Plausible Deniability
Look at the vast majority of popular bLAWgs, and you will find plausable deniability.
There is no reason not to attempt to maintain some degree of anonymity with a blawg.
Any thought posted here, no matter how closely guarded I were to keep it, has the potential of finding its way on to the computer screens of any fellow student, professor, or current or future employer that gets wind. I've understood from the beginning, thanks to the advice of SotheBearSays, that I must beware.
Some (for lack of a better word) morons look at a blog as a secret diary, a conversation with oneself, that can be shared selectively with friends.
When it comes to a blawg and law school -- as I've pointed out before, you can never be too sure of who your friends may be.
I probably have a few people from Texas Tech Law read my blawg on a fairly regular basis. They do so obviously because they have nothing better to do. But if I began using this blawg as a soapbox and sounding board to begin insulting certain classmates and fellow students, I am positive the readership from Texas Tech would pick up fairly quickly.
And aside from my regular comments about the egos of law students, and our horribly empty competitive natures, I try to stay away from insults. I don't think most law students take those observations as insults.
Some may even wear their over-inflated ego as a badge of honor, though I speak of no one in particular. And I find it as entertaining as they themselves often do.
A fellow classmate recently e-mailed me to ask if I, [Mr. Misery], am the author of this blawg. I never replied. Because while I hope he continues to read it, and may turn others on to it . . .
I must maintain . . . plausible deniability.
If you think you may know who you are, then the person you e-mailed may -- or may not -- be sorry for not replying. And I may -- or may not -- be that person.
A classmate sent out an e-mail to the entire student body last night with two entries from a blawg written by a 1L here. In the two selected entries, this 1L referred to the rest of us as being of less than "high intellectual caliber" and referred to our school as less than "reasonable." She also seemed to indicate that in order to get on to Law Review, a person would need to resort to "shameful" tactics. Oh, and there was the obligatory post about how the other girls don't know how to dress and they need to take her advice.
By this morning, the blawg has been deleted. But the poor girl named the address of the blawg after herself, and the posts included in the e-mail have her referring to herself by a first name. So it is with only a 5 second search that I can find her.
This probably won't ruin her law school life. But if I were her, I'd take an extra long weekend.
And I must say, if that is how she feels about Law Review then perhaps I hope she decides against doing the "shameful" things I must've done to get here.
There is no reason not to attempt to maintain some degree of anonymity with a blawg.
Any thought posted here, no matter how closely guarded I were to keep it, has the potential of finding its way on to the computer screens of any fellow student, professor, or current or future employer that gets wind. I've understood from the beginning, thanks to the advice of SotheBearSays, that I must beware.
Some (for lack of a better word) morons look at a blog as a secret diary, a conversation with oneself, that can be shared selectively with friends.
When it comes to a blawg and law school -- as I've pointed out before, you can never be too sure of who your friends may be.
I probably have a few people from Texas Tech Law read my blawg on a fairly regular basis. They do so obviously because they have nothing better to do. But if I began using this blawg as a soapbox and sounding board to begin insulting certain classmates and fellow students, I am positive the readership from Texas Tech would pick up fairly quickly.
And aside from my regular comments about the egos of law students, and our horribly empty competitive natures, I try to stay away from insults. I don't think most law students take those observations as insults.
Some may even wear their over-inflated ego as a badge of honor, though I speak of no one in particular. And I find it as entertaining as they themselves often do.
A fellow classmate recently e-mailed me to ask if I, [Mr. Misery], am the author of this blawg. I never replied. Because while I hope he continues to read it, and may turn others on to it . . .
I must maintain . . . plausible deniability.
If you think you may know who you are, then the person you e-mailed may -- or may not -- be sorry for not replying. And I may -- or may not -- be that person.
A classmate sent out an e-mail to the entire student body last night with two entries from a blawg written by a 1L here. In the two selected entries, this 1L referred to the rest of us as being of less than "high intellectual caliber" and referred to our school as less than "reasonable." She also seemed to indicate that in order to get on to Law Review, a person would need to resort to "shameful" tactics. Oh, and there was the obligatory post about how the other girls don't know how to dress and they need to take her advice.
By this morning, the blawg has been deleted. But the poor girl named the address of the blawg after herself, and the posts included in the e-mail have her referring to herself by a first name. So it is with only a 5 second search that I can find her.
This probably won't ruin her law school life. But if I were her, I'd take an extra long weekend.
And I must say, if that is how she feels about Law Review then perhaps I hope she decides against doing the "shameful" things I must've done to get here.
posted by Moonlighting in Misery at 5:05 AM
2 Comments:
Don't get down on yourself. I will not be published, nor will I be sitting in the E-i-C chair. But I bet you didn't get yourself to that point by doing something like this.
Also, I have no interest in anonymity on my blog. I am aware that my classmates read it and they know who we are as authors. We're comfortable with that. We also know that some professors have seen it, and the people in the career office have seen it. And yes, a "potential" employer has seen it (I say "potential" because there was no way in hell I'd have taken a job with that guy--and blogged as much, leading to a rather nasty exchange regarding whether or not I was defaming him. I maintain, of course, that everything I wrote was true, but we both agreed to drop the issue if I removed the post. It was a lesson well-learned, and since then I am a little more careful about writing not-so-nice things, even when they're true).
But still, what do I have to gain through plausible deniability? Most of what I have to say isn't really important to anyone, and if I do have something important to say I see no reason not to attach my name to it.
Plausible deniability...lol. Very nice. I'll link your post to my blog.
-Fellow Tech Law Student
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