Clear as Mud

Yesterday, as Bubblehead noted in a comment here, Wayne Hoffman was at Huckleberries Online, clearing up the mystery surrounding his anonymous search whois...then reverse address search...then public records search...very most definitely not anonymous blog, The Idahoan.  He presented a statement and then took some questions.  [Here is the post that started the whole controversy in case you missed it.]

After reading through Hoffman's statement, just the two actual questions (submitted by Bubblehead), and the comments by the editor, D.F. Oliveria, I say, "Whew, glad that's all cleared that up."  Hmmm, actually I'm left with more questions than answers.

I admit I'm not an HBO reader but we could spend a whole post talking about the comments made by the editor, D.F. Oliveria, that the issue is "No. Big. Deal.", that elected officials and their reps have been commenting at HBO for over 3 years and that the North Idaho blogosphere is more "advanced" than the southern Idaho blogosphere (I guess when you get awards and such you can say stuff like that).  For now though, I would just respond that there is a difference between occasionally poking your head into a community forum and posting a comment and actually writing and editing your own blog.   

Here is Hoffman's statement broken into segments with some obvious questions that I would have asked had I discovered the session in time. 

Hoffman:  Let me add some detail to this very odd debate. The Idahoan was never an "anonymous" blog. When my friend and I registered it, we did so as a joint business venture. Twice during the creation of The Idahoan, we were faced with options to conceal the identity of the people behind the blog. We could have registered on a blogging website, where names, real or made up, are not required. We could have chosen to make our registration information private. We did neither. In fact, we also registered our web page as a business venture with the Idaho Secretary of State.

MGR:  If you went to all the trouble of making sure your blog was not anonymous, why not put your names in plain sight — on the blog?  Why hide the names behind a whois and a public records search?  Someone would, and did, have to do a whole bunch of investigating to find out that your name was connected to the blog.  And shoot, everyone knows to check with the Secretary of State to see who is writing a blog, duh.

Hoffman:  By March, things had changed dramatically for both of us. Unrelated business ventures and, most obviously for me, new jobs, created issues for the daily upkeep of a website. At the same time, The Idahoan grew considerably in popularity. I didn't really want to shut it off. We invited other conservatives to participate, and the founders' role in the day-to-day Idahoan has been pretty minimal. Though our names are still listed as owners, others have collectively taken on the role of bloggers. Have I contributed to a blog post since March? Yes. Do I do so on a regular basis? No. Do I help edit or add input on some blog items? Yes. Do I do that all the time? No.

MGR:  How many other contributors are there?  Do you count "guest posts" as contributors?  How many posts have you written since March?   Did you write this post that takes issue with a post made by the Idaho Statesman's Kevin Richert regarding your view of pre-k and if so why did you refer to yourself in the third person?

Hoffman:  There's no conspiracy here. There's no coverup. The fact that someone "discovered" that which we made public months ago would be amusing, except for the absurd and insulting charges of misconduct made by an unnamed blogger.

MGR:  Is there any information that can be accessed from your site that discloses your identity?  How many people, excluding family members, are you aware of that knew about your connection to The Idahoan?  Did Bill Sali know that you were blogging? 

To clear up any question of misconduct, could you answer these:  Which posts did you write or contribute commentary to and when?  Did you write or contribute to any of them while either on duty or in a government office? 

Finally, how would you respond to these:

• Does the staff of an elected official have an ethical obligation for complete disclosure?   
• Are there situations where anonymity by a public official might be acceptable and others where it might not?
• Should the public's expectations include identity disclosure by the staff of an elected official when the blogging includes advocating for that official or his policies?
• If a congressional staffer is blogging using government time and resources, should that information be made public?

I'd invite Mr. Hoffman to respond at this or any one of the other "third world" southern Idaho blogs, just to clear things up.

Comments

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[sounds of crickets chirping]