Lots of agonizing and hand-wringing and philosophizing and navel-gazing and vituperation and fight/flight-response activation at ScienceBlogs and elsewhere in the blogosphere concerning pseudonymous blogging. Some say that pseudonymous bloggers are RUINING THE INTERNET11!!1!!!!ELEVENTY!11!!1!!!!, while others assert that pseudonymous blogging KICKS TOTAL FUCKING ASS. PhysioProf has opined on this topic previously:
I am convinced that those who rail against anonymity are weak-egoed credential-obsessed lickspittles who hate the fact that anonymous bloggers–and other writers–can develop tremendous influence and credibility in academia–and society at large–without relying on fancy credentials from fancy institutions. They are the kind of people who admire and tune their CVs on a daily basis, polish their framed diplomas, but who no one reads, listens to, or gives a flying fuck about. It drives them berserk that they are ignored despite their credentials, while many anonymous writers are respected, admired, and even loved.
One ScienceBlogger even concluded that pseudonymity is “a terribly difficult philosophical question”. It’s only a difficult philosophical question if you’re a demented fucking wackaloon obsessed with your own “credentials” and those of others, and unwilling to simply judge people on the merits of what they say.
Anyhoo, because ScienceBlogs has been abuzz with demented fucking wackaloons ranting and raving about the evils of pseudonymous blogging and commenting, our whip-cracking overlord Ginny has created a poll seeking to take the temperature of ScienceBlogs’ readers on this issue.
So get off your fucking asses and go over there and make your vote count! Pseudonymous bloggers kick total fucking ass!!! w00t!!!!!111!!1!!
9 comments
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Nan
April 22, 2008 at 9:47 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Some of those people over on the Science blogs are beginning to take themselves way too seriously. They need to lighten up, walk away from the lap top, spend less time obsessing about happenings in cyberspace and more time actually living.
juniorprof
April 22, 2008 at 9:58 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
more time actually living
or more time actually doing research
Fade
April 22, 2008 at 10:27 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Hey cut the Non-Pseudonymous sci-geeks some slack. If they don’t get their names recognized on the intertubes, how will they every rub that high school prom king and queen’s noses in it?
The Barefoot Bum
April 22, 2008 at 10:54 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
As a semi-pseudonymous blogger (I publish my real name on my blog) I can weigh in without self-justification with my complete, unqualified support for pseudonymity.
bustednuckles
April 22, 2008 at 11:22 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I took the poll and here is the comment I left;
“Makes me wonder what Albert Einsteins pseudoname would have been?
E=MCSquared?
Maybe just E. McSquared? Would it have made a huge difference whether he was pseudononymous WRT to his theory of relativity?
I judge by content, let me give you an irrefutable example, DRUDGE.”
Thank you for your time.
Philip Paul
Nan
April 22, 2008 at 11:26 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
‘or more time actually doing research’
That, too.
Abel Pharmboy
April 22, 2008 at 1:32 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Nine posts out of ten over here I laugh out loud, much to the chagrin of those with offices near mine. Thanks for helping to make me an obnoxious neighbor.
PhysioProf
April 22, 2008 at 1:41 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
w00t!
larue
April 23, 2008 at 9:28 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Ok, and I KNOW I’m gonna get pocket protector level snark leveled at me, but WTF is with all the 11′s, eleventy’s and such?
I didn’t even get the decoder ring.