Comments on: Should You Blog Anonymously?

By: frugalbabe.com

frugalbabe.com — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:21:00 +0000

This is something I have struggled with since I’ve been blogging. When I started my blog – which as you mentioned is very anonymous – I did tell my husband, parents, and siblings. I didn’t tell anyone else, but I found out last year that my dad mentioned it to his brother, who told another uncle (it happened to be when I posted about being pregnant, and that’s how my dad’s side of the family found out about the baby!!). So I know that my dad’s family knows about the blog. They’re all in Ireland, and I rarely see them, but it felt a little weird for a while, knowing that they knew about it. I even considered canning the blog when that happened.
I have dropped a few hints along the way relating to where I live – I suppose someone could piece it together, and who knows, maybe down the road a ways I’ll feel like giving out more of that information.
Several times in the past few months I’ve considered switching to blogging under my real name. But I’ve gotten very comfortable with my under-wraps blog identity. I write another blog – a professional one for work that requires lots of research and isn’t as much fun… In my mind it’s almost as if two different people write the two blogs, since one is anonymous and the other isn’t.

By: Monroe on a budget

Monroe on a budget — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 02:47:00 +0000

I blog under my newspaper byline. The blog is officially a spinoff from my newspaper job, and is sponsored by my newspaper.

Obviously, I have a very unique situation.

The trade-off for my blogging under my public persona is I stay away from certain specific details.

I assume most readers, especially local ones who would be most likely to catch the lifestyle references, have figured out my family is not in the high income bracket. I don't need to say "we make XXX".

But that's a balance that traditional newspaper columnists have to work out too. One of our columnists wrote in today's newspaper what neighborhood he lives in ... but it's a densely populated neighborhood. He obviously felt comfortable mentioning that connection without giving his street address. And the neighborhood was a key part of his story today.

Now, I do like knowing the geographic location of other PF bloggers - whether under a real name or a screen name.

Reason: I find it annoying to read a post about this or that frugal or financial management technique being such a great idea, when it won't work / is not available for people who live in my city and I have no idea of the geographic context where it does work.

By: Amphritrite

Amphritrite — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 23:00:00 +0000

I’m a very open blogger – I talk about home, life, and the things I experience, but after being dooced because my blog mentioned SOMETHING about fighting with a coworker/friend in my off-hours, I absolutely do not give real names, titles, addresses, or information that makes me easily identifiable. I’m perfectly happy being Neptune’s Bride (That’s what the name “Amphritrite” means) for the time being…because no matter what name I give myself, I’m still me. My readers know that.

You can take the blog from the writer, but you can’t take the writer from the blog!

By: Jon

Jon — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 09:16:00 +0000

I agree that "knowing someone's personal finances does affect your relationship with them." If it hasn't caused you any awkwardness with the people around you yet, I would suggest that it's for the simple reason that the personal financial details disclosed on "My Small Cents" are all about not having tons of money! That tends to make others feel better about or at least comfortable with their own situation. If later on though, your friends start to get the impression from your blog that you're doing way better than they are, that's when you'll start having issues with jealous remarks and the like that can really queer a friendship. At least that's my understanding of human psychology :-/

By: BillyOceansEleven

BillyOceansEleven — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 03:56:00 +0000

I made the decision to be anonymous because there are some people I just don’t want knowing that much about my personal life. And if I decide to vent on a particular subject related to my work (which I do from time to time), I don’t want my bosses knowing about it.

I think a lot of it depends on how comfortable you are having others knowing your business and what you plan on posting about. For instance, I did several posts about a scam GPT website that screwed my BIL, and the scammer found the posts, started harassing me, and even found my eBay username from another post and started emailing my customers asking for my personal email saying I scammed him and he wanted to sue me. Thankfully the guy never got my info, and thank goodness I never posted it on my blog!

By: Kelly

Kelly — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 19:14:00 +0000

My mother doesn't like to comment on the blog, but here is what she wrote to me in an email:One thing you didn't mention in your blog today is that, like it or not, knowing someone's personal finances (how much they earn, how much they spend) does affect your relationship with them. Not could, but does. Whether it is a little bit or a lot, often or not, might vary…but once the information is out there, there is that little bit of information that makes you say to yourself, "if I had that much/little money, I would/wouldn't do…"

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 14:28:00 +0000

I fight with this one a lot. Some people in my life know about it, which I mind to varying degrees. What I don't like is when I have to use this site to explain some of my writing/blog-running/etc experience.

By: dmoms

dmoms — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 12:45:00 +0000

oh, I think I made that comment. I’m working on a new blog where I plan to share more…now,hopefully my husband won’t read it.

Getting it all “out there” makes one more accountable to the goals that have been set.

By: Mrs. Micah

Mrs. Micah — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 12:28:00 +0000

Whoops…that was me.