Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 16:11:12 -0800 (PST)
From: Cat Meier <fairestcat at techemail.com>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Why I dislike LiveJournal
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>

From: "Paul Haggerty" <Paul.Haggerty at noaa.gov>
> > That's not being dishonest, that's just wanting a little control over
> >what information about you is being spread.

Ted White:
>Understood.  But, duh, LiveJournal is on the wide-open internet, and can be
>accessed by search engines.   So why post stuff so widely that you don't
>want people to know in the first place?   (Posting it *here* would be far
>safer.)

Well, I suppose I could post the stuff I post in my lj here, but how many people really want to hear detailed meta on the assorted slash relationships with Horatio Hornblower or exactly how un-fun it is dealing with being bi-polar, both of which items I talk about rather a lot in my lj.

There's a great one for you.  My potential employers do not need to know about my health struggles, in fact I'd rather that they didn't.  But I would like to discuss them with people, my local friends and friends and connections made online.  So, I use a pseudonym.  For me it's actually a fairly light level of alias.  Everything about me including copious pictures can be found in my lj.  Everything, that is, except my last name.

Online aliases exist as part of a balancing act.  They are a means of balancing the desire for human contact/to connect with people with shared interests/to talk about decidedly off-the-mainstream topics in a safe and welcoming environment and the need to protect one's privacy and guard one's safety.

Cat

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