NCFocus is no longer an anonymous weblog. On Memorial Day, reporter David Mirhadi published my full name in The Union, deliberately, when I had asked him not to - he included NCFocus in a roundup of local blogs, pulling the synopsis and my first name from the blog, then plugging in my last name, which I'd provided in my email to him. I'd thought it was only ethical to provide it there; seems it was also naive.
Anonymous blogger and frequent News & Record blog commenter Anna, of Nevada County, California, has been outed by her own hometown newspaper, the Union.
The newspaper published Anna's full name in a round-up of local blogs, after she had requested, via email, that the reporter not do so. The article's description of Anna's blog came from her Profile, which also states the following:
I've lived in Nevada County for over 15 years, am originally from the Bay Area. My identity is pretty much an open secret - the people I write about know, as I suspect do most of my readers. I'll probably come out of the closet fairly soon; but because Google makes it an irrevocable step...
Anna has posted the relevant documents, including correspondence with the newspaper's editor and the reporter who put the permanent ink to page -- all of which are a must-read for pseudonymous/anonymous bloggers.
Greensboro bloggers may pause right here, look up at their ceilings, and speak a few words of gratitude for the likes of Lex Alexander, John Robinson, and Allen Johnson.
More to come on this story. Chewie is chewing on it.
Meanwhile, here's some advice from Anna on handling a big dis:
Advice for current and future bloggers: when something like this happens to you, it is really, really good to sleep on it before posting. The wisps of smoke now wafting from my ears are nothing like yesterday's jets of fire.
and a nice read for all of us, reporters, bloggers, and civilians alike, on the Art of the Apology.
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