To Lift The Veil? Looking for Advice...

As many of you who read my blog regularly know, I sometimes flirt with the idea of giving up the whole cloak-and-dagger business of anonymity. Truth be told, I was never one for hiding behind the cover of anonymity. I've been at this now for over four years and in all that time, I have never been entirely comfortable hiding behind a pseudonym. On the contrary -- I am actually far more comfortable putting my real name out there with my opinions. For years I have posted with my real name on an online message board where almost everyone else used a pseudonym -- and I never had a moment's regret from it. And, in truth, since the opinions I have on this blog are the same ones that I have in real life, there shoudn't be any reason to hide behind a pseudonym, should there? And besides, there are plenty of bloggers who have views and attitudes that are fairly similar to mine who have public identities -- and it doesn't interfere with their lives -- so why should it interfere with mine?

As it is, I have been slowly lifting the veil. Over the last few months I've informed a number of friends and relatives about my blog. Several J-bloggers and some of my regular readers also know who I am in real life. So, why not go whole hog and just give up the pseudonym?

Well, truth to be told, there is still one hurdle that I have to face in the coming months, and it might be easier to face that hurdle without the distraction of this blog.

I have two kids going into eighth grade this year -- a boy and a girl. As a result, Eeees and I have the distinct "pleasure" of going through the process of finding high schools for our kids this coming year. And while I probably would not chose any school that would have a major problem with my blog, I still can't help but feel that the whole process would probably be a lot easier without having eight to ten school administrators poring over every word I wrote in the last four years and wondering if it's worth it to have a blogger in the parent body. So for that reason, I would probably wait until after the high school situation is settled.

But that presents another question -- is this honest and fair*? If the only reason that I'm withholding my identity is because I think it might affect the high school application process, does that mean that it's unfair and dishonest to keep the information private? Or, more subtly put -- if I was going to keep my identity private regardless, then I probably would not have this question -- after all, we all have secrets that we keep from everyone else. But, if the only reason (or the major reason) that I'm hiding my identity at this point is because of the high school application process, then perhaps withholding that information from them could be viewed as fraudulent.

Truth to tell, I'm probably blowing the entire matter up in my mind. In truth my blog is not important enough, nor well read enough to probably affect matters one way or the other. I'm willing to bet that if I pulled a ten thousand random Jews off the street and asked them if they read Wolfish Musings on the net, about 9,999 would probably say "Huh? What's that?" So perhaps I'm obsessing over nothing.

What do you think? I'd especially like to hear from those of you whose names are out there -- but, as always, everyone is welcome to comment.

The Wolf


* I don't want to make myself sound like someone who has never told a lie or acted deceitfully in the past -- sadly that is not true. I've had my share of failures (some of them big time) in the honest department during my life. But even if I sometimes fail, I at least make an effort to uphold the values that I want passed on to my kids.