"Don't Read This Blog!"

I think all webloggers are somewhat curious about what other people are doing in their blogs - witness the popularity of Blogger's Next button, which takes you to a randomly-selected blog. Mike likens it to wandering around the neighborhood staring into other people's windows. (Which, in turn, always conjures up images of the old Batman TV show for me.)

I'm as guilty of this kind of voyeurism as the next blogger. One of the things I can't figure out is why people put disclaimers like "If you know me from school/work/whatever please leave now. Some of the things I say may offend you." in their weblogs. Do they really think that will work?

That's just stupid. If anything, that would encourage me to read on just to see if I really did get offended.

If you're that concerned about people connecting the dots between you and your innermost thoughts, perhaps you should keep your weblog on "paper" and call it a "diary."

If you still want to get your message out to the masses, here's another radical idea - don't use your real name!