In olden times, they would have masquerade balls where you could dress up as someone else complete with a mask. The point being that once you are anonymous you would be less inhibited to do things that you would normally not do.
The internet however has brought this 'charade' to a whole new level.
You can write blogs and pretend to be someone else, more extroverted, more bold than you are in real life or be more knowledgeable, more sensitive than is fashionably allowed.
You can have profiles on Orkut with fancy names like Microchip, or Supernova Shockwave or some totally random hep name. The name could reflect your research interests, other interests or something you love
With this anonymous ID you can proceed to conquer the world or demolish it as you like.
And your real persona hangs behind in the shadows - quite unassuming and unaware.
Anonymity is a great thing. Wearing a mask even greater. At this point the more pragmatic would say that all people in life wear a mask but that would be too much philosophy for a day.
Then there are the commentators who leave anon comments. Funny thing is that most of the times (99.9%) they have nice things to say. If only I knew who they where I would thank them properly. But it’s alright. I suppose.
So if you are new to blogging or the internet,
Put on a virtual mask and join in the modern masquerade ball!
(Picture obtained from here)
