AK **Democrat** has outted Mudflat blog owner

[rainbow4321]

What. An. Ass.....

http://www.themudflats.net/


From: “[email protected]” <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Thursday, March 26, 2009 2:55:14 PM
Subject: your identity

Jeanne:

I am reliably told that you are the anonymous blogger who writes Mudflats. I am planning to reveal this in the enews I send to my constituents tomorrow, and am writing to let you know this and offer the opportunity to comment.

Mike Doogan

I was a bit surprised to see my real name, as you can imagine. But after the initial surprise wore off, it really hit me. This is an elected State Representative, of my own political party, who has decided that it’s not OK for me to control the information about my identity; that it’s not OK to express my opinion on my own blog without shouting from the rooftops who I am.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Jeez. what a jerk. Why would he do that?

[w4rma]

2. Sen. Doogan's overinflated ego. (nt)

[Ken Burch]

20. Uh...that's REPRESENTATIVE Doogan

No need to inflate his ego even more.

:eyes:

[pacalo]

3. According to Blue_In_Alaska...

"Mike is a state representative, a former columnist at the Anchorage Daily News, who is probably feeling somewhat jealous that blogs are taking over his old profession. No excuse, though, for this terrible behavior."

And here's an excerpt of what the Mudflats blogger wrote:

It said in my “About” page that I choose to remain anonymous. I didn’t tell anyone why. I might be a state employee. I might not want my children to get grief at school. I might be fleeing from an ex-partner who was abusive and would rather he not know where I am. My family might not want to talk to me anymore. I might alienate my best friend. Maybe I don’t feel like having a brick thrown through my window. My spouse might work for the Palin administration. Maybe I’d just rather people not know where I live or where I work. Or none of those things may be true. None of my readers, nor Mike Doogan had any idea what my personal circumstances might be. But that didn’t seem to matter.

What appears to matter to Rep. Doogan is that either 1) he feels that if he “outs” me, he’ll change what I have to say, or keep me from saying anything. 2) he gets to play mystery detective (like in his books) and believes people will think he’s really cool for figuring it out, or 3) he feels like getting revenge. He knows I want to remain anonymous, so he’s going to take it away. In any of those three scenarios, he didn’t think it was important to get the bigger picture.

[ColbertWatcher]

11. Fuck Doogan.

I started a page for everyone to add to on the Truthiness Encyclopedia (http://www.wikiality.com/Mike_Doogan )

[pacalo]

16. Thanks, CW. Now, this is going to require some thought, but I'll give it a try.

I loved the way you worded your entry! Could you eliminate one of the esses on "Patriotss" on the header, though? :)

Was Wikiality created by Stephen Colbert's writers? I love it!

Mike Doogan

is a tool Patriotss use to battle America's enemies

God Bless America

Mike Doogan is a man out to single-handedly protect America's virtues. As the only good man left in Alaska (after Todd Palin, of course), Mike selflessly exposes the hypocrisies of others from his perch high atop the state legislature.

Unlike private citizens, Mike has no problem having himself exposed in public. As a journalist, Mike knows this is the price America pays for a strong fourth estate.

[Ken Burch]

25. I just made the first entries on it.

Tell me what you think.

[Blue_In_AK]

33. Ken, ya suppose Mikey's receiving a few more e-mails than normal?

I don't think he realized who he was dealing with, or just how far-reaching Mudflats has been. I think he's going to be really sorry he did this.

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. I really am convinced we need to start checking credentials of some so called "Democrats".

[DainBramaged]

5. I have my voter registration card

It says DEMOCRAT under the registration numbers.

[dixiegrrrrl]

8. I shoulda been more clear. I was referring to the DINO candidates..

I know you, in a DU way. :hi:

[DainBramaged]

9. BIG hugs

:hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug:

[Samantha]

6. I really see no difference in using screen names and pseudonyms

as some well known authors have done in their time, for instance, "Mark Twain."

People have legitimate reasons for wanting to author a written word while withholding their literal name, for instance, "I like to avoid death threats whenever possible."

These are private decisions which others should respect. Shame on Mike Doogan. Really.

Sam

[pacalo]

17. Yes, and the fact that there are much fewer Democrats in Alaska

puts her at a big disadvantage. And as she said in her blog, she may have other good reasons for maintaining her anonymity (look in my post above which includes an excerpt of what her thoughts were about this point).

[sudopod]

7. Someone should tell Anonymous about this

They frown on these shenanigans.

They molested the scientologists for less.

[yewberry]

10. I had the same thought.

I don't think I'll be venturing over to 4chan myself, but I'd lay odds that they will have some feelings about Mr. Doogan.

[ColbertWatcher]

12. There are other ways of getting in touch with Anonymous. n/t

[yewberry]

13. They're probably all over this already.

This is right up their alley.

[ColbertWatcher]

15. I hope so.

That would be so cool.

But, I decided against contacting them--who knows what they would do with that info? They might go after Mudflats!

I'll wait to see what they do.

The internet hate machine is a powerful, but mysterious thing.

[Blue_Tires]

14. wow...talk about being a petty, vindictive dick....

[sudopod]

18. Bump for great justus nt

[sudopod]

19. Well would you look at that.

http://img.4chan.org/b/res/127211886.html#127212471

[yewberry]

21. *whoosh*

Gone.

Interesting.

[bbernardini]

22. What was it? nt

[blaze]

24. wondering the same thing n/t

[ColbertWatcher]

26. That thread/post got 404'd. n/t

[pacalo]

23. I found another blog which has a strong opinion about this...

It's called W.Va. Fur & Root.

An excerpt:

Shannyn Moore, another Alaskan blogger, has expressed her thoughts on the matter .

Please feel free to contact Representative Doogan:

Mike Doogan: CONTACT ME
Ph: [phone]
Or [phone]
Fax: [phone]
[email protected]
[email protected]

[ColbertWatcher]

27. An address would be nice.

So, the world can send him stuff in the mail.

[yewberry]

28. Office address:

AK State Capitol
Room # 112
Juneau, AK 99801

[pacalo]

29. Thank you!

[ColbertWatcher]

30. Thank you. Excellent picture, btw! n/t

[yewberry]

31. I stole it from facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=82564017994

and

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=62508578215&ref=mf

:blush:

[ColbertWatcher]

32. "Stole" is such an ugly word. I would say you "borrowed" it. n/t

[Blue_In_AK]

34. Rainbow, thanks for posting about this again.

For those who are interested in the background, I think Mike's ire at Mudflats was aroused by two posts from earlier this year.

See the links in my post here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5348188&mesg_id=5348962

I'm having a hard time getting into her site tonight - I think they're doing some upgrading - but the earlier posts do kind of give some context for what's happening now.

[yewberry]

35. I was able to get to Mudflats tonight.

They are doing some upgrades, but AKM seems to have decided that she's not taking this lying down.

I have to admit this has taken a bit of getting used to. I’m not one to crave the spotlight, and I generally enjoy my boring little life. So, I’m needing a little time to regroup. Thank you all for the understanding, and indulging this naturally private and introverted blogger who normally posts pretty frequently. Public figures choose a public life. Private citizens don’t necessarily choose that. The possibility is always there for a pseudonymous blogger to become public, but we’d like to think that this would be at the time and in the manner of that person’s choosing….without the unwanted help of a State Representative, who is, after all, supposed to be working for us.

----------

I am working on a new post. It was difficult to know quite where to begin. As a friend said, it’s a bit like losing your favorite instrument, and having to learn how to play a new one. But I’ve enjoyed some down time with family, and the challenge of learning to play this new and strange instrument and seeing what I can do with it. Because there’s no doubt, things are different. The next post will be one of my favorite kinds - a good story. We haven’t had one of those in a while. The ending is uncertain, but it’s one that should resonate with all of us.

There's an amazing set of links showing how viral this story has gone. I expect that Doogan will be unhappily astonished to see how his actions have been interpreted by the netroots.