Call Me Ishmael

[TL;DR: Anonymity is important.]

Those who know me probably just groaned out loud, and maybe even slapped your foreheads; you all know that I think Moby Dick is one of the greatest American novels ever written. So of course I would start this blog by quoting its famous first line. But aside from establishing that nerdiness is the order of the day here, I’m also using the quote to talk about some authorial liberties I’ll be using on this site.

First, anonymity of yours truly: as Moby Dick’s narrator makes clear in his first words to us, Ishmael may not be his real name – instead, it’s the name he wants us to call him. I’d like to ask the same of you. Publishing a blog is a very personal thing for me, a way of sharing my thoughts and experiences with you. While I don’t expect the blog to be read outside of a smallish group of friends, and I am avoiding SEO and other tools that would make the blog more discoverable, nonetheless, the online world is a very public place, so I would ask that you not use my real-world name or other personally identifying information here.

Second, anonymity of people and places I may mention on this site: I may from time to time fuzz some of the details (names, dates, locations, etc.) to help protect others. There are other little tricks I may use: combining several people or events into one, exaggerating details, or omitting others – the list goes on. My goal is for the overall experience or concept to be truthful in spirit, but with room for a little fictionalization to protect others. That said, reviews of restaurants, music, books, and movies will always be as factually accurate as possible; recipes, too, are intended to be complete and to produce tasty and replicable results.

Finally, your anonymity: this is my first foray into blogging, so I am not sure how commenting works. I think you can create a user profile to comment, and it need not publicly disclose any personal information about you. However, I am terrible so far at using WordPress (I mean, look at this mess of a page!), so if this is not the case, please let me know and I will see what I can do to provide that sort of functionality. Of course, you are free to be less anonymous if you choose; I just want to provide you with options if I can.

So thank you for reading this blog; future posts will be less administrative and more substantive. I don’t promise you’ll necessarily be entertained (hint: more Moby Dick forthcoming), but at least you are forwarned! And if there are any topics of interest you’d like to see here, feel free to drop a comment or send me a message privately.