How Important True Identity for Blogger
Posted on November 3, 2008
Since first time blogging, I discouraged anonymity and anonymous blogging. I call this attitude irresponsible - if you fear the heat dont enter the kitchen., and be a good kid. I wrote several posts on the important of clear identity for any blogger to earn credibility of whatever one writes in his or her respective blogs.
There are times when clear identity is not obligatorily required, and anonymity is forgiven and understood by the readers.
There are many instances where scientific writings/bloggings will automatically earn you credibility and honour you deserve… But a lot of examples in which writing scientifically is not enough. Readers and common sense need to know what position you stand for. Credibility more often than not is very much to do with whether there’s self-interest involve or not.
But there are times where clear identity is a must and anonymity is a waste of time:
… there’re some other topics in which clarity of identity is a must unless you’re a careless person who dont need the so-called credible ‘awards.’ What kind of topics that needs clarity of identity? (a) Religion; (b) Politics; (c) Minority/majority issue [etc]..
Even worse, anonymous blogger is a liability for bloggers as a whole as their anonymity might be used to downgrade other bloggers- with clear identity -in bad lights as it’s the case with Roy Suryo’s allegation that Indonesian bloggers are just “a bunch of liars because they are never even have the gut to use their true name.
Now, look at this article written by an apparently an Obama’s campaign volunteer. Before making his points, he starts his piece with clear identity to make his case stronger and more credible:
There has been a lot of speculation that Barack Obama might win the election due to his better “ground game” and superior campaign organization.
I had the chance to view that organization up close this month when I canvassed for him. I’m not sure I learned much about his chances, but I learned a lot about myself and about this election.
Let me make it clear: I’m pretty conservative. I grew up in the suburbs. I voted for George H.W. Bush twice, and his son once. I was disappointed when Bill Clinton won, and disappointed he couldn’t run again.
I encouraged my son to join the military. I was proud of him in Afghanistan, and happy when he came home, and angry when he was recalled because of the invasion of Iraq. I’m white, 55, I live in the South and I’m definitely going to get a bigger tax bill if Obama wins. [....]
That’s precisely the point I made here when I said:
…neutrality & objectivity is a one way ticket towards credibility. Yet, both are an impressionist in nature. Readers need to be convinced that you’re in a neutral position when writing on those topics.
How do readers know that you are in a neutral position? The answer is your identity. Generally, neutrality and objectivity very much related to self-criticism (against your own religion, community, political party, etc).
So, when someone known for his/her closeness to a political party, say PKS, and he/she criticises some of PKS’ policy, certainly his/her criticism has the merit to be heard; and obviously such kind of criticism has credibility. On the contrary, anonymity on this regard will have many interpretations: one migh think that you are from some other political party and hence it’s common practice to attack other parties.
Filed Under Blogger Indonesia Tags: anonymity, anonymous blogger, credible blogger, ghost blogger
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Berarti anonimitas itu sebenarnya bukan masalah pengungkapan identitas asli kan? Biarpun kita tidak menyebutkan nama sendiri, asalkan secara jujur melakukan disclosure mengenai afiliasi/preferensi kita (yang terkait dengan isu yang dibahas), bagi Mas Fatih itu sudah baik… begitu?
Kalau memang itu maksudnya, saya juga setuju.
#betul. kalo bahas politik hendaknya memberitahu afiliasi politiknya (aktivis partai atau independent) dll. namun demikian, akan lebih baik dalam jangka panjang, kalau identitas asli (nama asli, dll) juga disebut. anda akan dianggap punya niat baik. dan itu sama dg menanam kredibilitas
The discussion about anonymous blogger often focused around blogs containing negative materials. But there are many weblogs containing nice, sweet, useful, positive materials, in which the author have choosen to remain anonymous.
An example from different area: There are a couple of famous spiritual writings from long time ago where the authors are anonymous by choice. In the book ‘The Cloud of Unknowing’, the author remain anonymous because he was humble. He didn’t want the reader to focus on the writer, he wanted the reader to focus on the content of his writings.
Setuju juga…
anon atau tidak anon, menurut saya aktivitas blogging adalah kebebasan mengungkapkan isi hati ke khalayak, apakah itu cuma sekedar menye-menye atau debat politik. Terserah pada khalayak untuk merespons ataupun tidak, disertai berpikir kritis atau tidak atas isi blog kita.
Kalau butuh kredibilitas menulislah di media massa konvensional. Menurut saya, Internet bukan tempatnya untuk berkredibilitas.
#
This opinion of yours is a little bit old fashioned. in the US many bloggers stands equally with conventional journalists. also many big blogs got some respects from and the content quoted by big conventional media see for example: juancole.com, dailykos.com, huffingtonpost.com etc to mention just a few. the only requirement is: dont blog anonymously. as they presicesly do.
Sometimes we have to “hide” our identity but, for some cases we should show who we are.
Agreed.
setuju…
amazing concept …
we are really interest with your describe ..
thank’s team
Sory.. koment sebelumnya tdk terbaca (arabic)
Intinya saya setuju juga pentingnya identitas yg jelas, khususnya manakala bersinggungan dengan isu agama & politik. Selain menunjukkan posisi kita, juga bisa menjadi pertimbangan bagi para ahli agama & para pejabat (kalau mereka sempat membaca postingan para blogger ya). Sebagian blogger Indonesia yg menulis dalam 2 topik tsb, sudah banyak yg un-anonymous, terlepas dari mrk partisipan maupun independen dlm hal politik.
Andai para blogger Arab banyak juga yg melakukan ini. Yg mana utk 2 topik tadi merupakan isu yg selalu “panas”, imbas clashing dgn barat, ditambah kelakuan para “raja” Arab tsb.
Opini saja
top concept….i’m really interesting
Yeas absolutely agree when someone says about certain issues like politic and law, he should publish his identity
I found that most sex bloggers prefer to use their pseudo because – of course – they do kiss and tell. And it doesn’t stop people to believe them. In fact, one blogger, under the pseudo Belle, has her blog turned into book, and now to TV series called Secret Diary of London Call Girl.
If the clear identity is a must – then it means that anything written under anonymity shall/can be ignored – then the two cases I’ve discovered (Civil Serf and Petite Anglaise) clearly showed the other way around, that even though under anonymity, the voice can be as powerful.
the possibility of a anonymous blogger who make it to the top should never be ruled out. the question is how many?
anonymous blogger is just like a stranger blogger and how many people think positively about a stranger in your neigborhood?
no less important, if you visit the big time american political bloggers (with quality content and tens to hundreds of thousands of visitors/day) none of them are anonymous.
as for sex bloggers, she/he aint need to go real. sex is one of the most searched keyword in Google and visitors aint need the authors’ identity for sure.
thanks for the comment. btw, congrats for your new wp blog. if i can give you suggestion, change the link structure into the pretty link; not the p=555 thing
tell me if you need some help
i like readers know my real identity. that means that i am responsible with all my articles.
Yes some times anonymous are forgiven….that’s me ha..ha
But in some point we must “show up” our identity to prevent “fitna”…
Ya…kredibilitas dimanapun sangat diperlukan…saya sangat setuju
I agree with you mr fatih. Ini juga yang membuat banyak dibuka job2 blog review di luar negeri sana.
But the number of internet users in Indonesia that only 9% of overall Indonesian citizen (based on detik) makes people highly doubted the validity of the Internet.
More severe conditions when Roy Suryo issued statements that disrupt, such as email evidence is not valid and etc.
(yai, seems that I love Google translator a lot)
Kebetulan saya mempunyai toko online yang mengharuskan saya menjadi invisible man, bahkan waktu menjadi moderator di salah satu forum, saya juga tidak mau, kalau menyebutkan identitas asli saya.
Saya selalu pakai true identity, QISTHON
Masa’ kalah sama Roy Suryo yang pakai identitas jelas
Kalau kepengen diri kita jatuh ke hati orang dengan cara yang baik, ya kudu ngenalin diri dulu, jangan maen serobot aja kayak cecurut. Karena setahu saya, hanya orang minder dan orang jahatlah yang identitasnya tidak mau diketahui orang lain. Wallahu’alam.
Why anonymous, if you had a good point in it.
True identity keep our responsibility for everything that related to us.
menurut saya ini terganuntg kontennya. klo kontenya kontroversif, maka si penulis harus bertanggung jawab dengan menunjukkan identitasnya suapay gak jadi pengecut…
I agree..
Memang sebaiknya begitu..
Bintang film porno aja gak pernah malu mengenalkan dirinya ke publik,
masa’ kita yang orang baik-baik malu mengenalkan diri ke orang lain..
kalo kita bisa terkenal dengan kebaikan kita, lumayanlah buat nambah2 pahala kita..
Setuju, apalagi kalo yg disampaikan di blog adalah hal2 yg bermanfaat, jd kenapa hrs malu
I think you are right…we shoudn’t be afraid to show who we are to everyone…
Fatih, frankly, i lost count how many times you’ve raised this issue – it’s getting tiring – and i felt like i prolly need to say something.
While i respect anyone who would want to blog with or without their real identity, your comments on blogging anonymously is completely misleading and misguided.
“What kind of topics that needs clarity of identity? (a) Religion; (b) Politics; (c) Minority/majority issue [etc]..”
That is ABSOLUTELY NOT true. Those are precisely the subjects in which one would and probably should consider anonymity.
In many countries of the world – and to some degree also Indonesia – voices of opposition and minorities are seriously oppressed and prosecuted. The only way people can voice their minority opinion is by expressing them anonymously.
No ideas carry the weight of the names and faces behind it – any ideas or complaints or opinion – should be judged and measured by merit and merits alone.
To assume that a ‘respectable name’ – blogger or otherwise – is more correct simply because one attaches a name to an opinion does not make him any more correct than others.
You quoted Thomas Jefferson in your profile. Well, James Madison, who was the other Founding Father, along with Hamilton and others wrote the Federalist Papers anonymously. There were many others who wrote some of the most papers and literature in history, without their real names. Lewis Carroll wrote Alic/Through the Looking Glass under pseudonyms. I can go on with these names for many long pages.
It doesn’t matter what one choose, one may choose to do as they wish, in whatever way they choose to do so. Blogging is hardly a credible platform for anything, who never really know who’s writing what anyway? The only way to judge the validity of the opinion is by judging it on merit, and merit alone.
Frankly, i’m disappointed that you keep hammering these unnecessary doctrines – being such a famous blogger yourself, and educator – you may want to be more tolerant of others, more critical on substance and less proud of the superficiality of cloaked deniability – at which point, you degrade and patronize noone but yourself.
It is important to stand for one’s opinion and stand on principle. It is much more important that one HAVE a principle in the first place, and there’s no way to do it, if anyone is intimidated and brushed aside as liability before they were to be heard.
Obviously, you have never been part of a prosecuted minority. Or maybe you had, but then you chose not to say much.
The arrogance to lower others as liability is, well, arrogance.
#well, tree, feel free to express your opinion and release your anger. no fear of prosecution and oppression here.
my purpose of these kind of topics is to influence new bloggers (say, undecided ones) and discourage them to go anonymous as it, in my opinion, will enhance blogger comunity’s credibility.
so, it’s NOT to degrade or discredit the already ‘established’ anonymous blogger who obviously have made up their minds to go anonymous.
please read my article on the ROY SURYO’s allegation on this regard.
last but far from least, i wrote this topic and will possiblly write again in the future posts is for the bigger purpose–the indonesian bloggers as a whole– not for chiding any particular bloggers. it’s not personal. it’s an issue i’d like to address.
well, since i have been a loyal reader of your blog for a few years now, i think i pretty much get what you say – and you always say the same thing.
It is pointless. Roy Suryo speaks up OPENLY, with his name and titles and all that shit he carries around, and yet, fails to bring any credibility to his audience.
i respect your opinion and have always enjoyed reading your blog, and yet, your idea of encouragement and education for ‘new bloggers’ is to put their names and faces foremost, before putting any arguments forward.
Bloggers should stand up for their opinion – anons or not. They should admit their mistakes – anons or not. They should openly call for actions when necessary – anons or not.
You do it once, i get it. Twice, i prolly still do. You’re doing it over a few years and just keep calling anonymous bloggers liable is similar to any other elites – in this country and elsewhere – to purport that they ride the moral high horses in the back of the names of their ancestors. It’s a pretense for nothing.
I don’t understand why it matters one iota if you use your name or not.
With your names and your reputation and your influence, you could’ve done a lot more than keep chiding other bloggers and claiming that you’re better than others.
We all know you’re better than others. Now let’s move on and get on a real issue rather than going back with this ancient topic.
I have not heard you ONCE say anything about the sad pathetic things happening in all around you, except that you chide bloggers who don’t blog names. pointless.
Frankly, you’re in danger of Roy Suryoing yourself – are you now the authority on who’s ‘the most worthy’ blog because those you pick have better names?
just curious…
Here’s something i have to say about PKS – rest assured, i will have more. If you have an argument on merit, spit it out. If you want to pick on anyone being liable, then please, with sugar on top, make sure WHO it is you’re calling liable.
http://treeatwork.blogspot.com/2008/10/indonesian-political-promiscuity.html
i am not at all angry. Not at the very least, you should know that i don’t get angry very often
i am very disappointed that people like you – whatever you call yourself – choose and pursue with dedication, to “discourage them to go anonymous as it, in my opinion, will enhance blogger comunity’s credibility.”
Fatih, what you do, is you discourage people to speak up – some people need the protection of anonymity. let them say it. You should help and protect them, and not call them liability.
I get upset when there are people who think it’s their job to discourage others to keep quiet.
Yah, at least anonymous blogging is much better than blogging with made-up or “fake” identity.
Lagipula, identitas kita di internet sangat mudah di copy dan disalahgunakan. Coba lihat identity orang di friendster, kita bisa temukan wajah / foto yang dipakai di beberapa profil, sampai bingung which one is real?
Saya juga setuju mas….
Yap, i agree with it. Fake identity is an irresponsible attitude.
May be can some one who’s have his blog write comment with another id (or can use “anonymous”).
So clear, so good!
But it depends on the blogger.
We have a different perspectives, more important
don’t take an illegal, criminal, and other bad action in content or command!
Pamit rumiyin
It’s an enlightenment that forgotten by many others, this should be considered to implement, I agree.
Siip
tambah pinter aku berselancar di blpg Mas Fatih
Salam dari Saya Muhammad Al Fatih..
mas fatih, saya sepenuhnya kurang sepakat jika anonimitas para blogger berarti sebagai bentuk sikap yang tak bertanggungjawab. dalam dunia penulisan, banyak penulis menggunakan nama anonim, dan tulisan mereka berkualitas dan yang penting tidak menghasut.
banyak alasan penulis atau blogger menggunakan nama samaran atau memlih untuk anonim. salah satunya, mungkin, karena mereka ingin “mengahajar lawan” tanpa menunjukkan mukanya. Atau karena faktor kemanan yang tidak mendukung seseorang untuk menyampaikan pendapatnya, sehingga menggunakan nama samaran adalah pilihan terbaik untuk tetap menyuarakan pendapatnya atas persoalan di sekitarnya.
di blog saya, saya memilih menggunakan anonim dan saya berani bertanggungjawab atas informasi yang saya tulis di blog.
maaf, url kurang lengkap. blog saya http://usahaonline.net. berisi seputar peluang bisnis internet yang insya alloh mencerahkan, bukan sekadar iming-iming cepat kaya dengan ngeblog. sekalian promosi, hehehe… suwon mas. oh ya mas, ada beasiswa s2 di india atau di pakistan nggak mas. awal tahun depan insya alloh saya bisa wisuda dan ingin melanjutkan s2, studi komunikasi aka jurnalime, sastra, filsafat (timur, especially). suwon mas. salam dari Kota Seamarang.
komentar perdana. Motivasi dalam menulislah yang akan menentukan, kebebaran bertanggung jawab memang harus ditanamkan kepada blogger2 indonesia agar cita rasa blogger indonesia dapat tercium khalayak ramai didunia..thanks atas share nya
memang bagus kita guna sebenar, tulus ikhlas bawa kejayaan..
just be your self with or without your real name
oh come on. give it a break. this is becoming more of an obsession than just a recurring topic.
what are you going to do? implement RUU anonimitas blogger?
credibility is not determined by mere identity.
i dont know if you’re familiar with Fox News.
its an American News Network owned by billionare Rupert Murdoch. You’d think it would be a credible news source. After all, its a news network. They’re supposed to be “fair and balanced”. Right? You’re supposed to trust the press, right? Think again.
Some people, and often times institutions, use their credibility to feed the public with false information. In this case, its even more dangerous as these lies can be easily turned into facts. All this due to the person/institution’s credibility.
Now, THAT is irresponsible.
Also, since when does one have to be neutral on the subjects of politics and religion to be a credible resource?
Atheist Sam Harris studied Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. He knows more about these religions than the so-called pious do. Are his criticisms of other religions invalid because he’s an atheist?
You see, Fatih,
it is not
identity=neutrality=credibility. Thats a big error.
Just because you have your name tattooed on your forehead doesn’t mean that you’re credible.
Take Roy Suryo.
#mmm…, you seem to be an ‘ol guy with new name. CMIIW.
calculate this:
which one is better between [anonymous+good writing] with [real identity+ good writing]? to me the latter is better. why?
also compare which is better between
[anonymous blogger/false identity] + controversial writing] with [true-identity blogger + controversial writing]? again the latter is better.
Fair comparison will end up in fair result and judgment.
simple as that.
what keeps me wonder to no end is that: most bloggers who tend to use and defend anonymity come from similar background. a background that pride itself with bravery and “honor”.
in my book, writing with false name/ anonymity is not commensurate with bravery
ummm…yeah i dont know what you’re talking about. i’m old, yes. but i don’t hang out here.
you’re looking at the equation from the wrong angle. and by the looks of it, you’re going to be frustrated for a long long time.
and this talk about bravery and honor is really quite funny. your holier-than-thou attitude is getting more amusing by the day.
what it boils down to is that good writing is good writing, regardless of who you are/claim to be.
so what if its controversial+false identity/anonymos?
simply attack the writing, not the man!
getting so wound up on the issue of anonymity is like getting side-tracked from the real issue.
you’re missing the point.
identity on the net is worthless unless you’re desperate to launch a personal attack against someone and you just can’t find any info.
#*smile* i enjoy writing this blog and any idea which comes up in it. you seem never or hardly visit big blogs/bloggers outthere in us or europe. none of the big & respected bloggers are anonymous. meaning good writing is a must to gain some respect but is NOT enough. btw, do you have a blog?
I think it is important to social bookmarking blog, but for commercial blog is dependent on the person. Preferences people vary in this case
Hi, Fatih
I’m glad that I’ve finally found this site. Think I have to thank you for making some time, efforts, energy and patience to create this such an informative and interesting site. Hopefully there are more people interested to join you: educating the surrounding!
Keep up the goodwork, young man! Never mind the complaints coming to your e-home. The higher the tree grows, the stronger the wind it faces! Hidup anak muda Indonesia!
#thank Erita. don’t worry about the disagreement. i “enjoy” it too.
Accordings to me, it’s depend on himself (blogger). The most important is the quality of contents.
wah terus terang kalo gue ngga atau lebih tepatnya belon pede ngungkapin jati diri yg bener2x jelas. Soalnya pengungkapan jati diri itu sebaiknya jg disertai ama kualitas content blognya sendiri. Mgkin rada old fashioned jg cara berpikir gue ya
lepas dari anonimitas blogger…
negeri ini punya masalah dengan anonimitas mayoritas rakyatnya. rakyat hanya sederet angka, rakyat hanya jadi obyek manipulasi. contohnya pemilu di negeri ini.
pemilu yang menghina rakyat
rakyat tetap sepi sendiri
disapa dengan gula-gula
lalu ditinggalkan kembali
How reliable is a the identity a blogger creates online and how does it reflect their true identity?
It will be a lot better if you don’t enter the wind =)
Every blogger will need to give true identity. The true identity is important when we want to be trusted by other people. However, sometimes we are afraid if our identities are used without our permissions. Therefore, we have work together to keep away our identities from unrestricted persons.