Is Anonymity Important to You?

[allnurses]

Is your anonymity on allnurses important?  Please respond in the poll and then post here why your anonymity on allnurses is important.  Also, feel free to post what else that allnurses offers is important. 

Thank you.  We appreciate your participation and your input is important.

[amoLucia]

1) Ans = yes. (Can't seem to make your poll post a 'yes'.)

2) I care NOT to have old coworkers or employers know me by my posts. I usually am not scathing, and at times, I have tried to be complimentary. But it would easy to track me to those specificities. I still 'try' to keep my posts neuter enough to avoid making a connection.

3) WHY ARE YOU ASKING??? My paranoia wants to know. I've believed that you have been compliant keeping respondents here anonymous. But the fact that you're asking now make me wonder what would make you want to change.

[tnbutterfly - Mary, BSN]

20 hours ago, amoLucia said:

3) WHY ARE YOU ASKING??? My paranoia wants to know. I've believed that you have been compliant keeping respondents here anonymous. But the fact that you're asking now make me wonder what would make you want to change.

We are not going to change this.  We are just thinking about what makes allnurses different from other nursing websites...what keeps our members coming back. (We have so many long-time members, like you, amoLucia.  We strongly believe that the ability to post anonymously on allnurses is one of our strong points.  And, as was made evident in the recent results of a very long lawsuit, allnurses is devoted to protecting your anonymity. 

We want to build on our strong points and that is why we are seeking input from our members.

[JBMmom, MSN, NP]

I think that anonymity is important on a site like this where nurses are seeking support for a variety of situations. If nurses had to be concerned that coworkers, patients, family member and the like could search them out there would likely be far less security for those in need of help. I would also be less likely to share any patient stories (as I recently have in the COVID threads) out of concern for someone potentially finding fault with something. I don't believe I've shared anything that could truly be considered patient identifying information, but if family members were to see them it could be a problem. 

[LibraNurse27, BSN, RN]

I don't care about being anonymous but I could see why people would. I think it's good that it's an option, especially since the site has moderators that can shut down any "keyboard warriors" who like using the anonymity to post horrible things they would never say in real life. There are so many examples of people being bullied, sometimes by anonymous posters, on social media, sometimes to the point of suicide. I think the moderators do a good job of preventing that level of issues. 

[SilverBells, BSN]

Anonymity is important to me because of my position. I don't really care for my coworkers to be aware of my insecurities.  Chronic anxiety and lack of self-confidence aren't admirable traits in a leader. 

[Davey Do]

I strive to follow one of Richard Bach's concepts, in that I try to live my life never to be ashamed of anything I've done or said is published around the world. Even when what is published is not true.

The only person I truly have to be okay with is myself and I also strive to maintain a standard of integrity.

When I was fired from Wrongway last year, the HR director brought up things that I had posted on allnurses and said that if I posted anything else about Wrongway, "the hospital will take action!"

No action is an action.

If allnurses wasn't part of the equation, I still would have been terminated. I've been fired enough times and experienced enough in my lifetime to know there are people out there who put personalities before principals and that if they want to get you on something, they will.

I respect others' anonymity and confidentiality, but if I have something to say, I'm a-gonna say it.

 

So there.

[evastone, BSN, RN]

Anonymity is so important to me that I have often written responses here,  only to decide not to post it in the end out of fear that I might be identified. Paranoid, I know, but I  have quite a few decades to go before I'm eligible to retire. I may not be happy at my current job, but it doesn't mean that I want to get fired just yet!

This is supposed to be a safe place to air our frustrations, express insecurities, laugh over anecdotes, cry over our losses, or receive genuine advice. It wouldn't feel safe if everyone here knew who I was.

[MarkMyWords]

I belong to another professional forum (not medical) where the users are much more private and anonymous, and will not even share their subject expertise, degrees, geographic location. Without this information, their posts lack meaning. Well, at least nurses here are more honest about your troubles.

[Emergent, RN]

Yes, to a point.  But, I've revealed enough about myself here that would definitely give me away to someone who knows me. Now that I'm out of Nursing, it's less important. 

[klone, MSN, RN]

It is, but I fully understand that anyone who knows me well IRL would be able to identify who I am if they really wanted to. What's funny is most nurses I know IRL have never heard of this website.

But that desire for at least a semblance of anonymity is why it does bother me when posts here get posted to facebook without the knowledge of the contributors. I wish you would stop doing that.

[Davey Do]

At Wrongway, I encouraged my co-workers/friends to get on allnurses and become members. They were active for a while, and included Sissybee, Jacob Rockstar-RN, and Ranger Rodd. Some wouldn't tell me their username, whereas others, like Rooty Payne, would merely read the threads and posts but did not become members.

As I said in my previous post, I never used the real names of places or people. However, the fictitious people of the fictitious hospital Wrongway in the fictitious town of Eiffel Ill. could see the similarities.

For example, at my termination meeting, the HR director said, "You had (the fictitious CEO) Mr. Bumblingham with a screw in his back and there was blood!"

The HR director also showed a printed copy of one of my cartoons and asked, like a lawyer in a court room questioning the guilty party on the witness stand, "Is this you?!"

"No", I answered, "That is not me. That is my cartoon character".

I posted what I thought were some really good cartoons from that termination meeting.