Two days ago I decided to start, and give my very best effort to maintaining, a blog. The reasons for this decision remain something of a mystery to me, perhaps the blog will reveal it’s own intentions somewhere along the line, perhaps not.
However one thing was clear, and that was that I faced a choice. I could make the details of my identity available or I could chose to write anonymously, and unless you believe my parents to be the kind of deranged hippies to name a child The Fro0p (and rest assured they weren’t) you may be able to deduce that I opted for the latter. So the question is why?
I’ve read and subscribed to a number of different blogs in my time and found that whilst some writers happily share their identities with their readers, an equal number chose to write under a pseudonym. I’ve even seen one or two who began that way only to gradually reveal more of themselves as time went on. Usually as they began to find that what they most wanted to write about was the events of their lives. If any bloggers are reading this I’d love to hear how you feel about it, and which option you elected to take. Was it even a conscious decision for you or just something that came naturally?
Like most of the known universe I have a Myspace page, a Bebo page and most recently a Facebook page all under my own name. In truth most recently I created a Facebook page for my dog, but that’s a story for another day. However, whenever I write anything on any one of those pages I instinctively self-edit, I cut out the jokes that are too near the knuckle, I lose the opinions that may be too contentious for a conservative palate. After all, my like-minded friends are grouped equally alongside my colleagues, clients, family members and, in the case of Facebook, people I knew years ago and have never spoken to since, who have added me solely to increase their friends count.
In short, I write what I would want that incredibly diverse group of people to associate with me rather than what I actually think and feel. Once you find yourself considering the opinions and possible objections of 100 or more people of all ages and from all walks of life you find you have very little wiggle-room.
I found with some interest that I told absolutely no-one I know about this blog, not even the people who I happily share myself with fully. If they happen to come across it I have no objection with them reading it, and as it takes shape and finds direction I may even share it with them.
Does this mean that this blog will be full of offensive material and extreme politics? In all probability no. But the important thing, for now at least, is that it can be if I want it to be….
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