Why I'm Deleting My Blogger Account

2012-02-01T16:23:00.002+10:00

If you're accustomed to visiting this blog you'll know that it's a harmless, albeit geeky, Dungeons and Dragons diary--a way in which a group of friends who play far less than they would like to, can remember what happened in the previous game. Nothing controversial, nothing particularly adult, certainly nothing of which I'm ashamed.

Like everyone, I have a number of different identities: I'm a husband, father, researcher, teacher, member of the local bushcare group, musician, and so on. I hold contracts in several universities, I have voluntary positions in professional societies, various clubs, and have held official positions in several organisations ranging from school councils, university committees, and political parties.

None of these identities are inconsistent with the others. In some there is considerable overlap; in others, very little. With some it is important to recognise some others--I've gotten professional jobs on the basis of my P&C experience--with some, the connections are simply irrelevant. It has nothing to do with my teaching that I spend two hours every month pulling weeds out of the local nature reserve or that I occasionally play D&D.

So it is not that I'm ashamed of my role-playing, or that some of my guild-members are (although I can't speak for them), that I choose to keep this blog anonymous: It is simply that it is irrelevant to most other aspects of my life. Would it help with my teaching or relations with students if one of them linked me to this blog? I doubt it.Would it hurt? Probably not. But why do I need to have this part of my life connected with every other? Answer: I don't, and everyone I know has successfully compartmentalised their lives for ever, with no ill-effect.

You probably understand this; maybe even agree. But one organisation for whom this is a strange and bizarre concept is Google. Despite numerous excellent examples around the "Arab Spring" as to why anonymity or pseudonymity can be important--even essential--they still don't get it, and in a few weeks I am going to be forcefully outed as a gamer, as Google implements their new privacy policy that combines all online identities.

The consequences for me are negligible: the consequences for some may be devastating. So I am mounting a personal protest by deleting this blog and porting the content to an organisation that doesn't (at least, so far) feel they own all my identities. If you wish to continue reading "Erevan's Journal," you can find it here: http://erevansjournal.wordpress.com/.

In the meantime, this post (and the redirect) will remain in place until the 29th February, after which I will delete it as completely as is possible, in the hope that no connection will remain to the new site.

People like Larry Page and Mark Zuckerberg argue that social media is just an extension of your offline persona and shouldn't be treated any differently. I agree. No one is forcing me to connect all my different offline identities: why are they doing it to my online ones?