I've slept on it, and I've come to the conclusion that I'll have to abandon this username. I just can't risk what happened yesterday happening again at the new job that I will be beginning next month. I have worked too hard to get this job for my wife and my infant son to put them at risk by continuing to use this name.
I had a talk with Mrs. Droogie last night, and her first words were not, "You and that stupid Daily Kos!" On the contrary. She understood why I did what I did, and didn't fault me for it. She was very supportive.
The facts of this story are to follow, for those who are catching up.
- I wrote a diary (now deleted) that discussed the Associated Press and its relationship with newspapers. Because this community has found a lot of reason to gripe at the AP, I thought I could provide some information that might assist you in applying pressure to the AP by hitting them where it hurts -- right in the subscription fees that they charge newspapers.
- The next day, around lunchtime, I got a call from someone from the Associated Press' office in New York. I know this person's name, title and contact information, but I have chosen not to post it to DKos. The person told me that my diary was in error, and I told the person to e-mail me so we could settle the matter.
- A while later, I received an e-mail that listed a single numerical fact error in the story. My editors (the people who do the hiring and firing around here) were CC'd on this e-mail, which listed out my DKos username.
- At this point, I deleted the diary. Maybe I shouldn't have done this. I probably would have been better off making the correction and leaving the diary as it was, but the fact is that I am a human being and I was afraid. If you've ever had anyone violate your privacy as I felt my privacy had been violated, you know how fearful this can make you.
- I sent an e-mail back, asking the AP official why he or she felt it necessary to involve my employers when I had never told anyone here my name or my employer, nor have I ever written here as a representative of my employers.
- I posted an update diary, telling this story. It sat on the Rec List all day and racked up hundreds of comments.
To clear up any additional confusion here, the AP official found my name and workplace and work phone number through a simple Google search. There was no private investigator, no wiretapping, no IP address tracking, no tinfoil hat tomfoolery. It was embarrassingly easy for them to find me.
But simply because it was easy to do does not make it right. As I said, my posts on Daily Kos don't have anything to do with my employers, and while I haven't yet received an answer to my question (listed in No. 5, above), a part of me has to believe that my employers were informed with some kind of malicious intent.
Many of you have suggested that I need to provide the identity of the AP person who outed me to my employers. I just don't want to do that. After being put in harm's way by this person, I just don't want to respond in kind. In my view, you don't respond to unscrupulous attacks by performing one yourself.
I regret the error that I made, I really do. But the fact remains, it could have been settled quite easily -- reporter to reporter. This person who called me at my work number is high up enough within the AP to know something about bloggers and blogger anonymity.
I just can't convince myself that this person didn't know what the consequences of his or her actions might have been. I could have lost my job, and my whole family could have been put at risk.
However, we are not at risk. Not that my friend at the AP could have known this, but I put in my two-weeks notice at my current job 24 hours before I was outed to my employers. I was officially a "short-timer" by the time my employers were notified.
Even so, droogie6655321 will be no more. I can't risk using that name to write anything that could one day be used against me in the job I am about to take.
While my Okie blood is crying out for me to give a Tom Joad-style speech about how I'll always be around, I've never considered myself any kind of hero. All I've ever wanted to be was just some anonymous schmuck who makes people laugh and occasionally provides a valuable insight into something.
I will be around, however. And if you recognize me, I hope you won't point me out. I'll be a lot more careful next time, and I probably won't feel daring enough to risk talking about my personal life -- which is a shame because I have grown to feel like we know one another pretty well here, even though we have never met one another.
I will return. I will play my cards a little closer to the vest. I will understand that some people think nothing of poking around in my private life. I will know that anonymity is a fragile thing. And I will redouble my committment to posting only the best, most accurate facts.
After this diary wraps up, droogie6655321 will commit DKos suicide by going to my password settings, covering my eyes, typing a random series of keystrokes, copying those letters into the "confirm" space and changing my password to that. After I do this, I will be unable to log in as droogie ever again. I do this because I don't trust myself to leave of my own free will. ;-)
Now -- enough from Serious Droogie. I'm sure you'd all like to hear more from D***-and-Fart Joke Droogie, and he will be joining you shortly in the comments section.
You guys have been great. See you soon.