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Originally Posted by rhadin
I guess I view this differently. I do not find it problematic at all that people come to MR and post about their book yet do not list or own an ereader. I'm interested to discover what ebooks are available for me to read -- after all, isn't that what I have the ereader for? For me to get ebooks and to read them?
And I don't see any problem with their not participating beyond blurbing about their book. It is easy enough to skip the self-promo thread. I've noted that some very long-time MR members have only posted a few times yet there seems to be no complaints about them.
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Agree, 100%. I don't care if they're just spamming as long as it's in the right forum; I'm interested in new ebooks regardless of whether the authors want to talk about other ebook issues.
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I find it more troublesome that people do not use their real names in message signatures. I've always believed that if you think you need to say it then you should say it with pride and put your name to it. Anonymous postings are more bothersome to me than an author who self-promotes his/her book but does nothing else here at MR or who doesn't own an ereader device.
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As "elfwreck," I have over a dozen years of activity online. Under my legal name, I have almost none. Pseudonyms are not the same as cowardice. (Was "Mark Twain" hiding his identity?)
The claim "everyone should be willing to hand their legal names out to everyone they talk to online" implies that we're all safe if we do so--that we have no stalker ex-boyfriends, no employers who'd be willing to fire us for lifestyles or just politics that don't agree with the boss, no local communities that would physically attack us for what we say online.
I'm active in Pagan and LGBT communities. I'm fortunate to live in an area where those don't get me attacked--but part of why I live in this area is so that I can be safe; I can't seriously consider moving to a place where my rent'd be cut in half. I use a pseudonym as a buffer between my online activities and my personal life; I don't need online busybodies grabbing my copyfight activism posts and making angry calls to my boss demanding that I be fired.
Using a name other than one's legal-for-taxes identity is not a matter of cowardice; it can be basic safety. (Would you encourage children to use their legal names online? Or fake names? Or obvious pseudonyms while everyone else is using legal-sounding names, so they're easy to spot?)