Anonymous blog concerns

starrykitten

practical experience, FTW
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The new blogging project I'm starting is one in which I hope to be anonymous.

This blog is only going to be about experiences limited to a part of my life that very few people know about. I still think it could be both entertaining and educational for people to read, though, and I want to write it.

But I want to do it as anonymously as possible.

So, what precautions do I need to take so no one can trace it back to me? Obviously when I sign up I will use a fake name and a throwaway email address, and I won't give out any identifying information in my posts. I realize that there's always IP tracking, but I am not worried so much about that.

Also, I am trying to think of ways to promote the blog that aren't traceable back to me. I can of course set up a Twitter account and such linked to the throwaway email (though I would worry about forgetting to log out and such). As for the rest, I don't really know. Ideas?
 

DancingMaenid

New kid...seven years ago!
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I think for the most part, the best thing you can do is to make sure that people who, say, google your real name or know your regular e-mail address won't be able to trace it to your blog. Set up an e-mail address just for your blog. Don't post identifiable photos of yourself or identifying information.

Generally, I think 99% of your concern would be people you know, or people like potential employers, googling you and finding your blog by accident, or seeing something related to your blog and recognizing you. I think it's less likely that someone is going to try very hard to trace who runs the blog, unless it's something that attracts the attention of law enforcement, for example, or something where people want to find out who's behind it. I'm assuming you're not planning to blog about illegal or morally contentious stuff, and you're not doing an anonymous celebrity tell-all or anything like that.

One thing to be aware of is that if you decide to register a domain name, people may be able to see who owns it by doing a whois search. I believe you can pay for an "anonymous" registration, though, where the company doesn't release your name publicly. I haven't done that, though, so I can't say much about it.

When it comes down to it, it's very hard to ensure complete anonymity on the internet. People who are more committed to trying will use IP proxies and the Tor browser. But personally, when it comes to my blogs and online accounts, I'm just careful about what information I put online and which emails I use for which accounts. I don't use the same username on stuff associated with my real name and things that I'd rather keep more private. I know there's still a small chance that I could be discovered, but that's something I can live with.

So, I think a lot of it comes down to how much of a risk you feel it is, and whether it's worth it to you.
 

NateSean

Vulcan/Time Lord Hybrid
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I think you should always keep this rule in mind in regards to anything you post on the Internet, whatever your intentions:

If you don't want someone to read it, don't write it.
 

Iidoni

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Good luck with it, one of the great things about blogging is getting little windows into worlds you might otherwise not get to see...

I have to say though, I've followed a couple of Anonymous blogs and all three of them were outed. There's an interesting article about the experience of anonymous blogging from cracked dot come, which gives some insights...

http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-things-i-learned-as-anonymous-tsa-blogger/
 
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StartupBlogger

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If you decide to create alternate social media accounts, it may be easier if you dedicate a specific browser for that blog's accounts. If you use Firefox or Chrome, only sign on to those accounts with IE and that should help you keep everything separate and prevent mix ups.