Comments on: THE OUTING OF PUBLIUS AND THE COMFORT OF ANONYMITY

By: grumpy realist

grumpy realist — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 03:09:37 +0000

…given some of the comments up above, I think what we’re seeing is that a 15-year old who can hide behind a handle is far more likely to act like an impolite brat than a 15-year old who would have to sign his name to the task.

Those of us who are mature and thoughtful are hopefully that way all the time–when commenting under a pseudonym or not.

By: jlnum03

jlnum03 — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 01:30:52 +0000

Rick can mask it anyway he wants. But when he gets a post that doesn’t praise him, Rick freaks out. In addition, he deletes posts, saying that they offend him personally. Yet Rick blasts away with insulting personal insults. And here is something from Rick stating he is: “a manly man with balls the size of Mount Rushmore and a penis that is so huge I must keep it hidden…” What?! Who writes like that? There is no reason for that…but Rick doesn’t care. We are all stupid except for Rick. Nice job ‘manly man’. No one can make you look any dumber than you do. And why did you name the WRONG blogger to begin with? Why? Keep your penis hidden, o great genius.

By: Calming Influence

Calming Influence — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:03:39 +0000

Well said, Rick. This progressive liberal DFH will be checking back frequently to study this reasonable Right-Winger phenomenon. I might just learn something…

By: Steve Timberman

Steve Timberman — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 05:28:43 +0000

For a brief period of time I had an anonymous blog and felt it incredibly free to write without consequence. I wrote about things that I’d never thought I’d ever be able to throw out into the public sphere, and my writing dramatically improved.

Then I rather stupidly decided to put my name on my blog and link it to my facebook, and suddenly I had friends who told me that I was a misogynistic bastard/homophobe/racist for talking about the sort of things that aren’t “polite” to talk or even write about.

I went through a period of about a year, stuck in limbo. Writing anonymously felt like a cheat, but with my own name at the top I felt too self-conscious to write about anything truly interesting. Eventually though, I regained my confidence and feel almost comfortable posting or writing about anything.

Rick, I know you’ve torn me up in the comments section a few times, but I just wanted to say thanks for this post and the blog. Thanks for keeping at it.

By: Washington Rebel

Washington Rebel — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 02:28:48 +0000

News Babe (and other condiments)…

Chris Good: Told Ya So! Liberalguy Fingers a VIP POTUS Hacker Dude No Quarter Wants to Know if Obama’s a Chick, or Just Full of Shit. “May I ask a question? Where does President Barack Obama’s agenda come from? Charles Kesler knows the answer. And s…

By: John Rogers

John Rogers — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 01:46:27 +0000

Unfortunately for you, Rick, you spend half of your time criticizing conservatives and conservatism, yet still demand the “respect” of being called a conservative or “right wing” (of which you are neither).

You remind me in a way of the Cafeteria Catholics (yes, I am Catholic too) who want the convenience of the label, but do NOT want the actual beliefs or responsibility that the label brings with it. They want to make the Church believe in THEM, rather that them believing in the tenets of the Church.

Welcome to Cafeteria Conservatism, starring Rick Moran.

Its a free country… you can CALL yourself whatever you please.

But that doesn’t make it true.

So, according to you, criticizing conservatives disqualifies someone from being a conservative?

Holy shit what a dunce.

ed.

By: The Outing of Publius - The Opinionator Blog - NYTimes.com

The Outing of Publius - The Opinionator Blog - NYTimes.com — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 22:36:06 +0000

[...] Moran, who blogs at Rightwing Nuthouse: “For the first 7 months this blog was in existence, I used the nom de blog ‘Superhawk’ as a handle.” The reasons was simple; being the brother of a national journalist known to [...]

By: mannning

mannning — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 21:25:15 +0000

“The names have been changed to protect the innocent.”

By: Augustine

Augustine — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 20:31:50 +0000

Gregory,

You really call that an apology? I mean, the source of the dispute as it stands now is about the “outing”, Mr. Whelan apologized for calling him a coward and and idiot. In fact he still appears dismissive of Publius’ reasons for wanting to remain anonymous, and that’s fine, but I wouldn’t call his response an apology.

By: mannning

mannning — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 20:30:09 +0000

First, you comment on some matter, however free of nastiness, and the blogger decides he doesn’t like the comment.

So, second, he sends sleeze back in his usual way, and that angers the commenter.

Retorts fly back and forth, until the blogger decides to out the commenter, and publish his real name.

With this name, and a few other hints, any creep or pervert on the internet can find your home address, and begin harassment, or worse, on the net, through the mails, by telephone, or even in person. If you live in a city, the likelihood of 25-50 creeps or perverts living nearby is very high, and it only takes one of them on the net to make home life miserable.

Such revolting activities are unacceptable, and threaten the home and family. All because of some comment that was objected to by the blogger.

Rick Moran does not out anyone in such a manner. Anyone that does do that, and threatens the home life, should be barred from all sites possible. Note that it isn’t the outer that is necessarily the danger–think about it!