The coming-out stories of anonymous bloggers (CNN)

[Drew Wilson]

(CNN) -- Blog fans in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, saw PittGirl as their masked superhero -- a comedian and local commentator who jibed the mayor without reserve and ranted freely about her hatred of pigeons.

But despite her effort to keep her real name secret, people started to figure out who PittGirl was.

Feeling pressure to take control of her identity before someone else outed her, PittGirl on Wednesday posted pictures of herself on her blog and introduced readers to her real-world self: Virginia Montanez, a 35-year-old married mother of two who worked in the nonprofit sector.

"My friends and family call me Ginny," she wrote on her blog. "But you can continue to call me Your Majesty, because I've grown accustomed."

On Thursday morning, Montanez was fired from her job because of her online persona, she said.

More... (http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/08/21/outing.anonymous.bloggers/index.html)

For me personally, there are damn good reasons why I keep using a pseudoname. The biggest one is this: if Canadian copyright laws go sour, I want the traceability of connecting me to my real life to be close to zero. I know I've pissed off the rich a time or two with my comments in news stories or simply exposing them in the first place to a larger audience over the years. The last thing I want is a name and address for the secret police to come and arrest me for unauthorized uses of free speech.

[Signa]

Until they find some cross-over, what you do online and what you do at your job should NEVER, I mean FUCKING NEVER have any effect on your job status. It doesn't matter if you go out all night, every night drinking and partying, and then post the pictures on your Myspace. As long as your personal life doesn't conflict with your job performance, there is no reason to fire that person.

I know some one who works as a teacher that actually goes by another name around her friends because she is a teacher who likes to LARP. She doesn't want some one reading their friend's profiles and seeing what she does, because she could get fired for "inappropriate conduct."

[mountain_rage]

There are sometimes where personal life should be considered reason for termination, but they are few and far between and should only be extreme cases. Most things I can think of would be actions that are illegal for anyone in the public eye, health care or education. But I think anyone partaking in illegal activity on their own time is opening themselves up to get fired.

The only other exception would be something like an individual being part of the Pirate bay yet working for the RIAA, I can see some justification for the termination. But for the most part companies are ridiculous.

[mfgbypooter]

What is this thread really about, Drew coming out of the closet again or what?

*

[Signa]

Oh I totally agree that some illegal activities should be punished by the workplace, if the employee keeps it separate from work, then that's what I have issue with. Smoke all the pot you want and drink all the beer you can: as long as you show up at work the next day and meet expectations, then they have nothing on you. I would consider firing a known thief from a retail job, or any other conflicts of interest, but everyone is a criminal or an embarrassment in some way, and you shouldn't be allowed to pick and choose what is over the line if it's unrelated to the workplace.