i've read through part of this discussion and hopefully can add at least some anecdotal information here. It sounds like my research is very similarly structured to the research being asked about; a combination of blog analysis and personal interviews. i also tossed in an anonymous survey as well. i explained in my narrative that the textual analysis would have names and titles attached, as i am not analyzing any private content (i.e. locked entries available only to a small group of readers), the interviewees would have pseudonyms, and the survey would be completely anonymous. Ironically, they had absolutely no problems where i thought they would, i.e. the textual analysis. i did lay out the case, however, that public online discourse does not need to be protected, and compared it to a newspaper or magazine analysis; it was published in a public arena and therefore is meant to be read by, commented on by, and (i would argue) used by in whatever manner they see fit, the public at large. i also cited Kelty's The Cultural Significance of Free Software as an example of online community analysis without pseudonyming anyone or any site therein. This explanation seemed to suit them fine. Where they did get confused was on my interviews, as they thought i'd be connecting usernames on LiveJournal with the pseudonyms of my interviewees... thus completely rendering the pseudonym useless. I drew them a chart explaining my privacy procedures and told them about the uselessness in so many words. i passed through and was fine. Perhaps a way to handle this in the future is to come up with a list of "previous case laws" and just cite them over and over in IRB proposals of this nature until the IRBs get the point? These can be previous studies, the AoIR ethic guidelines, anything that helps prove the case. i think even just having the one cite i did have made a world of difference to my IRB. Dunno if it helps the discourse, but just wanted to toss something out there into the ring since I've Been There. -christine Master's Candidate SJSU