Enemies of Reason Poundshop potshots at the media moral maze.

I’m not an expert but… anonymity isn’t always a bad thing

One of the things about the online world that's often seen as a negative side is the idea of anonymity. Here are these faceless masses, goes the narrative, too scared to even put their own name to stuff, as opposed to the brave bylined elite who stand up for their principles and aren't afraid to put their delightfully big brains above the parapet.

Well, kind of. But no. Not that. I don't think it's really like that. One of the things I like most about the world of the web is its relaxed attitude towards identity. It reduces ad hominem attacks, which isn't a terribly bad thing; and it means that your words pretty much have to stand up for themselves, rather than people reading them because they support your political party, or like the other things you've done. In that way, the texts you create are themselves the most important thing, and the authorship is a side matter. It's like judging one of those blind poetry competitions where you don't know who's written what; I think it's a bit more meritocratic to look at things for what they are, rather than just the person who may or may not have been behind them.

Which isn't to say that I think it's a bad idea for people to have bylines and so on so that they can put together a body of work, and say that it's down to them. Of course it's a good thing. Sometimes it's interesting to know who's saying what, and sometimes it is important to know where someone's coming from and know what agendas they might have. That certainly gives a weight to people's opinions, but to me it also takes something away - the ability to look at a piece of writing and see it for being just what it is, so that you can look at it without those prejudices of "Well, he would say that, because of X, Y and Z" or "No wonder she thinks that", and so on.

Don't get me wrong; I love reading books by my favourite authors and also reading columns by my favourite journalists; but I don't think that necessarily means that any form of writing that doesn't come with a biography and a slightly weird-looking photo to accompany it isn't as important, or worth reading. Some of the best discoveries can come when you don't know who's written it at all. A world of readily available blogs and sites by people you've never heard of, and don't know who they are, means you can try something for free - dip into someone else's website or blog and see what they're up to, without having to fork a book-sized price out first, and then see whether you like it or not, and carry on following if you do, and don't look again if you don't, no harm done. You don't need to look at stuff based on reviews and reputations - you can just dive in. And if that person chooses to have a pseudonym, or an allonym as is my case (such an obscure one, apparently, that even the literary genius that is Howard Jacobson hadn't heard of it), then so what?

I think it's one of those tedious arguments that gets brought up against blogs and blogging that doesn't really hold any water. It's not a question of people 'hiding behind' a pseudonym, or refusing to put themselves above the parapet because their views lack conviction, or that somehow makes people less accountable, because that simply isn't the case. I'm entirely responsible for what I write on here and contactable by anyone. And I don't do it because I'm scared, but because, well, it's just not worth the hassle. It's really not a massive big secret or anything, and it's nothing exciting. I'm not a secret collaboration between a dozen different bohemians living in a wooden shack on an allotment; I'm just some person somewhere writing this. That's all that really matters, isn't it? I don't claim and never have claimed any significant knowledge of my subject matter, which is why these posts all say "I'm not an expert", but at the same time it's probably reasonably obvious to some of you that I'm not completely ignorant about what I write about either.

People who are 'anonymous' aren't always hiding; sometimes there are just reasons why people don't want to use their real names. Sometimes people will use that real name against you - as one blogger did not so long ago, phoning up the employers of someone who commented on his blog to tell them that he was wasting their working time. Not everyone is that much of a shit, of course, but it just goes to show; given that the web is searchable, sometimes your name turns up in unexpected places if you use your real identity to comment on stories. Do you really want current and future employers being able to find everything you've ever written? I don't think I do. I mean it's nice if you feel comfortable enough to do it, and in a fair world it wouldn't be a problem, but not everyone can be that confident, I don't think. That's not hiding, that's just being practical about stuff.

And there's a more important point as well, something which is the real argument in my opinion as to why anonymity is important for some people, and for why it can add to our debate rather than taking away from it. Some of the stuff I've written about here is fairly knockabout and fun, of course, but there's other stuff too - depression, anxiety, mental health problems, suicidal feelings. The kind of emo stuff that you get on blogs everywhere, but important things in my life, and important - I've found - for me to write about.

I have found it very helpful to write about these things not just in private but also to publish them in a place where others could read it, and I could feel that I could be honest. I know some people think that writing about this kind of stuff can actually make you feel worse, but I have found my own experience to be the exact opposite, and I'm glad I've done it. Sometimes you can only achieve that level of honesty if you feel OK about talking about something, knowing that you won't be judged by people who know you; sometimes it's easier to speak these things out in the ether, where you don't feel like you're being judged, or at least not being judged by people who know you so well, or who have all those preconceptions about you, or people that you work with and don't want to know that you're going through this stuff, and so on.

You can achieve a level of intimacy even with strangers in this kind of online community, which is a good thing in a lot of ways, though is not a substitute for other kinds of interaction, and I don't see it as being a substitute. Sometimes it can just help to know that you're writing, and someone is reading, and that's all, and that's all there is to it. That isn't hiding, that's just being able to express yourself in a way that benefits you. And if you have to do that with another name, then I think that is understandable. Not all of us have the courage of the photo byline and the "Yes, it's me!" kind of thing. But that doesn't mean our contributions aren't worth listening to.

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