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Australian philosopher, literary critic, legal scholar, and professional writer. Based in Newcastle, NSW. My latest books are THE TYRANNY OF OPINION: CONFORMITY AND THE FUTURE OF LIBERALISM (2019) and AT THE DAWN OF A GREAT TRANSITION: THE QUESTION OF RADICAL ENHANCEMENT (2021).

Monday, May 10, 2010

Will people please stop commenting as "Anonymous"?

This has caused confusion before, and it's happening again. We get more than one commenter who can't quickly be told apart. Please try to establish some sort of identity. If necessary, sign your posts.

If you comment as "Anonymous" there's a danger your comments will be deleted. That's not necessarily because I'm out to get you. It might simply be that I've mistaken you for someone else. Sometimes we get more than one person commenting as "Anonymous" on the same thread, and there's at least one "Anonymous" who is banned from this blog. If I mistake your comments for one of his/hers - and I can only make the judgment on the basis of style, obsessions, and the like - it will go.

Yes, Rob, I'm talking to you. Your comments are welcome, and you sometimes sign them so I can see it's you ... but if I'm not sure it's a comment by you, it can be vulnerable to purges. The same applies to everyone who uses "Anonymous". Establish some sort of identity, which obviously needn't be your real-life one, or risk losing comments.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sure thing man.

Russell Blackford said...

Ho ho! I guess I asked for that.

But please, it does help if we don't have a bunch of people who all look the same.

Anonymous said...

It's a drag registering, especially if you are a dedicated lurker who only comments occasionally.

But all right, I'll seriously think about it.

(Sgd - A Different Anonymous)

(As my colleague points out, we aren't all the same, and this naked prejudice is very hurtful.
My developing alter ego is zackoz, but maybe I'll think of some other handle in the meantime. Anyway, more power to your elbow, RB.)

GTChristie said...

I select when/where to be anonymous based on what comments I want to be traceable (that is, searchable online) to me. I harbor some positions that could be misconstrued and thus "break" my image as contrary to the positions (and image) I want to be known for. That is not dishonest (I think), but an effort to avoid confusion. I'm not saying your request is unreasonable; I understand it. I really appreciate the tone and quality of the comments on this blog generally, so I suppose a certain amount of policing is necessary to maintain that. So ... ok.

I just KNEW you were going to get an anonymous comment first, though. LOL.

Michael Fugate said...

You don't need to register. Just click on "Name/URL" and enter your name.

Russell Blackford said...

What Michael said. It's pretty easy to establish some kind of identity so we can tell people apart.

Anonymous said...

Oops, sometimes I forget to sign off - my bad, sorry Russell, and others who endure my sometimes senseless interjections

Robert N Stephenson

Shiva said...

I agree, anonymous is "ok", but one should at least sign one's posts with some kind of nick so that we can tell people apart :)

Generic Online Pharmacy said...

I select when/where to be anonymous based on what comments I want to be traceable (that is, searchable online) to me.