Wednesday, June 13, 2012

A young man's view on anonymous writing

We always seem to start discussions of professional writing and innovation with a discussion of career risk. As a writer working in both web and print, I want to throw out the disclaimer that the decision to speak, write, or blog publicly or anonymously is deeply personal and depends on circumstance. I don’t begrudge anyone who writes under a pseudonym, which has a venerable lineage extending far before "Publius” and The Federalist Papers. That being said, I think that writing publicly carries some advantages:

  • Attaching one’s name and reputation to a piece of writing creates a drive for excellence difficult to replicate when writing anonymously. None of us wants to be criticized, so public writers have more incentive to hone their arguments; ultimately, the better arguments will stand the best chance of adoption and implementation.
  • Writing anonymously allows people to speak truth to power, but it also diminishes responsibility. As a result, anonymous writings can often devolve into mere complaint and invective. Public writing, while less able to challenge authority, also produces more measured, balanced prose and often proposes solutions instead of merely lamenting a problem.
  • Being creatures of ego, we want credit for a winning concept. Public writing best enables that credit to be given fairly in the marketplace of ideas.

From: "Gladiator vs. Ninja, or, The Innovation Discourse"
Center for International Maritime Security, June 7
LT Kurt Albaugh
Instructor in the Naval Academy’s English Department.

2 comments:

J.Q. Public said...

I agree with the LT.

Anonymous said...

Captain Lambert,

LT Kurt Albaugh has generated an excellent response to the problem of posting as anonymous or as a real person in this world, having read and reread each of his words numerous times I do find that I disagree with him in some areas, when he states that “Public (vs. anonymous) writing, while less able to challenge authority, also produces more measured, balanced prose and often proposes solutions instead of merely lamenting a problem.” Pretty writing but I do not think that it would be less able to challenge authority, in fact I do believe that it would present more of a challenge to authority, if the author was known.

I am biased against folks that post as anonymous, and I realize there are reasons for their posts but if you cannot lay claim to your words, maybe you should have not said those words?

Very Respectfully,
Navyman834
E. A. Hughes, FTCM(SS)
U. S. Navy (Retired)