Don't let this happen to you...

Before anything else, take a glance at this Gawker piece on the "laziest" freelancer. Then consider the the message sent to the PR person who forwarded it to Gawker. I noticed a few things:

• On the surface, it largely looks like a call for sources from PR firms.


• She mentions the size of the article and number of tips, but I've seen PR people who ask how big an article is going to be.


• She lists what she's covering, probably a quote from the editor.

It doesn't read all that differently than many requests for sources that I've seen. Now, maybe the writer in question actually is asking PR people to write an article for her. Or maybe the PR person in question has a grudge against the writer and decided to torpedo her career. Perhaps the truth is something in between, or even completely different. That doesn't matter.

What matters is how easily a writer can be tarred in front of potential clients and in such a way that clearing the air and limiting the damage is impossible. This can happen when posting on writers' boards, when either an editor is lurking or another writer decides to drop a dime. It can happen with a whisper into the ear of prospects. And it can happen in a public and particularly brutal way, when the publication, Gawker in this case, has so much taste for venom that it publishes a story on the strength of one anonymous source and apparently without making an effort to reach the subject.

Any writer should know that words can sting. When you're putting a request in writing, in a way that can be distributed and reproduced, take some care and consider how you present yourself. Emails and online posts can be notoriously ambiguous. Be sure you've nailed down the meaning before letting someone else nail it down for you.

Keeping Quiet About Your Problems

Gawker has had a couple of pieces recently that have been making the rounds on the writers boards. One is about a New Yorker writer looking for donations to pay for rescuing his digital images from a crashed hard drive. The other concerns a writer who allegedly used a pseudonym to keep touting the glories of his own writing to Gawker.

It amazes me the types of habits and predilections a writer will advertise in public. The New Yorker popular music critic has this request for up to $5,000 in donations posted on his home page - and he wasn't going to send individual thanks to the donors, though he's willing to post an "honor roll" of those who got his data life together. How the hell does he think people in the industry, including his bosses, are going to see this? Here's a clue: corporations often do things like running background and credit checks to make sure employees or job applicants aren't going to be tempted to steal or sell off inside company information.

As for promoting via a fake email address, don't writers read news stories about authors getting outed for posting anonymous reviews on their own books? Do such people really not realize that they're not as clever as they think? That many people don't know how to uncover subterfuges unless the perpetrator is unusually skilled in technology?

But before you scoff as these displays, consider what you might be doing without realizing it. Have you ever posted on a writers' board asking whether you could get away with something that might be seen as in an ethical grey area? Ever asked about something that you wouldn't want an editor or client to know? Depending on the discretion of strangers is unwise, and you never know when that editorial client might also have access to the same board.

There's nothing wrong with being ignorant of one thing or another. (If there were, we'd all be in constant trouble.) There's nothing wrong with asking for help or in asking "dumb" questions. And there's no value in pretending to be more than you are, because the truth generally works its way out.

However, there is such a thing as being too forthcoming. You hopefully wouldn't go around telling everyone in sight about your problems in relationships, money, and self-control. Why ever would you do the same for professional weaknesses? Develop relationships with colleagues you can respect, learn which ones you can trust, and ask what you need to ask so you can learn to improve. But don't take out the online equivalent of full page ads showing you dressed in fool's motley. It's a way of building and promoting a questionable reputation ... which isn't smart business.