Dr. Nello:I have a pretty popular blog, but there's one fan I could do without. This particular reader sometimes uses an alias, but often just signs as "anonymous." I understand that it's slightly more effort to have to type in your name rather than just clicking the "anonymous" option, but this fan has a Blogger account (meaning it's just as simple to sign in with her real name). At first I thought she was signing anonymously because she didn't feel like signing in, but I've heard that she truly believes she's tricking me into thinking it's some other reader. She knows I don't think she's clever (especially compared to my profound cleverness), so she thinks by pretending to be someone else, I'll see the wit in her posts. As Shakespeare says, "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, and a post by anonymous is still stupid." What can I do to stop her from posting anonymously?
-- A. Nonny, Mass.
Dear A. Nonny:
You could simply turn off anonymous commenting, but this wouldn't send the full message. What you need to do is blog about this exact issue: write an article on why she's sooooo annoying when she pretends to be someone else. Remind her that she is not clever AT ALL. When she makes herself laugh (because she is easily amused) she is the only one laughing. Don't forget to explicitly say that you are not joking and are extremely serious. I doubt she'll want to keep anonyposting after that.
-- Dr. N
