After reading this article in USA Today, I thought of road rage as reasonable analogy. The article talks about some teachers blogging anonymously and making personal attacks and criticisms about teachers and schools. In the same way that drivers can hide behind the windshield and metal of their vehicles and yell and shout at other drivers, so do these teachers. I don’t like it. I suppose there might be a place for anonymous blogging but it seems like many do so in order to go on the attack. I think it’s a bad practice and for the same reason, I don’t want anonymous commenters on my blog, I not much interested in reading theirs. If I can’t find the about page, I’m leaving.
It isnt’ like you can’t challenge others views or writings. That’s part of what makes blogging interesting. I don’t consider myself too controversial, although some may disagree with me. Tom Hoffman’s recent challenge to Wes Fryer, David Warlick, Will Richardson, and Vicki Davis, while not my style, does raise reasonable questions and offers good discussion. He’s not personal, he simply disagrees with what they say. Maybe one day he’ll tell me where I’ve strayed in my thinking.
Let’s encourage each other to be forthright in our comments and discussions and stop hiding behind pseudonyms for the soul purpose of unleashing personal attacks. You’re giving us a bad name!
The message is virtually the same but it’s nice to discuss the use of these tools outside the classroom application.
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