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August 31, 2009
'Never Go Full Retard': Blog and comment using your real name.
You went full retard, man. Never go full retard. Don't go home in pain.
--Robert Downey, Jr., gravely, to Ben Stiller, in Tropic Thunder (2008), about the latter's acting method in the fictional flick "Simple Jack".
DreamWorks/Red Hour Films
More of WAC?'s Weenie Patrol. From a July 12 post--and one of many on why you are just a big weenie if you blog or comment without using your real name. Exceptions: Chinese, Cuban and Iranian dissidents, CIA employees doing black ops, Club Ned victims, and 17-year-old girls. Man up, please, y'all:
Effective July 1, 2009, and absent compelling reasons, this blog will no longer print any comments of anonymous bloggers and commenters. Nameless blogosphere participants, in our view, are rarely worth anyone's time, thought, or respect. Anonymous writers have already "discounted" themselves. You can discount them, too, without worrying you're missing anything. They are second-class citizens, at best. See our past posts on the subject here and here. Note to nameless pundits generally: We can't justify reading your stuff, either. We simply don't have the time. Please find other passive aggressive exercises--or maybe just a part-time job--to fill your spare time.
Our Comment Policy: On this blog, the ethos is Step Up: (1) Say Who You Are, and then (2) Say What You Think. We need both bona fides to publish. Exceptions are special needs cases: e.g., CIA undercover operatives, abused housewives, Cuban or Iranian dissidents, ex-hookers who work with severely retarded children, Gen-Ys, or unwed teenage moms, bona fide members of the dreaded Club Ned, and serious non-wimp trailblazers. Garden variety risk-averse lawyer/CPA dweeb life forms need not apply.
Final note to a few WAC regulars: Since 2005 we have received hundreds of comments/e-mails from the likes of Zorro, Publius, Sweet Lorraine, Wanker Emeritus, Little Sammy, The Humongous, and even "Alexander Madison" in which the writer apparently asserts that, in a previous life, he or she was a Federalist Papers author, Mahatma Gandhi, or member of the French Resistance. And that by nature their thoughts, words and gestures--no matter how lame or drug-addled--have profound and perhaps even epic value.
No more comments, you folks, especially. Just get some help.
Everyone else: get a spine. Above: The highly-respected French Resistance in action. Twenty-first century counterparts may qualify for a WAC? No-Anonymity Rule special needs exemption.
Posted by JD Hull at August 31, 2009 11:59 PM
Comments
And how is it that you are going to be able to know their "special situations?" You have completely ceased making any sense on this issue. None at all....
Posted by: Dan Harris at September 2, 2009 02:32 AM
It's all in the past posts, Dan. Read them. I am surprised this vexes you--but I am sure all the nameless weenies out there love you for it. C'mon. You are better than that. Learn to deal with a little complexity. You need to think about all this. "Need" for anonymity is a case-by-case determination.
If someone claims a special situation, you need to be satisfied it's true. On some--"I was raped, and my family was killed, by soldiers in my village"--I think you can give them the benefit of the doubt. Who but a turd would make that up?
But the point is to be satisfied. E.g., Chinese dissidents, and rape victims: yes. Risk-averse associates at Seattle's largest law firm, and aging Bozo pundits who won't stand behind their ideas: no. Get it?
Anonymity is not a right. It's a tradition and privilege for those who need it. It's not for "hiders". Case-by-case.
Posted by: Dan Hull at September 2, 2009 04:09 PM