Goodbye nunatak

Simplify, simplify.

Henry David Thoreau

One "simplify" would have sufficed.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

For over a year now I've been using the name nunatak as my nom de blog. But after reading with interest last month's discourse on the issue of pseudonymous blogging/commenting, and I must say that I've been persuaded by some of the arguments for using one's real name.

There are, of course, some very good reasons to be anonymous or at least pseudonymous online, such as hiding one's children's identities from smarmy--or even downright scary--denizens of the internet, or protecting oneself from discrimination at work, or even from potential threats from violent extremists of various stripes. The thing is, none of these apply to me. I've no children to fear for, and I think the benefits of being Karen James rather than nunatak online outweigh the potential disadvantages.

Of course, nunatak is not really a pseudonym because everyone can see who I am by clicking through to my profile ...but then doesn't that render nunatak sort of meaningless? Not only that, but nunatak has, on several of occasions, even sewn confusion, not least over its pronunciation.

So it's a fond farewell to nunatak--it was really fun sort of blah while it lasted; now you can just call me Karen. And as long as were talking about changes, I'm closing up shop at my side project Data Not Shown and moving to Science Friday Blogs, and I would be ever so grateful if you would go and vote on my new blog title.

Wait, actually, there is one thing I'll miss about being nunatak, and that's sharing a name with a (the?) British Antarctic Survey band, who played a Live Earth concert from Antarctica. If I'm honest with myself, though, this was definitely a case of cool by association, and that's not really a good enough reason on its own to keep the name.

Oh, and if some of you forget and call me nunatak or even Nun (you know who you are), well, that's okay with me, but I take no responsibility when other people squint at you.