Thursday, May 3, 2007

On pseudonyms.

I write under a pseudonym. Why?

1. Because it allows me to write personal anecdotes in a manner where I'm not sharing my laundry with people I deal with on a day-to-day basis.

2. Because it allows me to separate this part of my life from my work life. i.e. I don't have to worry about weirdos calling my boss, just because I wrote something that they disagree with.

3. Because "The Factician" amuses me. It's a combination of Factory and Tactician, which makes me laugh. Very conspiratorial. Though I've had folks on other sites claim that they think I'm spouting false facts. Not quite what I intended, and sometimes I wish I'd noticed that before I chose it...

4. It allows people to judge what I say, not who I am. I try to make arguments from a rational position, rather than a position of authority (not that anyone considers a post-doc an authority - we're just about the bottom rung of the academic science ladder).

Digg!

1 comment:

ERV said...

Eh I was hoping to stay with a pseudonym, but after my Infidel Guy interview, I was pretty much *out*.

Plus I want to write about my own publications when they get printed, so that would have blown my anonymity anyway.

There are some very personal work things I would like to write about (nothing happened to me, but a female friend that works on the same campus) and I dont feel comfortable writing about her difficulties anymore. Im sure I will have grad school things I want to write about too, but wont be able to.

Stay anonymous.