The IT Skeptic - Comments for "The IT Skeptic has dropped anonymity: identity revealed"

Sponge Bob

Lite Headed — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 16:16:52 +0000

There are times in life for growing up. It was a shock to learn that Santa Claus did not exist, even worse to lean the same of the Easter bunny and the tooth fairy. It was as bad to find out that the Wizard of Oz was just a little man in a big case but to be told that the IT Skeptic and the IT Swami are just a mere mortal living in breezy Pukerua Bay just about takes the biscuit!! Surely the spiritual words of the Swami and the total understanding of ITIL cannot come from anyone of this earth as I know it to be true, no one of this earth truly understands ITIL. Don’t anyone dare tell me that Sponge Bob is just a cartoon character!!

I'm pleased you saw my other

skeptic — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 07:36:04 +0000

I'm pleased you saw my other articles :-)

What sealed the deal...

kengon — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 23:14:23 +0000

Skep,

Indeed the technical things helped get me there, but your writing style was very easy to recognize (a fingerprint of sorts, eh?)!!

kengon

a whois query on the URL points to me

skeptic — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 20:42:00 +0000

Ken's referring to the fact that a whois query on the URL points to me. In the past, my official response to that was that "I [Rob England] can confirm that I am the webmaster of the IT Skeptic" :-D

Likewise a link to Two Hills appeared in the footer of this site quite some time ago. There is another anonymous site that gives it away in this manner.

So I never set out to make it really secret so much as to be able to avoid official confirmation. When New Zealand ports were declared nuclear free, the USA wanted to still bring their warships here but "neither confirm nor deny" they were carrying nukes. I tried the same trick.

As to why i did it, there's quite a bit on that in the article. Back then I really didn't understand the power dynamics that well, and there was more perceived control of local chapters from international, and the local executive are of course friends - all of which added up to an unwilligness to 'make a scene'

my ambitions are not in developing myself as a brand

skeptic — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 20:34:00 +0000

Thanks. Now that all is revealed, folk can see that my ambitions are not in developing myself as a brand. My basic principle is that my income should not be linked to my personal hours. So the IT Skeptic will continue as an entity. I'm hoping this move won't change things much.

I like the moniker...

kengon — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 19:15:37 +0000

FWIW, I think that your use of the "IT Skeptic" was a great idea and very timely.

I also think that it is very telling that you felt you *had* to do that to be able to speak freely... or is that just my interpretation of things?? Also interested in how this alternate identity started to be limiting...

BTW, I put your identity together a while back... and no, I'm not claiming to be some magical private investigator or something. Anyone who was willing to do a little digging (which you helped with in the construction of your site) could have done the same.

All the best,
Ken "kengon" Gonzalez

Well done

Visitor — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 15:21:27 +0000

Good luck dude, I hope that revealing your secret identity works out well. You've built up a lot of traffic on this site, it will be interesting to see if it translates into opportunities for you.

Congrats

Charles T. Betz — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 02:24:18 +0000

Welcome! I decided early on that standing behind my true name was the only way to do business, although occasionally I go by the alias of "alphasong" when creating IDs. I hope that others on this site will follow suit.

Charles T. Betz
http://www.erp4it.com

Didn't expect to be the first to add a comment here!

avallesalas — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 21:37:40 +0000

Surely this is going to be one of your most read posts in the blog!
Rob, it has been really hard for me to keep your secret, so thanks for leaving me free from this responsability.

Regards and welcome!
Antonio