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Topic: writers who don't want to use their real names
| Author | Message |
| peanutty | Posted – 11/12/2007 2:31:14 PM | show profile I have friends who are freelancers. I currently work at a web site that is well...let's just say it's not as hoity toity as nytimes.com or as fun as gawker.com. Nonetheless, I give them work because a paycheck is a paycheck and they need money. Yet two of them have asked me not to use their real names because basically, it's not cool enough and they dont want to damage their "reputations." But I'm a little insulted. Am I overreacting? |
| writesonwater | Posted – 11/12/2007 3:39:26 PM | show profile If your site's a "fun" or snarky site as opposed to a serious, hard news, journalism site -- I can see their point. It might be a bit like doing cocktail waitress work on the side -- you need the money, but might not put it on your resume or want it on your business card or in your - what's the word, oeuvre? Do you give them work because you want the respectability of their names, to be able to put on a tagline that says "Jim Dandy writes for Business Week and Time Magazine"? In that case, I can see why you'd want to use their real names/identities. I wouldn't be insulted, though. You yourself describe the site as not in the same rare air as others. If you like their work, cut them some slack. |
| SillyRabbit | Posted – 11/12/2007 4:02:11 PM | show profile | email poster I agree, if you like their work, don't worry about their reasons for not using their names. It's hard to judge too much, not knowing what your Web site is. Perhaps it conflicts in some manner with other publications they write for (or hope to write for)? Either way, unless they are rude about, you shouldn't let it bother you. |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 11/12/2007 5:02:17 PM | show profile You have your answer: Your friends regard your website as money work, but they don't want to associate their brand (their byline) with it. Whether you accept the use of pseudonyms -- and are willing to lose writers over this -- is a decision only you can make. |
