Today We Wear Masks

I suppose I've always sought a kind of anonymity.

This is strange considering my job has me in constant contact with the internet, which is always scurrilously seeking personal data about me.

However, I'm not inclined to go around anonymously in forums and chat shops. Good manners, I suppose: I find it impolite talking to people without a name to hang around my virtual neck, even if it's just a false one.

I suppose then the need to disguise oneself as another person on the web is the next best thing for anonymity. That's why my blog-- which is supposed to be reflect my personality-- doesn't have my name on it except for a pseudonym or a nom du guerre.

But how does the need for anonymity explain online journals like these:

• The most funny pseudonymous blog I've found is the one run by the political satirist Fafblog! the whole worlds only source for Fafblog. Now I can understand having a pseudonym and a style of writing while on the 'net. But three different ones (read: Fafnir, Giblets, and The Medium Lobster) all at the same time?
• On the other hand, Fluff the Plush Cthulu's Journal is another funny little journal run by a plush Cthulu that wants to eat your brains... actually, everyone's brains. He's not that discriminating, really. (This page had some pics of him eating some SFF authors' brains during a convention but I guess they've been removed.)
• Now this one's rates an 'interesting' mark: a journal run by a cat named bad_bad_zoot of What Are You Looking At? As shown in this who-should-you-vote-for-in-the-US-elections post, zoot has opinions and isn't shy in telling 'em. (At least this one's legible. I once saw a weblog that had pure gibberish in it: seems like cat owners had their cats paw the keyboard and posted the results on the 'net.)
• Lastly, there's also a journal run by a dog, specifically hope_dog of collie-dogs rule! Nuff said.

So, what mask are you wearing today?