Do you know me?

The blogosphere is an interesting place. The rules are different here than in the real world. We can become "friends" without ever knowing each other's real names or faces or personalities. In real life, we exchange names, personal details and contact information instantly. Notsomuch online. We reveal only what we want to. And who knows if we're playing our real cards or bluffing? It's a whole new dance in the blogosphere.

I have only met in person two bloggers that I've "gotten to know" in the four years of this blog. Denise and TI, both of whom are exactly as you would expect them to be based on their blogs -- fabulous people. I have plans to meet two more when they come to DC this summer -- Scooter and Resipsacrap. I'm looking forward to putting their online personalities together with their in person personalities. I have also sought the advice and counsel from a few here in DC too, but never met them. And I admit that I've "stealthed" a few folks -- meaning either that I found a blog of someone I know but haven't told them that I'm reading or that I've figured out who some of my blogger pals are in real life but not admitted it to them because I don't want them to mistakenly think I'm stalking them. To me, it was just a game to see if I could answer the question of "who is...". (If you think you may fit in that category and want me to tell you, just email me. I'm not trying to be secretive.)

On that latter point, I started to wonder how easy it would be to figure out who I am.

It's actually pretty easy. And if you were so inclined, it wouldn't take much to find me. Oh well. But that's okay (I hope) because anyone starting from my blog and taking all the info here to figure out who I am is probably not as problematic as someone starting with my name and trying to find more info about me online. The second search, the one that starts elsewhere and leads to this blog, the search that employers would make, well, that could leave me with lots of 'splaining to do.

Of course, that isn't to say that I want to challenge anyone out there to figure out who I am and search me out. If I did, then my real name would be on the blog. But I do think I'm still googlenonymous, and I intend to stay that way for the time being.

That being said, anyone who writes a blog and expects to remain anonymous is naive to the point dangerous stupidity. You can't beat the technology. You can ask that you aren't outed or rely on the fact that most people don't care who you are, but if someone is so inclined to track you down, it's not hard to do.