Yamato’s Guide to Blogging.

Ay. It’s a mess.

There should be about 1 billion people that have the internet. Over 50-75 million, maybe more, are into something that’s now the latest craze in the cyber world. The name is blogging, and it’s basically an online journal, which is helped by the use of RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds. The site with the most attention in the blogging world? MySpace. Now owned by Rupert Murdoch of News Corp., MySpace has gone to high ends. Over 35 million people have joined. Though this is a blog, it is also a place to make friends, edit with a new page layout, talk with musicians (if you go independent, at least), and meet people that go to the same school. But, as you heard of the news, there’s consequences as you go into the wrong places. It’s mostly on MySpace by many, but it can be found on Xangas, LiveJournals, and many others. Here are some consequences that might happen if you say you’re gonna do something like, uh, i don’t know, gas the school?

1. Suspension/Expulsion if most serious
2. Grounded by parents
3. In some cases, lawsuit

Here is my theory on how people like principals, family members, and others can catch you:
1. Using your real name: Pretty obvious. That’s the one thing you don’t ever want to do. Unless you really want to show it to the world, it’s perfect to not.
2. Comment Box: You’re using your username to try and prevent people from knowing your true identity. But there’s always something that can bypass it. A friend might know your name, and post it in the comments. That’s not pretty risky though, as there’s many people with the same name.
3. Pictures of yourself: Same as 1. Only thing is it’s better to do something other than taking shots at yourself. If you want more kinds that make it a reason not to put it, go to myspaceisgay.com. Funny yet sad.
4. Name of School: That reduces to the number of students at the school. Just like all of this except 2 (unless the commented friend has a profile pic of himself), it can be a big hint. All the principal or staff needs is the IP address by trying to get it from the hosted of the blog.

Now, if you want to help increase your chances to remain anonymous, here are some ways:
1. Use a pseudonym and don’t give out big details. This is said at EFF, so I’m saying the saying the same thing here. Make the Pseudonym to be something not related to your name, like spelling it backwards. If you say that you go to a university in Las Vegas, it would point directly to UNLV unless there’s another university in LV. Change Las Vegas to Nevada, and that might help.
2. For a profile picture, add something that won’t show your face but your personality instead. It gives you an increased chance to meet friends that are like you, which could cause a chain reaction in the process.

More later.

~ by Yamato on April 12, 2006.