In which I take a truly hardline stance

Today's CoHE features dueling First Person essays on that most fraught of topics, online anonymity.  Peter Plagens says "nay"; three Anon Academics say "yea."  I hereby issue my pronouncement from on high (er, well, it would be from on high if I were taller than 5'3''--maybe I should put on some high heels before continuing--but you get the idea):

It depends.

Some academics really will be fired/denied tenure/shunned/sentenced to a lifetime of sharpening pencils because a Higher Up dislikes their opinions about, say, Macs vs. PCs.  Others will not.  Some departments will gun for a colleague/graduate student who even hints at having a blog.  Others will not.  Some administrations will absolutely pitch a fit about openly gay faculty.  Others will not.  Some senior faculty will put out APBs on junior faculty who dare to question the Ways Things Have Always Been Done Here.  Others will not.  Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, ad nauseam.  Ultimately, the judgment call belongs to the academic in question, not Backseat Bloggers.