Anonymity

No, I was strictly talking in newspaper stories, which should be held to a high standard.

Blogs, chats and message boards are fun, but I take what I read there with a grain of salt, here and elsewhere.

 

It's easy for me to post under my real name because Bob Cook is one of the least easily googled names out there. Given that my sports experience now is as a freelancer (in suspended animation, given cutbacks), I figured it was probably a good idea to use my name just to give potential clients an easy way to contact me. It's probably still a risk of some sort. But I do pull punches in some areas, which in the end is probably a good thing.

And Ace, while that vile posting about the Barry family did at least lead to a correction by Michelle (I'm going to guess that anonymous commenter wasn't the only one who thought Dave Barry still took home sacks full of money from the Herald), I would agree that being anonymous (technically here, pseudonymous -- if someone subpoenaed this board, they'd find out who you are) doesn't give you license to shit out whatever crap you think is fact without offering some sort of sourcing or authority.

 

9 times out of 10, I lean toward not telling the story.

My credibility is important, and putting it on the line for a story risks cheapening it. So it better be a darned good story.

Plus, you only encourage more sources to insist on anonymity. It perpetuates itself.

 

Hopefully, you are not basing the story on one anonymous source, but several, if no one will go on the record.

 

If an anonymous source lies, he/she should be "made famous"

 

Joe,

Did you get my PM?

And Bob,

I'm in your shoes now so I can see the same benefits and costs of posting under our real names. I guess when I get on a roll with a topic I just can't pull my punches as easily (see the Rocky thread for an example). ;D

 

Andy, there have been many times when I've typed a message and decided not to post it. Not just to protect whatever reputation I have, but also when I realize what I've typed is utter tripe.

 

Unfortunately, my fingers haven't been able to find the delete key fast enough in some cases, so I just had to live with what my first impulse happened to be with that particular post.

 

Frank: I made the point that the story needs to be ironclad.

That means the editor better have torn it up, ripped it apart 18 ways to Sunday and put it back together again to his/her satisfaction before it ever sees the light of day.

If you put it in print, there should be no question whatsoever about its accuracy and for the record, I would never, ever run a one-source anonymous story.

 

We have very specific rules about anonymous sources here. There must be at least two and they must be approved by managing editor level or higher. As for anonymity on message boards, it's good in many ways to encourage more vigorous discussion and to avoid judgments about someone and to protect people who don't want to be stalked via Googling or other ways of finding them.

 

People on here have a variety of reasons why they want to remain anonymous. Perhaps it's the big time columnist who doesn't want to deal with people genuflecting or bitching her out because of yesterday's column. Perhaps it's someone working at the Podunk Daily who's trying to make it to a daily. Perhaps it's someone who knows his opinions aren't going to be popular and it could cost him at his gig.

Or, if you're like me, you know someone you used to work with posts or lurks on here and you simply don't want any awkwardness about it. And, of course, sometimes the reasons for staying anonymous evolve over time. Mine certainly have.

The people who out themselves do so for a variety of reasons. I'm sure Webby had his reasons why he did. I'm sure Moddy had his reasons for outing himself to the "three" people left on this board who didn't know his real name when he left his previous shop.

Perhaps the anonymity of a screen name lets you post things you otherwise would be reluctant to. Perhaps that's a good thing. But if you use your screen name to post harmful stuff, you lose a lot of respect, and deservedly so.

 

so wait a minute, you're telling me you're NOT johnny dangerously? i feel so used.