Gan Jiansong, a Party official from Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang Province, shut down his real-name microblog recently. He said he was one of the few officials that had a real-name microblog account in Ningbo. When government officials post their ideas, these ideas can easily be distorted or misunderstood, and the officials may suffer personal attacks. As public opinion has become increasingly diverse, everyone can express their opinions any time they want, but they may risk running into the "Tacitus trap."

The Tacitus trap refers to a scenario in which a government's public credibility is undermined, and thus no matter whether it tells the truth or a lie, it faces harsh scrutiny from the public. We can understand that people like Gan don't just worry about sinking into this trap, but feel rather helpless during their work to help restore public credibility.

Nonetheless, when the government's credibility is being questioned, isn't closing microblogs just like jumping into the trap automatically without even trying to win back credibility?

The plight of Chinese officials' real-name blogs comes because there is a contradiction between the public's strong demands and the bloggers' inability to meet those demands.

In the meantime, despite the fact that social problems have become increasingly apparent in the Internet era, efficient means that can be used to respond to these problems haven't increased accordingly. In terms of microblogging, we actually didn't make enough effort to find out how to make real-name blogs work effectively.

In current society, problems are piling up. Social networks on the Internet have become the major platform for thought sharing and opinion engagement.

With a sense of responsibility, officials like Gan have opened their own microblogs. However, microblogs are not the "battleground" of an individual. When responding to inquiries from the public, social fields and government agencies should cooperate and face the tough situation together.

An Internet responding procedure within the political system should be established, so as to soothe public sentiments and solve problems.

That officials open real-name blogs and publish their ideas is a due responsibility in the Internet era. However, we haven't released any regulations to encourage such measures. This has become an obstacle for officials' real-name accounts.

When social problems are exaggerated by the Internet, we cannot make the public hear the real voices and show them the real picture, making irrational opinions or even rumors dominate people's minds.

The government should make policies to encourage officials to open real-name microblogs to voice their opinions. And the officials should be able to endure temporary criticism and take into consideration the overall situation, and raise opinions that can endure public evaluation.

The author is an official with the publicity department of the Liaoning provincial committee of the CPC. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn