Quite often, the most entertaining part of a blog post is the comments section that follows the post. In that section, one will encounter criticism that ranges from the constructive kind to the destructive kind.

In their comments, people will say things that they would never dare say to you face to face. Such vitriol is often attributed the anonymity that is provided in a comments section. Granted, some readers will use their real names. However, it is common for critics to hide behind pseudonyms.

Sometimes, people use pseudonyms because their jobs require them to. It is not unusual for a person’s job or personal safety to be at risk should a disgruntled and/or hostile reader be able to track down the whereabouts of that person.

Indeed, there are bloggers who have been the victims of SWATting. CBC News says about SWATting, “Some use it as a way to settle personal scores with perceived online enemies or seemingly as a form of misguided fun.”^xxiv

On 06/25/2012, blogger Aaron Walker was SWATted right after he won a legal victory over convicted bomber Brett Kimberlin. Walker writes, “Oh, and on the same day that my essential freedom of speech was restored? I was SWATted.”^xxv

Walker and other bloggers report being harassed after they blogged about the history of Brett Kimberlin. Mark Tapscott writes the following:

“The enemies of free speech and thought have lately turned to more subtle tools of suppression than merely shouting down speakers. Among these are extortionary threats to launch false charges of racism against companies that support politically incorrect groups, such as the American Legislative Exchange Council.

But far more sinister is the tactic adopted by Brett Kimberlin, an activist and the founder of the group Velvet Revolution who was convicted in 1981 of exploding eight bombs in 1978 in Speedway, Ind. One of his bombs blew off the leg of a man who subsequently committed suicide.

Nowadays, Kimberlin targets conservative bloggers like Aaron Worthing and Robert Stacy McCain in Maryland, and Patrick Frey of Patterico’s Pontifications in California. Why? For publishing facts about Kimberlin’s criminal record.”^xxvi

So, on the one hand, it is possible that a blogger or a blog reader has justification for using a pseudonym. On the other hand, pseudonyms are often used just because the users are too cowardly to use their real names. If I wanted to, then I could use a pseudonym, too, but I cannot in good conscience do so.

I will admit that my online persona is make-believe. It is that way for the purpose of comedy, and it is obvious to readers that my make-believe biography isn’t for real. Yet, my byline is the real thing. It isn’t a grandiose pseudonym used to feign being an intellectual giant. Use of my real name adds to the risk of blogging, but if I wanted to avoid all risks, then I wouldn’t blog in the first place.

“What’s in a name?” asks Juliet in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.^xxvii The answer to that question is plenty. One’s online name can be used to reveal or used to conceal. If one is trying to conceal without just cause, then one is being dishonest. Either that, or one is trying to avoid being held accountable for what one writes.