Writing anonymously

Its always easier to say something, anything when no one knows who you are. Hiding behind the veil of cyberspace has always been one of the reasons why it became so popular in the first place, i reckon.

But when you really have something to say, i'll bet it lends a whole load of credibility to say it with your face showing. Stick your neck right out there, and make your point. If its crap, you're toast, reputation ruined, humiliated and humbled publicly. If its good, applause and back-slapping bravado is certain to follow.

Writing anonymously or not, is not necessarily better one over the other. They just serve different purposes. Looking carefully at the Malaysian blogosphere in particular, the demarcation of purposes seems quite stark: the more personal your message or your writing is, the less a blogger reveals about himself (or, in this case, she writes in riddles so only she and her closest confidantes fully understand her meaning). If the message is a public announcement, meant to educate or to inspire a call to action, then the blogger tends to hide less.

And, there lastly, is the final conundrum: the more public a blogger is, the less we actually know about him; we know what he wants to say, but we often have little or no insight into his personality or his life. The more anonymous the blogger is, the more we are able to relate and understand to her -- its almost as though we're able to get closer to those whom have no face.