I have learned in my sixty years that we are not as smart as we think we are, nor are we as stupid as others consider us to be. We are what we are. Honesty and consideration are generally more important than ‘smarts’.
It’s with this introduction I want to comment on my last post. I wasn’t trying to be smart, nor was I trying to be hurtful. I felt I was just trying to make the point that acting smart isn’t always being smart. But on reflection perhaps I was trying to be smart.
I make comments on a number of blogs and websites from time-to-time when I think I have something to offer. I almost always use the handle ‘jbossart’. I don’t try and make it hard for someone to figure out who I am if they are really interested. I never use a handle like “coffee breath” or “twin diesels” to either hide my identity or communicate an attitude.
I guess this is why I went off as I did. The comment in question wasn’t objectionable, it was reasonable, and I would have been happy to respond to it. But when my blogging service, WordPress, reported that the message came from a Tor server my interest and ego were awoken. I have heard about Tor servers and similar services but have never used them, ever. And to think someone was posting a message on this blog using this level of disguise, it was just unbelievable.
Well one thing led to another and rather quickly my post was published. There is no way I know of how to track down a person’s identity if they use this type of service. But it’s not too hard to figure it out if there were only a dozen people in the room when the item at issue was being discussed.
I appreciate comments and look forward to a spirited dialogue on this blog. No I won’t hammer you if you have questions or offer criticisms, even if you don’t disclose your name (I’d prefer it if you did). If comments are particularly nasty or inappropriate I’ll just delete them. But don’t go to the extent of routing your message through something like a Tor server. Leave it for those who really need that kind of protection.