It doesn't make a difference where your blog is hosted; it's not like LJ is a superior blog hosting platform or lends your writing any cachet, right? Do what's right for you. If you decide to leave LJ, I would hope you'd forge on over at TechEssence or elsewhere.

Like you I never subscribed to it, but my perspective is "who cares". I don't think it's that big a deal. If someone wants to blog anonymously that's not a problem. There are tons of anonymous faculty and grad student blogs - and no one has a problem with it. It can make for more interesting reading. It will be interesting, however, when Annoyed Librarian, disrepects/ridicules/puts down other librarians and bloggers (which has been done in the past - even if it's not to be taken seriously - it's not cool to do it anonymously). That could be potentially embarrasing for LJ to not only distribute the content but to support it by way of hosting the blog.

I was shocked when I logged into Library Journal on Monday to discover that Library Journal picked up the Annoyed Librarian off the waiver wire. But in all seriousness, I do not consider it a bad thing. Everyone has a voice. Whether people care to dismiss it or not, the Annoyed Librarian connects with many people through his or her words, and apparently people are paying attention. He or she seems to be very effective with garnering the attention of the next generation of librarians, and that may or may not be an easy task.

I've got nothing against anonymous blogs. My problem is when a journal such as LJ pays someone to blog anonymously. Hamilton, Madison, and Jay weren't paid for their writings. If you're going to be controversial and be paid for it, own your words and be willing to admit who you are.

I too haven't followed AL all that much. Checked it out occasionally and peeked into the thread. That said, I'm perfectly fine with it being anonymous. It seems librarianship is a field where some folks take criticism quite personally and could use even valid criticism to launch a vindictive campaign against a person's career. I have yet see anything in AL that was a vicious personal attack, but like I said I don't read it much. It is an electronic medium. Link to some of the blog posts to demonstrate these attack. Certainly she seems to mirror comments I hear in hallways and other places that people are to afraid to state in a more permanent venue. What's a name or an identity anyhow? There clearly is an entity known as Annoyed Librarian. Her name communicates more to me than most of the "real names" posted on this thread.

I think you have to take AL with a grain of salt. There have been times that I think his/her posts are insulting, other times they are funny, and sometimes they are deadly accurate. Is there anything wrong with anonymously posting opinions of your profession? No, I don't think so. Anonymity allows someone to say what they really think, without fear of repercussion. Is this appropriate for a professional journal? I'm not so sure about that, especially since the author is being paid for this. It's one thing to rant to your little heart's content on your own dime, but I feel it's a bit unprofessional to be paid for something you are unwilling to put your name on. I'm honestly surprised that LJ is letter AL do this.

Did we ever figure out who AL is/are? He/she/they can't very well be anonymous anymore if he/she/they was/were picked up by LJ, can he/she/they? I'm no less likely to read your blog here because AL is under the same umbrella. I hope it doesn't make that much of a different to you, either. Heck, using this blogging platform has got to be more of an annoyance than whether AL is under the same roof. (*sigh* -- attempt #2 to get this blogging platform to accept my comment.)

I had AL on an RSS feed, and it was refreshing at first--"Library Jobs That Suck" and "Courses I Wish I'd Had in Library School" are classics-- and then the "snarkiness" got kind of old within a few months (I wasn't reading it every day). Interesting to see how this'll play out, though I won't go out of my way to monitor it.

I occasionally read AL, and agree that sometimes AL is very perceptive, and sometimes just provocative and annoying. It doesn't bother me where it's hosted - but I do wonder if some of the tone will change now that there is a corporate sponsor. However, I also think that what we know about AL's identity is probably fictitious. I'm reminded of a 2004 incident, when Bizgirl won the Best Personal Weblog award in the New Zealand NetGuide Web awards. Supposed written from the perspective of a 20-something female librarian working in a public library, 'she' turned out to be James Guthrie, a 30-something male librarian working in a special library. Most of Bizgirl's readers had been completely taken in, and the unveiling came as a shock. The blog stopped shortly after, perhaps because it was to hard to maintain the fictitious identify once James was no longer anonymous.