how he spends his free time, they might just go with the one with whom they can uphold at least the illusion that he or she does not spend their time that way.
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of like that here. I mean, everything I've bitched about on these pages, I've bitched about to my friends, but there are lots of colleagues who I wouldn't want to know I hang out here, much less contribute, lest they ever be on a committee or whatever that can lord something over me.
If they break into my account, all they will find is the name "Fartos P. Hornswaggler."
ReplyDeleteIt just occurred to me that I should link my account to the faculty page of my professional nemesis. I could drop a few hints related to his hobbies to make it appear more personal. What's the worst that could happen? I'll let you know when the shit hits (his) fan.
ReplyDeleteI've written some hard-copy-with-signature letters to Deans and VP's that I'll obviously go to bat for. Hell, some I've even published some of them in the campus newsletter. I always tried to criticize a practice, not a person.
ReplyDeleteHere on CM/RYS the culture is anonymity, but we extend that anonymity to the individuals we smack down. So it still serves to focus comment on the action (or in the case of snowflakes, lack thereof) not the individual.
But the anonymity does allow us to throw more F-bombs here.
So there's that.
I don't connect this account to my university account, but if anybody wants to find out who I am, it's trivially easy. I'm not that worried, though. I don't say anything here I wouldn't say to my bosses' faces.
ReplyDeleteI recently changed mine. I decided my other name was entirely too close to my real name, in fact it WAS my real name.
ReplyDeleteI. do. not. care. Come and get me, I say.
ReplyDelete'Course, I only comment here, not post. Nevertheless, there is nothing I have ever put out there on the ol' interwebs that I don't stand behind. And there are absolutely no posts of Mr. C's weiner anywhere.
ReplyDeleteStrelnikov is such a fucking liar. It is I who is, am, are, was, were, Fartos P. Hornswaggler.
ReplyDeleteI am Fartos!
This particular account is linked to my personal writing blog, which makes it not too difficult to figure out who I am, but like Mrs. C said, I only comment, not post (or, on the rare occasion when I post, it's e-mailed in under a pseudonym). And I'm very careful about what I say when I comment.
ReplyDeleteYou got me. My real name is Inigo Montoya.
ReplyDelete@Lex: I killed your father in his screen-printing class. I am prepared to dye.
ReplyDeleteNo, I'm Fartos!
ReplyDeleteNo, wait, I'm Inigo Montoya!
No, wait, Southern Bubba wins for the best comment of the thread.
I definitely don't anonymize. What are you talking about? :o)
ReplyDeleteLike Archie (or, rather, the person behind the persona Archie), I've set up an entirely separate account for this blog (though Cassandra has been known to comment on issues of interest to her on other blogs). I even deleted my backup email address after the blogger mess a month or two ago. I also don't access Cassandra's account from my university computer or network. Someone who hacked into my personal email account (which I do occasionally access while at school) would find a few emails that connect me to Cassandra, but they'd have to dig (and I don't expect that anyone will/would).
ReplyDeleteThat said, I'm not terribly careful not to say things either here or in real life that might allow colleagues who read the blog, or anyone else who knows me in real life, to connect me and Cassandra. I tried for a while, and it was just too complicated, and felt weird to think "oh, Cassandra said that on CM recently, so I can't say it." On the other hand, I've decided that I will keep to a rule of not admitting to anyone in my professional life that I'm Cassandra, and I think my situation and concerns are, for better or worse, generic enough that there's a degree of deniability. More important, if I go on the market again at some point, no one will be able to google me and find Cassandra, or vice versa.
I still don't say anything here that I wouldn't be willing to stand behind. There are a few comments that I wouldn't want attributed to me out of context (for the record, I do not advocate that a real person with Russian background/sympathies spend the summer committing murder and mayhem against the foes of academe, though I'm perfectly happy to validate the impulses of the embodied academic id we know as Strelnikov). Mostly, though, I appreciate the opportunity to say what I think without worrying about how it might affect my job, or my effectiveness as a teacher, or the reputation of my university.