I feel kinda two sided here. One side says: “Just let it end.” The other side says: “Dude you should really say something.” So it’s obvious which side I listened to.

There is a huge conspiracy theory going on in the community that has left many of us divided. Some care, some don’t. I personally think it is ridiculous when the facts are presented. Two community members, both with huge followings have had a serious falling out. While one was banned and the other remains, some people are calling for some sort of punishment for the other. While people are always going to feed off drama, some people should step back and take a clear look at things.

1. Unless you are really good you are never totally Anonymous.

2. Never link yourself or your so called anonymity to your real life identity. (This includes your avatar).

The person whose identity was revealed also threatened possible legal action against the user that did the outing, even though the outer deleted the comment, the outed was highly pissed. But let’s be truthful here, it was the faulted of the person who was outed. The person outed never said “Hey if you find my true identity, don’t tell anyone.” Also the outed individual had back-linked a ton of info to their blog.

Here’s an example, some friends and I were discussing this on Skype . One of the people we were talking to was a web professional. We told them what had happened in the community, just that someone was outed. He asked who, we told him the name (the so-called anonymous id) and in 30 seconds he was looking at this persons real name and their LinkedIn page. It was that easy, just by looking at the anonymous id, the web pro found a ton of info.

You never know, especially in a diverse techie community, who is capable of what. So unless you want your business out on front street, don’t let it’s toe hit the pavement. Also don’t cry foul and get the community in an uproar over your own short falls. Then again, some people are chrismatic enough to have blind sheeple following them.