Hilzoy reminds me of another advantage to pseudonymity: Safety. The trolling and insults directed against men in the blogosphere are infinitely less unsettling than the threats of sexual violence and white-hot misogyny that women face. A woman who doesn't want to deal with that crap shouldn't have to. And, indeed, I know women who post online, prominently, under pseudonyms, and they have never been blasted with the sort of hateful sexism that's routinely spit at identifiable females. It's very nice of Tom Grubisich to suggest, of course, that things would be ever-so-much-nicer and more civil if all the commenters had to register their handles, but given the existence of e-mail and phone books and flickr accounts, commenters are the least of anyone's problems, and it's nuts to demand that all writers include trackable details. I don't blame Grubisich for this particular oversight -- his column wasn't very well thought out, and I'm sure he's not consciously seeking to expose scores of women to violence, either virtual or tangible -- but it's an important element of what drives many writers towards pseudonymity, and another way in which the anonymity offered by the web opens up public commentary and participation to those who might otherwise be deterred by its downsides.
