It’s hard not to feel some schadenfreude when you see ‘Cult of the Amateur’ author Andrew Keen demonstrating a particularly lazy bit of amateur blogging himself. Today’s entry, ‘Anonymity shouldn’t pay (even in Sheffield)’ reads:

“Finally anonymity on the Internet is being punished. The Guardian today reports on anonymous Sheffield Wednesday bloggers who are being sued by the club for their abusive comments. This is heartening news. It is only when anonymous bloggers are made legally liable for their views that the Internet will become a civilized medium for responsible adults.”

Except the case was not about bloggers at all. It was about anonymous posters on a messageboard.

Perhaps he only read the headline – ‘Warning to abusive bloggers as judge tells site to reveal names’ – not a particularly great example of professionalism itself.

I tried to post a comment correcting Keen, but I got an error message.

Amateur.