Anonymous Crap

Please excuse me while I rant for just a moment on a matter of little real importance....

Have you tried to follow a long comment thread like this one? Or how about this one?

How many people are involved in these discussions? Perhaps it's only one or two who like to act like a bunch of different individuals in order to support their own claims? Maybe it's just one guy with serious personality problems. Who can tell?

Really, people! Post with a name, even if it's just a screen name. It would make it much easier to properly follow the threads.

And, a special note to candidates and fellow bloggers, most blog commenting systems have a field for your website address. Why not use it? That way if people are interested in what you have to say in a comment, they can just click on your name and be wisked away to your site. Pretty nifty, huh? Take Mr. Ficker and Mr. Fustero, candidates for County Executive who have been kind enough to comment a number of times on this site. Right now, if I read Ficker's take on housing for the poor and I want to learn more, I have to google his name in order to find his site. That's really too much trouble, so I'm not going to bother. Same goes for fellow bloggers commenting on each others' sites. It's free advertising for your site or blog, folks! Why aren't you taking advantage of it?

Alright, I'm just about done here. Anonymous blogging (or commenting) has its drawbacks since the writer can't really be held accountable (which I gather why Just Up the Pike has now banned anonymous posters) and using screen names will not necessarily help in that regard, but they will at least make it easier to follow the online conversations. I'm not going to ban anonymous commenters (I think my own annoyance is outweighed by need for the broadest possible discussion of the issues), I'm just suggesting that folks consider posting their names (if they're willing to be held accountable and don't want others to question their motives), or at the very least use a consistent screen name.

Tags: blogging; anonymous comments