There is a lot to be said for not being anonymous on the web — if you have to say it anonymously maybe you shouldn’t be saying it at all. It’s one thing to be anonymous for freedom of persecution (China, etc) but that’s not the situation for most of North America.

Anonymity is abused for more often then it has any benefit… but aside from that there’s something to be said for it not being too easy for people to find out a ton of information about you.

I like what my friend AJ had to say about it:

So yes, having my information out the world could cause some problems. I can live with that. The alternative is I embrace little acts of cowardice to shield myself from potential annoyance. Hide who I am, dulling my voice and impact, because I’m afraid someone might be mean me. Thats a punk move, Kevin, I can’t roll like that. This way I’m directly accountable for what I say, and who I am…if someone wants to take issue with it then I’ll deal with the consequences.

Even if someone does try and get malicious, my life is not good enough to ruin. I don’t have a credit card, rarely keep any money in my bank account, am indifferent about my employment, and have questionable standing in the eyes of several law enforcement agencies to begin with. You need to reach a certain height before you can really be brought low..so, I’m pretty safe. Lack of ambition=1, Internet Jerks=0.

The person interviewing me asked what I know about CSS, and I told him to check out my blog for an example of my skills.

Needless to say, he was impressed with that, among other things, enough to recommend hiring me.

So I would say that as long as your web presence is one that someone will not be offended by, but instead be impressed by, than this can definitely work out advantageously.

This is an interesting article though. I feel that far too many people are anonymous on the web. Stating whom you are seems more genuine to me. If you are going to write on the web about whom you are, why not write about whom you really are? That’s my take on it.

Wow, I made it into the summary paragraph. I am truly humbled. :-)

By the way, I love the kitty. Friend of yours?

Have an awesome day!
Dan