very much, at least using their real names. I wonder why that is. There are some Hispanists whose blogs I follow, but they are pseudonymous and I don't know all their identities. It never occurred to me not to use my real name to blog, when I started in 2002 and already had tenure. Being out in the open protects me from the fear of being found out. Of course I can't talk about departmental matters or speak of my colleagues in unflattering terms, but would I want to anyway? I assume anything I write will be known to anyone. The few times I've even left anonymous comments I didn't really like the feeling it gave me.
Academics seem particularly drawn to pseudonymous blogging, probably because of the viciousness of academic politics. It wouldn't make much sense for a writer promoting his/her work to blog in secret.
After the fight that developed in my last post, while I was out having dinner with friends and before I had the chance to erase some of the comments, I am happy I am anonymous. You can get yourself in an uncomfortable situation even without intending to do so. Now I have to figure out how to enable the feature to moderate the comments.
ResponderEliminarI don't maintain anonymity because of colleagues and administrators. They found the blog anyways and the reaction has been very positive.
ResponderEliminarI need to be anonymous because of the students. It's important to me to cultivate a certain distance from the students. On the blog, I want to feel free to write about my personal life, about autism, politics, anything. I don't want to come to class and hear, "So is it true that you first got married at 19?" or "You don't look like you have autism."
Spanish prof: I can't believe I missed a fight! Why did nobody invite me? :-)
To moderate comments on blogger just go to "settings," then to "comments," and then scroll down. It will give you several options. For example, I moderate my comments on posts older than 14 days. You can also turn off or hide comments for individual posts.
ResponderEliminarJonathan:
ResponderEliminarThanks!
@Clarissa: don't worry, you didn't miss anything. It was just petty gossip regarding the author of that particular essay. Not interested in it, nor on having it on my blog.
I'm pseudonymous because I started the blog to develop a different voice.
ResponderEliminarI guess my blog isn't entirely pseudonymous, but I don't use my full name usually. For me, it's because I'm a grad student and I have this constant fear of saying something careless or making an off-handed remark that might offend someone with the potential to impact my career.
ResponderEliminar