I choose to blog using my real name, which is a personal choice. There are certainly good reasons for and against blogging anonymously. This post: 5 Reasons to Blog Anonymously (and 5 Reasons Not To) on ProBlogger provides good information to help you make your decision.
Although I use my name, I would never do any of the following, and discourage you from doing so, as well:
- Home address
- Mother’s maiden name, which would also include listing my grandfather’s last name (However, I would not advise using this as a security question on anything. This information is too easy to find.)
- Anything else that I use as an answer to my security questions. I would not mention what street I grew up on if I selected that as a security question for e-mail, banking, etc.
- Passwords (obviously)
If you choose to blog anonymously, there are a number of great sites that can direct you how to do this. One that I find particularly interesting is Blogging Anonymously 101. Remember that many on-line profiles are linked, so all of that has to be taken into consideration when making the decision to blog anonymously. For me, I decided that it was too much effort. I didn’t really have enough of a reason to blog anonymously either.
More importantly than protecting your own privacy, you must protect the privacy of others. Posting too much information about someone else on your blog can cause all sorts of problems, including legal.
Remember that nothing can be erased once it is out there. Deleting or editing posts does not get rid of the original content. A cached copy is still out there.
Mustering Moxie 