Dear Miss Snark,
I read the blogs of several agents these days, although you were first. Sometimes I comment on your blog, because you're anonymous (and I know you don't handle my current genre). On other agent blogs I usually simply lurk. I'm nervous about making any impression on somebody who might be someday considering my work professionally, because I think that agents take comfort in the screen of anonymity that comes with an unsolicited submission from somebody they've never heard of before.
What happens when you get a query from somebody you recognize? I know it's unlikely, but presumably it happens, or it will someday. Would you rather it didn't?
In my case, I recently lost my head and posted a comment on the blog of an agent I do intend to query someday soon. I believe it's highly unlikely she'll remember me as long as I manage to control myself in the future but now I wonder if it's something I should even be bothering myself about. Of course, you are not her, but you're the one I don't worry about asking. Is silence golden?
I suspect this is one of those tiny details that vanishes beside the enormous significance of /good writing/-- but I'd like to be polite even if my writing isn't up to snuff.
Well, several of my colleagues report they are getting queries that say "I know who you really are but I won't tell" which is just hilarious since they are not querying Miss Snark.
And truthfully, I barely look at names in my slush pile. I read cover letters and pages and sometimes I wonder "did I see this in the Crapometer" but mostly it's in one eye and out the other.
And I don't remember many names on the comment pile, so if you comment once, you're as good as anonymous. I remember the people who comment often, make me laugh out loud, have goats, or have figured out ways to send twenty dollar bills.
I'm pretty sure all the other agents who blog have as much incoming material as I do. Frankly we're lucky to remember Mr. Clooney's name at the end of the day, let alone our own.
Bottom line: don't worry. Ask questions. Post comments. Query on. Good writing is really all I care about.