Philosophy
The Leiter Reports is the central spot for inside baseball for the academic philosophical community. Brian Leiter has a strict policy there of not posting anonymous comments. If you have something to say to the community, put your name to it. Own it. It cuts down on certain sorts of comments, keeps things more civil and removes certain ethical worries. I've never had that sort of policy here. I know who some of regulars use pseudonyms are, others I don't. We've had very few instances of inappropriate comments, and I've always tried to make clear in a stern but not rude fashion when someone has crossed the civility line here -- and others on the Playground have also made clear to folks when a comment has been unacceptable. So, I don't think there is any need to change anything.
That being said, what is the point of a blog name that conceals your own? Does it make you more comfortable in commenting? Does it allow you to feel like you have a nickname when just hanging out with the gang? What is the lived experiential value of the pseudonym you use here and for those of you who do not -- Kerry, Jeff, Gwydion,... -- why did you choose not to?
- Moving Comments
Everyone, I'm in the process of migrating my comments from the last six years out of JS-Kit and into Disqus. I've had a number of regulars tell me that have been shut out of commenting recently, so I'm trying to fix it. Please...
- Everything Below This Post Is Kaput
My oldest friend Gwydion asks, "Do you ever get tired of blogging? If so, how do you reinvigorate yourself?"I've had this Playground up and running now for almost six years with six posts a week. I am closing in my 2,000th post. I do not want to begin...
- Exactly How Much Do You Hate The New Comment System?
O.k., so here's the deal with the comments. I've been using a comment system called Haloscan for the last almost four years, the entire length of this blog's history. Haloscan was free, but there were always those little ads at the bottom...
- Blogroll Additions
I have an open-link blogroll policy, that is, I'm happy to link to anyone who links here. I have a message in the sidebar asking anyone who has the Playground blogrolled to e-mail me to let me know, but I know that folks don't often read it and...
- Do Senior Faculty Have An Obligation To Retire?
Stealing this post from the Leiter Blog (it wasn't Leiter's question, so I feel less bad picking it up here). With the economic downturn, retirement accounts have taken a serious shot. As a result, there are going to be people who would have...
Philosophy
The Power and Danger of Anonymity
The Leiter Reports is the central spot for inside baseball for the academic philosophical community. Brian Leiter has a strict policy there of not posting anonymous comments. If you have something to say to the community, put your name to it. Own it. It cuts down on certain sorts of comments, keeps things more civil and removes certain ethical worries. I've never had that sort of policy here. I know who some of regulars use pseudonyms are, others I don't. We've had very few instances of inappropriate comments, and I've always tried to make clear in a stern but not rude fashion when someone has crossed the civility line here -- and others on the Playground have also made clear to folks when a comment has been unacceptable. So, I don't think there is any need to change anything.
That being said, what is the point of a blog name that conceals your own? Does it make you more comfortable in commenting? Does it allow you to feel like you have a nickname when just hanging out with the gang? What is the lived experiential value of the pseudonym you use here and for those of you who do not -- Kerry, Jeff, Gwydion,... -- why did you choose not to?
- Moving Comments
Everyone, I'm in the process of migrating my comments from the last six years out of JS-Kit and into Disqus. I've had a number of regulars tell me that have been shut out of commenting recently, so I'm trying to fix it. Please...
- Everything Below This Post Is Kaput
My oldest friend Gwydion asks, "Do you ever get tired of blogging? If so, how do you reinvigorate yourself?"I've had this Playground up and running now for almost six years with six posts a week. I am closing in my 2,000th post. I do not want to begin...
- Exactly How Much Do You Hate The New Comment System?
O.k., so here's the deal with the comments. I've been using a comment system called Haloscan for the last almost four years, the entire length of this blog's history. Haloscan was free, but there were always those little ads at the bottom...
- Blogroll Additions
I have an open-link blogroll policy, that is, I'm happy to link to anyone who links here. I have a message in the sidebar asking anyone who has the Playground blogrolled to e-mail me to let me know, but I know that folks don't often read it and...
- Do Senior Faculty Have An Obligation To Retire?
Stealing this post from the Leiter Blog (it wasn't Leiter's question, so I feel less bad picking it up here). With the economic downturn, retirement accounts have taken a serious shot. As a result, there are going to be people who would have...