Why Anonymous?

Having a blog is superb. It's your online journal. You can talk about anything you want anyone to know about. Because it's yours, you get to choose the content. If someone wants to read it, they can. If they don't want to read it, they don't have to. They can click the pretty little red "x" at the top of their browser and "poof" the information is gone.

What gets even better is that your readers can leave comments. I love leaving comments. It lets people know that you have been visiting their blog, that you enjoy their blog and you wanted to say hi. I get lots of comments from different people; some I know in real life, some I don't.

Very rarely do I get "anonymous" comments, and when I do, it's usually my Dad trying to be "sneaky." How do I know? I have a sitemeter that tells me exactly where my readers come from. So, when someone visits, I know who they are; or at least how they got to my site, how long they stayed, where they went from my site and where they live.

I don't mind anonymous comments, generally. Sometimes people forget to leave their name, and usually they're just stopping by to say "hey, I dig your blog." I do prefer readers leave their name or blog address, so I can respond to them.

However, recently, a bloggy friend of mine posted a blog entry about a situation she is having with a co-worker. I won't go into details, but basically she was asking a question to her readers, wanting to know what they thought of a certain situation. Many responses came back. I'm sure when she posted it, she expected to get responses with opinions on both sides of the situation.

What I'm guessing she DIDN'T expect was someone to come on and bash her on her opinion of the situation.....anonymously. REALLY? If you are that passionate about the subject to which you responded, why don't you go ahead and leave your name like an adult?

I don't expect everyone to agree with the information I put on my blog, but if someone doesn't, I would hope they would NOT say anything, rather than be a coward and leave an ugly message with no name....not to mention come back with ugliness to other readers who don't agree with them.

When I read a blog and feel the need to comment, whether it's positive or negative about the subject, I ALWAYS leave my name. It's just the right thing to do. If I can't leave my name, then I shouldn't be saying whatever it is I'm saying. I do believe I was taught something to this effect in .... oh, kindergarten.

I guess I'm just constantly amazed at the way people conduct themselves whether in public, or on the internet and I suppose I shouldn't be.

Thanks to all of you who read my blog and whether you agree or disagree, aren't afraid to let me know who you are. We can all be different and have different opinions. That is what makes this country such a wonderful place!