Break your silence if you would, before the sun goes down for good
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It was at dinner on Saturday night with my fellow #socreccamp attendees that Alex Hens asked me a question that has really been troubling me. I can’t quite remember the wording, but in essence he asked me whether I ever regretted starting this whole thing, being anonymous, being theHRD, being a loudmouth idiot who shoots his mouth off left, right and centre.
I can’t quite remember the conversation (there were a number of beers involved) but I do remember saying, “well at some point I’m going to have to kill off the HRD”. At some point, I’m going to have to kill off the HRD……there you go. That is the truth of it. At some point I’m going to have to decide to live in one world or the other. I can’t keep attending events in the real world and hoping to keep up my anonymity. It just won’t work.
Sooner or later someone or other is going to rumble me. They’ll find out one way or another, either by luck or through endeavor. Hopefully they’ll be friendly and keep it to themselves. But then it will ultimately put them in a difficult situation too. If they’re not friendly and they decide to use that information either for their own personal kicks or for other nefarious activities….well it doesn’t bear thinking about.
And this is before you start to consider issues of other people’s freedoms. The freedom to take photographs at events without me having to dive behind a pillar, pull my cap down over my face or ask politely that they are either pixellated or removed. I mean really….what sort of a jumped up idiot does that make me? It just isn’t fair on others despite how courteous and obliging they are for now.
So, at some point the HRD will meet his maker. Well his maker will meet him. Or they’ll meet together and decide a dusty drawer in a cupboard in the attic of the internet is the right place for him. It’s not quite now, it’s not quite yet. But it will happen, because it has to.
I find that kinda sad.
PS. I took the photo on the first night of #socreccamp. I hope you like it.
My Hell is Other People 
Why not out yourself instead of killing part of you? Your proposal is just too random.
I face the same dilemma on Twitter. When I started out, I used to display my name. But since a lot of my information is already out there on the world wide web thanks to numerous job postings as a recruiter, I had to try anonymity to ensure Twitter works for me. Then I created a separated email address to avoid being found via email on Twitter *rolls eyes*. And then, another Twitter account for work purposes *rolls eyes again*.
So… Yes, I do yearn for the simpler life. This ‘trying to stay hidden’ business becomes way too complicated when you start meeting people offline. I went to a large-ish tweetup once and it made me a tad uncomfortable introducing myself as *Twitter handle* or *real name that becomes associated with Twitter handle*. (It was also quite funny to see people’s expressions when they saw me and heard ‘vodkaholic’)
I’ve met such wonderful souls through these social media platforms – right from the old days of Ryze.com to Twitter. And the ensuing conversations that developed have helped me in determining who I should or shouldn’t reveal myself to.
Good luck with your own dilemma… I’m sure we’d love to know who is behind TheHRD. Curious bunch, aren’t we? 🙂
PS: Love that sunset pic!
I did think that people maybe should have pixelated you a little in pictures.
I do now think that being anonymous is totally fine, and serves it’s own purposes too.
If and when it comes to it, I’d suggest retiring the HRD, rather than make the big reveal.
I’m sure you’ll have seen my thoughts in more detail on my blog. Please don’t take that as a prompt to come clean. It should always be your decision, and yours alone.
The disadvantages of being a superhero, HRD…
Nice photo… 🙂
You need a real you and then keep @theHRD as your alter ego. The real you can go as far as conversing with the anonymous you and could make all the public appearances. Only a handful of people would ever know and you could totally pay us off with a bit of cold, hard cash. We’re recruiter-types, after all… 😉
A simple pair of glasses seemed to suffice to keep Clark Kent & Superman differentiated! I believe it also worked for Underdog.
I’ve learned I am not good at flying under radar, so know your strengths and forge ahead as needed.
Apply the FIDO principle.
Fuck It. Drive On.
@fernandomando – If outing myself were an option don’t you think I would have done it by now?
@vodkaholic – Welcome to the blog and thanks for commenting. Haha yeah, been there with the tweet up thing……cringeworthy isn’t it!
@Stephen O’Donnell – Not at all, these are thoughts that have been running through my head since Saturday. Nothing happening for now, just pondering the future.
@Lena – Does that mean I have to wear my pants outside my trousers??
@Wendy Jacob – Hmmm…….probably a bit late for that….and you know I hate paying recruiters….
@g-dog – Glasses……you’ve got it! Not sure I’d be able to see without them though….wouldn’t make me much of a superhero…..
@Henry – But in which direction?
I will be sad when the day comes to close theHRD blog – you speak such wise words 😦
@BJH – It isn’t going to happen for a while. But one day it will. All things have to come to an end…..
I finally read a couple of your posts until I stumbled upon this one.
I won’t tell you that you’re a chicken for considering giving up. And I won’t say that you should continue because it helps a lot of people who yearn to hear somebody say (write) out loud what they’ve been thinking all along. After all, if it was that important to them they could do it themselves.
On the other hand, there’s a couple of previously anonymous HR bloggers who seem to be doing fine today (Your HR Guy, Ask A Manager, Evil HR Lady, HR Minion).
So I guess I’ll just enjoy the ride while it lasts and hope that you will too. And if someday you decide to “let go” the HRD, I’ll have a beer in his honor 😉
@Etienne – Welcome and thanks for taking the time to comment. You’re of course right, I’m not unique in this conundrum and people have come out of it both sides successfully. Let’s hope that I manage that too! Whichever way it goes.