I’ve got to agree with Brian Moran on this.
“Anyone who does [blogging] anonymously is being cowardly, in my opinion,” he said. Blogs, he added, “don’t seem to be used constructively at this point. It just seems to be wild potshots at people.”
I’ve been thinking about the issue of anonymous blogging lately. Gutless was the word I used on a comment I made on another blog discussing the topic.
And yet, The Post article this morning on political blogs quotes at length the anonymous blogger known as “Not Larry Sabato.” His blog has become a lengthy list of anonymous commentators in addition to his anonymous predictions and opinions. Many of the comments are personal attacks. I had a link to it on this blog, but I took it down today.
I recently received an inquiry from another government official who has started a blog, asking me if I’d link to him. Thus far, I’ve decided not to as I don’t want to encourage anonymous blogging. Blogs like Not Larry Sabato’s (to which I’ve intentionally not linked here) have little credibility and cheapen the discourse by making it anonymous. I’ve used harsh language attacking politicians, but at the very least I have a short bio of me on this site, and one can easily Google me for more info.
I’ve thought of not allowing anonymous comments on Commonwealth Commonsense. In fact, I’ve thought of taking the comments section off completely because of anonymous commentators.
Clearly, some blogs are setting the stage for what they hope to be greater influence on the elections. They do that by wild accusations that elicit many anonymous commentators that then engender coverage in the mainstream press. And The Post fell into their hands with today’s article. I will be-thinking providing any links to blogs written in anonymity.