Re: Somewhat OT: Thoughts about anonymous posting?

Posted by Bruce Weaver on Mar 14, 2013; 11:39pm
URL: http://spssx-discussion.165.s1.nabble.com/Somewhat-OT-Thoughts-about-anonymous-posting-tp5718681p5718692.html

Oops...I forgot to add that I agree with the comments from David and Jon.

Bruce Weaver wrote

"Some of you old farts probably remember those days!"

Gee, thanks David.  You've put us in a no-win situation.  If we acknowledge that we remember, we're old farts.  If those of us of a certain age claim to have no recollection of it, we're even older farts with memory loss.  

I always wondered how you came up with NEILA.  (I suppose it's purely coincidental that if you arrange the letters in reverse order you get ALIEN.)    

;-)

David Marso wrote

Well,
Back in a former life I adopted a nom de plume (Neila Nessa) so I wouldn't have to deal with possible repercussions if the views stated and defended were somehow 'against the grain' of the dominant paradigm of my employer at the time (ie SPSS).  I posted from work as David Marso and from home as Neila Nessa.  Sometimes I would even argue with myself to make a point ;-).
Some of you old farts probably remember those days!
--
These days? Well I'm just me!  I wouldn't think of going anon these days.  
Why? Well, I have a long history and when people need to hire an able bodied hard-core SPSS programmer I tend to get offered the work.  
I am not terribly cube-farm friendly so I usually insist on doing it remotely (or double my normal rate to show up)!
There is the other side of the equation to consider:
When someone posts questions under a weird moniker, I am less likely to put a whole lot of time or effort into responding.
David

Ryan Black wrote

Dear SPSS-L,

I'm curious...What are people's thoughts about posting anonymously versus
self-identifying. Because much of what I post on list-serves ends up in
some way, shape, or form in a peer-reviewed journal articles, I have toyed
with the idea of posting from an anonymous email. Those who have followed
my posts, I hope, notice that I always make a concerted effort to be
respectful, and I take validation of whatever statistical method I propose
for a particular research question very seriously. This, I am certain,
would not change if I were to switch to an anonymous email.

So why go anonymous?
1. Right now, if someone were determined to find out exactly where I work
and what I do, it wouldn't be all that difficult (I know this to be
true--don't ask...). I enjoy my privacy.
2. Often, I think that if I want something I have written to be attached to
my name that could potentially be on the Internet FOREVER, I would prefer
that it go through the peer-reviewed journal process.
3. While I would remain respectful, I would feel more comfortable being a
bit more direct.

Frankly, I post to this list because I enjoy doing it, hoping that what I
post proves useful to the OP and others. Having my actual name connected to
the post is less important to me. And I ought not forget to state that I
learn much more from others' posts than I know I will ever be able to offer
with my posts.

What do others think about anonymous posting? For me, this is not a black
and white issue. Having said that, recently I've been leaning more and more
towards anonymity.

Ryan