Why They Blog Anonymously and We do not

I keep wondering a ’little and trivial’ thing prevails in blogosphere: the tendency of westerners to blog anonymously; and the fondness of us, Indonesians, to blog otherwise ofcourse with few exception here and there. For various reasons Indonesian bloggers tend to make their blogs and their names known in the google world and are proud to see their traffic achieves PG (page ranking) four plus.

Non-Indonesian or westerners, however, seems to be satisfied if their blog contents are known more than the persons behind those writings. Just a few examples, almost 80 percent of expat blogs in Indonesia are pseudonymous. Conversely, I hardly found any Indonesian bloggers whose pictures, true full names and CVs are not attached in their blogs.

Interestingly, most westerners who blog pseudonymously, or ghostly if you like, are blogging serious topics— politics, culture, current affairs, religion sometimes with bluffing and bashing flavour attached to it— a kind of topic that require us to show our true face or name to assure that you have a good and honest intention of making criticism and a symbolic gesture that you as an individual is open to dialogue. There are few example of Indonesian bloggers who follow this trend in its entirety which are not worth mentioning here.

I am proud that Indonesian bloggers blog bravely; expressing their critique frankly and showing their identities at the same time to tell the one or institution they criticise that they are willing to take the risk and responsibility, if any, of whatever they are saying. And if you do not have the gut to criticise someone or an instititution (government or not) without hiding your true identity my little opinios is: Just Don’t Do it! That would be much better. There are many other topics that would interest readers without sacrificing your integrity and credibility.

And as far as Indonesian bloggers go, I believe the trend of showing their true identity should be maintained, especially whose blogs are about controversial and sensitive issues like religion and socio-political and cultural issues.

Further reading:

This entry was posted on August 19, 2007 at August 19, 2007 and is filed under Blogger Indonesia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Wibisono Sastrodiwiryo
January 11, 2008 at 12:09 pm

I totally agree with you.

Thats why I use my true real name in my Blog.
In many cases in my Blog I have been experiencing bad attitude from anonymous people who eager to chalange my articles, especially articles about politic. This is one example:
http://dendemang.wordpress.com/2008/01/05/isyarat-pak-harto/

The guy who anonymous on that article is really believes that to be a credible blogger it doens’t need to be transparent. What a joke. If you take a look at his Blog then you will found that he Blog about sensitive topic.

Thx Fatih for your brighten articles

# Halo Wibisono, there’s some more articles I’ve written regarding this issue. Follow the links below:

1. Why Ghost Blogger?
2. Why Ghost Blogger? (2)
3. Scientific and Credible Blogger
4. Anonymity and Credibility
5. Authority in Blog and Media

Wish you luck!

Refleksi dan Blog Tutorial
January 31, 2008 at 12:10 am

Seputar Blogger Anonim

Apakah Anda setuju dengan blogger anonim yakni blogger tanpa nama (anonym) atau pakai nama samaran (pseudonym)? Kalau Anda ingin memberi jawaban secara umum silahkan langsung berkomentar. Tapi kalau ingin berkomentar secara komprehensif, jangan komenta…

Oigal
February 14, 2008 at 1:56 am

Tell you what, I will declare my real name and KTP the moment you can guarantee a expat (or anyone else) for that matter could receive a fair and just hearing in any court of justice in Indonesia.

What is more laughable is the complaint against expat sites as having an agenda (I actually agree, some do) but they pale into insignificance against some of the rabid hate sites that out number exapt sites about 100 to one. These apparently are of no consequence.

Personally, I prefer to be critical of all religions and if you take offence ..don’t read..As for politics, they need no help from me to look like fools its like shooting fish in a barrel.

Oigal
February 14, 2008 at 1:57 am

I will declare my real name and KTP the moment you can guarantee a expat (or anyone else) for that matter could receive a fair and just hearing in any court of justice in Indonesia.

What is more laughable is the complaint against expat sites as having an agenda (I actually agree, some do) but they pale into insignificance against some of the rabid hate sites that out number expat sites about 100 to one. These apparently are of no consequence.

melly
February 19, 2008 at 8:17 am

I don’t mind anonymous at all. Some of them are so well written, and able to voice the thoughts in my mind.

If only we can see beyond the (un)true identity…

therry
February 22, 2008 at 2:42 am

wow…

so many ads, I’m confused.

#first time experience always confusing, is it not?

rainbow1
November 3, 2008 at 8:03 am

Hi,

Just wanna share this. Some of the reasons why people blog anonymously are:

1. Some people were stalking the blog’s owner, eventhough no controversial topics in her/his blog.

This was my friend’s experience. She was Indonesian blogger and she blogs in English. Because of putting her real identity in her blog, some people were stalking her (eventhough there were no controversial topics in her blog). Because of that bad experience, she blogs anonymously now and she told me not to put real identity in the cyberworld.

2. Wanna write freely about her/his daily life or her/his feelings about something (but not a controversial topics).

In my opinion, it’s ok to write anonymously for the reasons above, but I agree with Mr. Fatih that a person who writes about controversial topics should use their real identity.

FYI, I’m Indonesian & I’m blogging anonymously for these reasons:

a. following my friend’s advice for not putting real identity (being careful) in the cyberworld in order to avoid stalkers.

b. I wanna learn to write. Coz I didn’t know where to start, I thought I would start with writing about my daily life or about my feelings about something (but not a controversial topics) or about my problems. I’m an introvert person, so I only talk about something private (my feelings about something or about my problems) to my best friends. Because of it, I cannot write about my feelings or my problems in my blogs if I use my real identity. But if I don’t write about it, I’ll never have a chance to learn to write. I really wanna learn to write (but not a controversial topics), so for that reason I blogs anonymously.

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