On anonymity

an·o·nym·i·ty (ān'ə-nĭm'ĭ-tē) n. pl. an·o·nym·i·ties
1. The quality or state of being unknown or unacknowledged.
2. One that is unknown or unacknowledged.

A while ago I got in a bad mood and posted a big long post defending my church after seeing some funny accusations on the internet. It was a silly, impulsive idea, as I know now that I don't need to defend something that I know God is blessing, and luckily a good friend talked me out of it, so I deleted the post and went on my merry way. Only thing is, blogger (for its own ineffable reasons) didn't delete the post properly, and some random who really doesn't like my church found the post and reposted it somewhere else, where lots of people who really don't like my church found it and started sending me nasty comments and emails. Most of them unprintable, and most of them anonymous. Okay, so fair play to them - they don't like my church, possibly I wouldn't like theirs either (who knows) and by putting myself on the internet I guess I am making myself available to people like that. But is anonymous hate mail a great way to prove that their point of view is better than mine?

a·non·y·mous (ə-nŏn'ə-məs) Pronunciation Key adj.
1. Having an unknown or unacknowledged name: an anonymous author.
2. Having an unknown or withheld authorship or agency: an anonymous letter; an anonymous phone call.
3. Having no distinctive character or recognition factor: "a very great, almost anonymous center of people who just want peace" (Alan Paton).

I love that 3rd definition - 'having no distinctive character'. Having worked in Customer Service both in retail shops and also in call centres I can tell you from experience that people are mostly ruder when they can't see you. I guess this is because being a voice over the phone makes you that bit less human, and who cares how you speak to a call centre robot? But take the net, where you're not only invisible, you're also untouchable, and I find people seem to feel free to be even ruder. (Aside: be nice to the customer service operator! It's not their fault!)

After that whole experience I had a few days where I felt vulnerable and exposed. I guess this was just somewhere that I didn't expect to be hit like that. I (to quote Douglas Adams) "reeled like a man getting mugged in a meadow". My immediate reaction was that I wanted to delete the whole blog and be done with it. But then I got a bit outraged - why should someone else's nasty attitude stop me from doing something which I enjoy? Stuff em. I'm just me doing what I do, I don't need to apologise for that.

Anyway, I have a small crew of faithful friends who read and comment regularly, my clustrmap shows some random (and welcome!) international visitors, I have a regular, unfriendly, anonymous commenter (mate, as long as you stay anonymous, your opinions carry absolutely no weight and won't be published), I think my family logs on every now and then (hi family!), I've put my full name in a previous post - so I guess anyone looking for me by google would be directed here too.

Sez was telling me the other day that she thought the idea of a potential date reading her blog and getting to know the real her before even going on a first date was uncomfortable. I don't think that would bother me - I'm just me, with all of my quirks, faults, eccentricities, contradictions and random passions. So every now and then I have a rant and show you a bad attitude I've been having - well, that's just me ;-) I do that in real life too. I don't pretend to be perfect, or not to have any faults.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 "But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."