Scott Adams, creator of the Dilbert comic strip, admits he has been using an anonymous screen name to defend his work against critics on MetaFilter, a popular discussion board. Gawker reports that Adams used the screen name “PlannedChaos.”
When people began saying mean things about a Wall Street Journal op-ed he penned, “PlannedChaos” wrote on MetaFilter: “As far as Adams’ ego goes, maybe you don’t understand what a writer does for a living. No one writes unless he believes that what he writes will be interesting to someone. Everyone on this page is talking about him, researching him, and obsessing about him. His job is to be interesting, not loved. As someone mentioned, he has a certified genius I.Q., and that’s hard to hide.”
Gawker also posts other examples, in which “PlannedChaos” has said Adams is “a certified genius” and that people are probably “too dumb to understand what he’s saying.”
On Friday morning, Adams copped to being “PlannedChaos,” writing, “I am Scott Adams.” Gawker confirmed Adams’ identity with MetaFilter’s founder. Later Adams followed up with this comment: “I’m sorry I peed in your cesspool. For what it’s worth, the smart people were on to me after the first post. That made it funnier.”
