Have you ever been reading a blog post and wanted to leave a comment but were afraid of being “too” honest? Maybe you were worried about telling the truth and you didn’t want to tarnish your image as a blogger. Maybe you want to write about something but you’re afraid of friends and family members finding out something about you that you would rather keep private.

Well…I’m conducting a test here at Building Camelot called the Anonymous Comment Experiment. I want you to be able to have a place where you can get things off your chest without giving away who you are. Yep – leave a comment below and share anything you’ve ever wanted to say online anonymously.

Here’s How To Participate :

Since Wordpress requires you to enter an email address to leave a comment, you’ll need to get an temporary email address from one of the following websites: GuerrillaMail.com, 10×9.com, MintEmail or just Google “temporary email” to find many other temp email services to use.

Once you get your temporary email, leave a comment below and share your thoughts with other Building Camelot readers. The only rule is that you have to leave clean, hate-free comments. All comments will be under moderation since Wordpress won’t recognize any of the temporary email addresses and if you leave a crappy comment, it will be edited and possibly deleted.

No subject matter is off limits for this experiment. You can tell me about anything that’s eating at you or anything you just want to get off your chest. Some suggestions you might want to consider, but aren’t limited to, are: things in your marriage that you need to confess or complain about; maybe some things about being a father or a mother really bother you and you just need a place to vent; maybe you have a beef with other mommy or daddy bloggers that you want to share and get off your chest. Since the comments are anonymous I want to hear what you have to say.

You can, of course, leave a non-anonymous comment if you are replying to another comment.

This post and your comments will not only help me figure out what is on your minds (giving me ideas for future posts) but it will also allow you to feel better by having a place to get things off your chest. It will also allow other readers to comment and offer support and/or suggestions as to what is bothering you. Give it a shot – leave me a comment below and kick things off.

“Masks” photo courtesy of exfordy from Flickr.

Tagged as: blogging, comments, help, ideas, marriage, reading, wordpress

Anonymous Comment Experiment – What Do You Really Want To Say?

by Tyler Wainright on October 7, 2008

Mark Roberts

I think you have a wonderful idea here. I myself am not much for anonymous commenting but I can see where it would be beneficial to vent anonymously at times.

As an aside, I just wanna share that I am getting married in about a year and I am crazy excited for it.

Tyler

@Mark: Thanks for the comment - anonymous or not! I'm glad to hear that you're excited about getting married. A year will fly by and be here before you know it!

Billy Bob

Can't we just skip the whole free email account creation and enter a fake address? Regardless of anonymouse emails, my IP, or that of my proxy server is logged on the site, so nothing is really truly anonymous here.

<abbr>Billy Bobs last blog post..Anonymous Comment Experiment – What Do You Really Want To Say?</abbr>

Billy Bob

Anonymous too :-)

<abbr>Billy Bobs last blog post..Anonymous Comment Experiment – What Do You Really Want To Say?</abbr>

Tyler

@Billy Bob: Yes, your IP address is logged but trust me, I'm not going to take the time to figure out where your IP address is located. Besides, I don't know where many of my readers are based anyway and even if I did I wouldn't assume anything regarding IP location.

babbo

Great idea, but a bit complicated.

Could you provide us with one "generic" temporary e-mail address and name to use? I'm just not sure people are going to take the extra step to do this.

If they don't you may not get the results you're looking for...

babbo
www.daddybrain.wordpress.com

<abbr>babbos last blog post..Tops in Pops: The Best Daddy Blog Posts of September</abbr>

Chas

I would like to take this opportunity to salute your efforts at anoynmous posting.

You can just call me "some guy whose given name is Charles, who happens to spend a lot of time on a certain state-run toll run in the northeast."

Xbox4NappyRash

I'm not one for being anonymous, as you may have noticed ;0)

I'd actually like to think that my 'image' as a blogger is less important than speaking the truth, and if I couldn't say something as 'me', it shouldn't be said at all, as far as commenting is concerned.

Having said that, pseudonyms are popular among writers and artists who would like their craft to be appreciated without people being influenced by a preceding reputation.

Nice one, food for thought.

<abbr>Xbox4NappyRashs last blog post..Quod erat demonstrandum</abbr>

orlund

Opps, you mean you shouldn't speak your mind when people know who you are? Actually I am usually nice but one time I made an argument on one guys post then latter thought maybe I shouldn't have.

I usually prefer people to know that I am the one leaving the comment, if they like it they might read my blog, if they don't then the might visit just to return a bad comment. Either way they might read my blog.

<abbr>orlunds last blog post..Simple Clam Chowder For Wife</abbr>

Tyler

@Babbo: Sure thing...anyone can use tyler@buildingcamelot.com as a generic email address.
@Xbox: Two very good points. I know you're not one for being anonymous and your voice as a blogger is more important than your image. I was hoping to create a place where someone could do a little venting.

VegasDad

I never post anonymous. I think I'm pretty honest most of the time. If I find that I can't be, I don't bother commenting. Is that bad?

tom

Then there's the fact that the "recent visitors" show up on the right side, there, making it fairly simple to line up comments with commenter. At least, it reduces the list of suspicious characters.

But I think it's a neat idea. I just wonder if you'd get any comments other than the ones you get non-anonymously.

<abbr>toms last blog post..A Journey into Michael's Mind</abbr>

Tyler

@VegasDad: No - it's not bad. If anything I'm learning that you guys are a pretty honest bunch.
@Tom: Good point - The only way your picture shows up over there is of you navigate here after being logged into either Yahoo or MyBlogLog.

B. Wilde

Like others who have commented, I believe in owning what I write. I guess there's a place for being able to speak personally about your challenges and feelings without the fear of the world knowing. This can be therapeutic at times. I'll be interested to see how it goes. I also think that forums are a great place to be able to participate in this kind of writing. I was just invited to join the Husbands and Dads Forum, http://forums.husbandsanddads.com/
(I'm not part of the contest, just want to share a great new forum.)

If you are not a member, you might consider joining us as I believe you will also get an idea of what's on others minds and gather ideas for future posts.

I commend you for inviting others to share. It should be beneficial to many.

<abbr>B. Wildes last blog post..Being Volunteered to Shovel-out the Barn</abbr>