Hiding Behind Anonymous

One of the benefits of writing a public blog has been the communication with friends, authors, blog writers and librarians who've commented on my posts or sent me email. I've received some excellent feedback on my writing, been contacted by writers and asked to read unpublished materials and I've been sent wonderful books to review straight from the publishers. Writing Lively Librarian is truly a lot of fun.

Because my blog is a mix of my personal and professional life I've always been very aware that what I write is out there for all to read. Until lately I've never been the target of any negativity or nastiness via my blog. Recently that has changed. I've had unpleasant comments on my posts by someone(s) hiding behind "anonymous".

From the beginning I've made the choice to allow comments from anyone on my blog. I decided to make word verification a requirement for a commenter in order to cut down on spamming which was rampant without this precaution. However anyone can hide behind anonymous when commenting.

So here's the thing. It wasn't hard to figure out who you are. Thanks to the magic of Google Analytics which has been tracking every visitor to this blog for years, I merely tracked you by where you live and when you commented. It wasn't rocket science. Not to mention that you mentioned things ONLY someone who was previously family (by marriage) would know.

So for the foreseeable future I will be moderating the comments before they are published. I am doing this only because my loyal readers do not need to read foul comments by angry, pathetic spies. I would hope that anyone who has something to say to me would have the bollocks to sign their name and not hide behind anonymous. This will be my only post where I address someone not worth another thought.

Now back to blogging...