By reading this post, you certify that you are not Mike Phylliere, Claim Manager, MT State Fund

In a previous post, I alluded to reasons about logging in when you visit my blog.

In this post, I expound.

I think that part of the value of a blog is the ability to “write things you wouldn’t say.” I write unsavory, profane and inappropriate things on my blog as a matter of habit–to relieve some stress, or to amuse my friends. But–if you want to READ my obscenities–you’d better believe you need to be logged in with an account that I’ve verified.

Unfortunately, especially for bloggers who got started when these things were still “web logs” (see: before Google) … I think there was a sense of anonymity that may have been appropriate then, but certainly isn’t now. Nowadays, this sort of post has become a platitude–and new generations of bloggers know better than to divulge damaging details about themselves. But when 1) only four people in the world had blogs, and, 2) the only way to find those blogs is if you knew their URLs, I think a sense of anonymity was appropriate and justified.

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Me being called by the Ferraro’s guy (assuming that he found my phone number from my blog–which is the most likely scenario) is a great case-in-point, in re: 1) your mom’s on Facebook (I know, because my Mom is Facebook-friends with your mom), and, 2) the intarwebs is serious business!

In other words, the internet is no longer an anonymous haven for your unspoken thoughts–you’re accountable.

(Though, for an interesting counterpoint, read this article: Scene Stealer: The aXXo Files. I found the article particularly interesting because, yes, [by reading this, you certify that you are not an agent or employee of the MPAA] I’ve downloaded aXXo movies–for the exact reasons the article suggests: because aXXo is a brand-name associated with high quality products.)

[To be read aloud in a “historical narrator voice”]
When I started this blog, six long years ago, I recognized the need to separate content for my friends from content for my parents [/end narrator voice]. Take profane language, for example. Lord knows, I’m fond of it. And, lord knows, when I go home, I try awful hard not to be (you do it too!). That’s just the way of things. I just like to keep my image up with the ‘rents, ya know?

But the internet is also now a lifelong indexed, archived and searchable repository of my 22 young years of life. And yours, dear reader, too. Pardon my restatement of the obvious, but … your future employers will Google you. Your future boy/girlfriend will Facebook you. Your future political opponents will use pictures from your website to convince a nation that your youngest son, Trig, is actually your daughter’s. Serious business, no?

So I have this user account system, whereby I assign every registered user an appropriate access level. And you should like it, too. I’ve never posted a picture of a friend smoking marijuana–but supposing that I had, it would remain hidden. You never know when something like that might come back and bite a guy, right?

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“If the Ferraro’s guy can find my cell phone number,” I found myself thinking yesterday, “I wonder if I should be careful what I post, with respect to my Worker’s Comp claim manager.” Not that I’m doing anything wrong–I’m far from recovered, but that’s a topic for another night (ah HA! I’ve done it again! How can I just leave you HANGING like that? You’ll have to COME BACK! HA!). “It just might be unnecessarily complicating,” I reasoned, “for my claim manager to read my blog and discover that I’m skiing on the weekends.”

Well… what should arrive in the mail today, other than a letter from my WC claim manager! Addressed to my orthopedist, it stated, simply, that he’d received word that I’d been skiing at Bridger Bowl–and that he’d like my doctor to explain how this is medically possible. (It is, mind you!)

Now, I know you’re thinking that he must have read it on my blog! OMG! But … I’ve set you up! You’re WRONG! Instead, his letter indicated that he received word through the Montana Conservation Corps–which is easily explained: Donna was my crew-leader last season; Donna now works at Bridger and scans my ski pass every Saturday; Donna also just started working with MCC again.

But, on the other hand, I don’t think it will be too long before worker’s comp claim managers are checking Facebook, subscribing to Twitter feeds, and reading blogs–to check up on their cases.

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This post will now self-destruct.