I don’t want to ruffle any feathers or start another heated debate but does anyone else feel uncomfortable that so many new members choose to hide their profile?

We’re not expecting addresses, phone numbers and leg measurements but I, for one, find it a little difficult to relate to someone if I don’t know the first thing about them…

Don’t know if there’s an answer to this… just wanted to get that off my chest…

Cheers
Dee

We’re not expecting addresses, phone numbers and leg measurements but I, for one, find it a little difficult to relate to someone if I don’t know the first thing about them…

What from a person's profile, helps you to relate to them? Their date of birth? Their name? Their practised spiel about why they write? Or what area they come from? None of that tells you a great deal about a person in my opinion.

Personally I guard my privacy closely. I haven't met many people through the internet that give a damn either way, and when I get to know a person better and know I can trust them then I tell them more about me. There are people I only know through the internet that have my phone number. But I don't want just anyone to know where or who I am. Just as I wouldn't broadcast to an entire pub my name or date of birth, I don't want them displayed on a website anyone could access. I don't know who is using this site.

Hi Dee,
I'm not sure about this one either, never thought much about it til now. I did have a profile, but then , well, sort of decided I felt a bit 'open' and hid it. It was more to do with my own insecurities than worrying about anyone on here..
I must admit I don't often check profiles, I feel I get to know people through their work and their comments and Forum banter..( hi! ) This leads to mistakes - like thinking Wordy was a bloke!! - but on the whole I don't feel I'm missing out.

I find it interesting that folk have a username, but then use their 'real' name all the time..I picked my UN because I like it and that's what I want to be known as on here. I don't MIND at all that people do it, I just think it's kinda odd to use two names..

Ah, well, that's my scintilating contribution done, I'll be off...

x
tc

HELLO,

The whole point of having a profile is to tell people a little about yourself. You want to keep it to a minimum then fine, but whats so wrong with telling people a little bit about yourself? What your interests are, why you love writing, how you got into writing and what you've done so far.

Hell, I could write volumes about myself without compromising my privacy. But seriously all it is is your birthdate, which region your in, your interests and a little bit saying hello this is me.

I'm with you Dee

I don't think either tc or I think there is anything wrong with saying a bit about yourself - if you want to. I think an individual's right to choose is paramount. I just explained a little about why *I* don't have a public profile, and that personally I think it makes little difference to how someone relates to you.

Dee, I hide my profile for the same reason that I use a firewall on my computer - the lowest forms of pond-life are magnetically drawn to the internet, and I don't want them in my life. If I had to publish my details, I certainly wouldn't use this site. Sorry if that's a problem.

God, I always thought the lowest forms of pond life dwelled in my local shopping centre, in comparison to a stroll down the street I felt quite safe here. But seriously, how much danger are we in by posting our names and region and a few words? What is the real security risk? I agree I wouldn't post my email address or homepage, but I'd hate to become paranoid when using this site, if the internet is the future there has to be a way around this problem. Any ideas.

If anyone wants to have 'personal' details about me then, here goes.

I am a male. I am 6ft 3inches in height and weigh 13 stone. I know I am very handsome but was turned down for the part of James Bond for the bribe I offered was not enough.

I am very rich and have palatial homes in desirable parts of the world I drive fast sports cars and I also have three Rolls and a classic Bentley.

I am single, late twenties/early thirties. My hobbies are spending money on people I like, Polo, Tennis and Sailing.

I am also an 'imaginary', that is a person who is economical with the truth or a Politician.

By the way I employ a ghost writer and a public relations company.

Oh yes... I like cooking.


Len

I understand why people wish to guard their identity, having had a very close friend who had an extremely unpleasant time as a result of posting info on what they thought was a secure internet site, which wasn't as secure as it was claimed.

I am not suggesting that a similar thing could happen here but I do understand peoples reservations and respect them.

It doesn't make much differenc eto me to be honest if I know your real name etc or not much of your personality comes out in your writing an dsurely that is what we are here to share.

take care

david

Len That's brilliant!
No, it's a good point too. How is anyone going to know if you make a few things up on your profile, or if you're... "creative", shall we say?
There has to be a balance somewhere, between deciding if you can put anything in there that will help you get what you want from this site, and respecting that others might want to know a, b, or c...

I've been having guilty twinges recently because I don't know how often, when/where to say something, or even if it's relevant... but I'm going to "come out" as it were. Because the truth is that everybody (bar ex-teachers and my parents) calls me Ralph, so that's the name I use here. But I'm a girl... and I get the feeling I've confused quite a few people by not saying that. Sorry...

Then again, it's interesting from that whole "does gender affect writing styles?" debate, isn't it?

The thing that's had me worrying is that this is a good site, one of the best (smarm smarm...) So, if you've been into writing for a while, or even if you're a recent convert but you've plunged into "literary circles" full steam ahead, the chances are that someone on here is a person you know quite well from "ordinary" life... EEEK!

I like the anonymous nature of posting work here - of not having to see peoples faces when they're reading, and not having that "Oooh, that's exactly like that woman we met on holiday last year..." scenario when people can blur fiction and misinterpret things... if you know what I mean.
So, frustrating sometimes. But I do think anyone who wants to remain anonymous has the right.
(And if anyone reading this now suddenly thinks they know me from somewhere - please, don't tell me!)

Interesting debate Dee. Thanks.

Huggs

Ralph (f)

Ralph ( ette)

I think you validate the point I was making earlier it doesn't matter what you call yourself it is your writing.

out of interest is your surname on your prophile true or a pun, especially in view of what you have just said?

not that it matters but if true it is prophetic and if a pun

take care

david

David

LOL. I feel like I should dye myself blue and put a blonde wig on now...

Yes, I agree with you. It should be that the writing speaks for itself. I do sense sometimes, though, that people can't help but read something differently, especially if a man writes from a female POV or vice versa. I could be wrong though...

And, yes, you've caught me again. I was being honest until a while ago, but then felt obliged to change it... It's a pun.
Everything else is true though... honest...
(Ralph starts to wonder if everyone's giving her dodgy looks...)

One thing that stopped me from hiding my profile (other than that the names would still come up, and they're the bits I was wibbly over) is that you seem to lose the WW Mail optin if you hide. I know that's just for personal banter, and that the comment areas on work are the place to say most things, but I still find the mail option really useful. Seems a shame to miss out on it.

Ah well, I'll shuffle back into anonymity now.

All the best

Huggs

Ralph (ette)

Pretty obviously, Dee wasn't saying that members ought to provide profile details or that there's something wrong with maintaining anonymity because we all know the way the Internet works, and that there are a lot of sad souls out there. But I have to say, in my (limited) experience, profiles have been helpful because you discover that there're people you can turn to for specialist help -- come in, Jumbo, it's Richard calling!

I was recently stuck with an 'aviation sequence' in this book wot I'm trying to write and I suddenly remembered that Jumbo's profile included an interest in aviation. Result was, Jumbo saved me hours of pratting about on Google, and is now entitled to a generous 10% of my 50p advance. Similarly (for instance) I know if -- for example -- I need help with something to do with cinema, I'm gonna email Ralph, who isn't Ralph, but, um, so wot? (Sorry, Ralph!) Terry's another one who has generously provided a wealth of insights consistent with the profile of someone with a great deal of experience of the publishing world.

I agree with the comment that the nature of an individual shines through in what they write -- and also in the care they give to commenting constructively on the work of others. But it's also a fact that this is a wonderful community, the best I've ever found, and because we're all kindred spirits, I'm pretty sure many of us are happy to serve others not merely as sources of support but, if such be the case, as sources of technical and / or practical assistance.

In fact, I wonder if WriteWords might one day be able to set up a sort of 'Register of Interests', an in-house reference resource, as it were, with topics set out in alphabetical order and members' names listed as and where appropriate (well, for those members who don't mind participating in such a register). I appreciate, that could be a fairly major undertaking, but I for one would be more than happy to join in.

As to 'real' identities, I think as someone else said here, gender has surely got sod all to do with anything -- I come from a journalistic background, unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, where your best mates 'on the road' were exactly that: your mates. You relied upon them just as they relied upon you, and you respected them just as they respected you. The fact that a mate happened to be in jeans and I happened to be in a dress had nothing to do with it (shomething wrong shomewhere: Ed).

So I guess what I'm blundering around to saying is, yes, I've found profiles are helpful. I can understand (as Dee obviously does) why some people are hesitant, and I respect that: their anonymity, or otherwise, has no bearing on what they write or say here. But thanks to profiles, and specifically where a member furnishes a few details about background, interests, even general location -- and who knows, the part of the world in which they live may well be the very part of the world you're thinking of using in a story or full length novel --not only do you feel you're in the company of like-minded folks, you also come to realise that there's a wealth of experience and expertise here just waiting to be tapped, and that though you may never meet each other in person, as it were, these people-of-the-ether can be as great a source of help and inspiriration, and as true a friend (especially, when you need one!) as anyone else out there in what might be termed the 'real' world.

And, of course, it's always useful to know that Wordy isn't actually married to Dorothy and that TC is almost certainly in the next ward to mine. . . and that Len is actually Nigella Lawson (sorry Len, but the apparently casual line about 'cooking' rather gave the game away).

Anyway. There was a point to this and I've forgotten what it was, other than that I perhaps email too many people through WriteWords than I should and am thus an infernal pest. But all of them have without exception been generous with their time and their support. And some in particular (they know who they are) have indeed become mates, and by virtue of who they are have been more understanding, and more dependable, than other friends of mine to whom the writer's calling, vocation, delusion, what you will, is a very strange one indeed: they may try to help, but they don't actually know what it is that touches us, moves us, soothes and uplifts us. They don't because they're not in the same game.

Completely lost the plot now so before this posting turns into a Paltrowesque eulogy to the people of this 'umble community. . . Jumbo. About this blasted glider thing, then. . .

Richard

Hey, I too thought Wordy was a man and Ralph, sometimes I think I’m a man.

Getting back to Dee’s question. Profiles are useful to me when reading a member’s uploaded work. You get a sense of what they are hoping to achieve with their writing, which is a bonus.

I like Ralph and Richard, I also like the option of WW Mail.

The rest is not important: Region. Age etc. So, I can understand why some members choose to hide their profiles.

This is a friendly site, but we are not alone on the www.

Happy Monday,
Dawn (My friends call me Dave)


<Added>

- Opps I meant to write - Like Ralph and Richard.... (but I do like you). :)

I use WW mail and have no profile uploaded - or am I misconstruing what you mean by that?