Obviously this is a strange question coming from someone who signs her posts “The Princess.” I actually should be better about remembering to tell people that they CAN use my name in association with this blog, though I appreciate it when people are cautious.
What I mean by pseudonymous is a hypothetical blogger who calls herself a perfectly normal name on her blog, something like Emma. So you go along reading her blog, and you’re thinking “I like this Emma person, she’s neat.”
Maybe that’s not so odd. Maybe Jennifer has a desire for privacy.
But let’s say Emma/Jennifer posts pictures of herself on her blog all the time. She writes about what town she lives in, where she shops, etc. If anyone who knew her came to her blog, they’d be like “Hey, it’s Jennifer’s blog!” So she’s not doing an anonymous blogging thing per se.
What happens when you finally meet Jennifer? Let’s say she goes to a blogger meet-up. You recognize her, and you’re like “Oh hey, you’re Emma.” Then she says “Actually my name is Jennifer.”
When people, including myself, use wacky pseudonyms on their blogs, the reader knows what’s up. You’re expecting to find out that Wild Empress of All Suburbia is named Pam. But when Emma turns out to be Jennifer, it’s just seems like a bit more of an adjustment.
Thoughts?
I get your point. On the one hand people want their privacy, but what they are posting isn’t really private at all. I’m not anonaymous, but I just don’t want my blog to be the first thing to show up in a Google search for my name!
I am one of those people. My name isn’t Deidre. I don’t want anyone googling me to find out that I have a blog at all (I don’t have facebook for the same reasons) – and yes, I could’ve gone with Decoybetty, but I chose not to.
It is a weird juxtaposition because I do write about my personal life and I do post pictures of myself, and I live in Melbourne Australia. But the truth is, I am not that anal about it – I’ve sent people emails by accident from “my real name” address, and with very little snooping into my archives my real name is accessible. Can we still be friends?
@Kelly, I get that when your name is unique, or you live in a small town. Sometimes moving something down into page 4 or 5 of Google search results is good enough.
@Deirdre, this is me wondering why not Decoybetty, why the extra name?
before I switched to the nom de plume, I tried referring to myself as decoybetty – and I hated it. It seemed weird, I guess I see it as there are lot of different sides to every person, the person I share with the internet – her name is Deidre. When you meet me in person, you get the whole shebang – with the real name and all.
The part of me that likes lemonade and sitting on porches – she’s roberta.