mask funk

Anonymity

There has been a flurry of posts lately wondering why scriptwriters, who are trying to carve a niche for themselves, choose to remain anonymous and whether anonymity is self-defeating. Yesterday the blogger formerly known as Pillock became the latest to 'out' himself. Update: now back in again.

So is anonymity self defeating?

In Word's online thesaurus, the antonym for 'anonymous' is 'distinctive'. In the virtual world you can be distinctive and anonymous at the same time - which maybe sums up its appeal for certain writer-bloggers.

So no I don't think that being anonymous is self-defeating. I'm anonymous mainly because it suits me. I would never have started blogging in the first place under my real name or revealed any personal information at all. And its not that I've got anything to hide. I'm not a household name. There's no big secret. I don't have (many) axes to grind. When I set out it was never my intention to create a website to showcase myself and my wares or gain work (and I don't really know whether people actually gain any scriptwriting work through blogs but maybe some do.) In fact I'm not anonymous at all to most friends (who I've told about this blog.) I've told other bloggers who I am too (so if you email me and ask me nicely, I will tell you too).

I just prefer it. Anonymity is a protective cloak - like Little Red Riding Hood's - it fictionalises.


When I started not so long ago, blogging was a novelty, fun. I thought a blog would be a great way of storing interesting thoughts and images every now and again. A work in progress. Then it became more of an obsession with tweaking and clouds and add-ons. Then comments - spawning unlikely allegiances across continents and arbitrary dialogue with complete strangers on favourite topics.

Now it is a habit and I'm perfectly happy in my anonymity. I don't see why anyone should be bothered by it.