Constant Content

I'm new here and just sold my first article. I am involved in many endeavors in the arts (music, writing) and for my writing I use a pen name. However, when I went to the website that purchased my article, my "real name" was cited in the by-line. What's up? I wish for all of my writing to carry my pen name.

Thanks,
Meggie

I've had this happen to me before. Apparently, Word files save the author name under File-Properties-Summary. If you click there, and your full name is listed, then the buyer can also see it. In the Summary, juts type in whatever pen name you want to use. Your real name might be hiding out in another place in your file, too - I don't know all that much about computers, so maybe Celeste or Barry can help you out there.

I don't think there's all that much you can do this time, but in the future consider putting your pen name as a byline under the title in your article - always include both the title and your byline in the text of the article itself. That way, the author will just use the byline that is listed.

Okay, because of this post I checked up on my sold pieces and I am just livid to see my real name attached to a sold article. I don't use Word. How does the buyer have access to my name?!

I am particularly upset because I keep my name and my pen name distinctly separate so that my fluffy writing does not undermine my academic writing credibility. Imagine my surprise to see my real name attached to an article along with a negative introduction about my awkward sentence construction and how hilarious they think it is.

I realize that a buyer can do anything they want to with our articles, but this seems like poor sportsmanship or something. Why buy it if you think it's so substandard? I regret taking the insultingly-low offer they made, but I was anxious to make my first sale, and their site was sort of cute. Now they have double insulted me.

I need to demand that my real name be taken off of that article. Should I do so, or is this something that concerns the site? I also absolutely cannot run the risk of this happening again. I really do not want to have to delete all my content, especially now that I'm starting to sell things.

Always contact support, not the customer as doing so is strictly against the terms and conditions of the site. CC support can approach the customer and ask that your proper byline be included.

Okay. I had thought I would just add a comment in the site's comment box. How do I contact support?

Use the Contact Us link:
http://www.constant-content.com/area/contact.htm

It may take a day or two, but they're usually pretty good about handling things like this.

I do not believe the customers get our names from the document they purchase. There is no embedded information in a txt or rtf document.

From what I can tell the customers are provided our first and last names as we have them filled out on the "My Account" page. This is definitely a problem for those of us that want to write under a pen name. On the one hand we want to provide our "real name" to Constant-Content, but if that is what they provide to the clients then it is better to fill it in as our alter-ego.

Seriously, the name on our filled out account page is given to the buyers rather than the name we have chosen as a pen name? What then is the point of allowing us to choose a pen name?

I used my pen name in the pen name field and my real name in the account info field, along with my address. I assumed none of that latter information was available to anyone other than CC admin. If this is not the case, it needs to be made abundantly clear to registrants.

The name the author uses should likewise be made abundantly clear to the buyers.

This is a site flub that damages my professional credibility.

I'm pretty sure CC would never send author information out to buyers. Remember, CC doesn't want the buyer or seller to circumvent the system; if they have access to our real names, buyers just might try to contact us another way.

There was another post about this before, http://www.constant-content.com/forum/v ... =2&t=13817.

And Ed said, "The only way we can figure out that your real names are being revealed is by your word processing program's registration. If I hear anything else, I'll let you know. If you're concerned about this, please include a byline in the article as you would like it to read, even if having a byline isn't important to you."

The link provided tells me that this has been an ongoing issue, which only makes me feel more upset. Why hasn't something been done by now to prevent customers from knowing our names?

Honestly, there are a lot of people who would choose not to use this site if they knew their real names were at risk. I'm one. There should be clear instructions and a warning upon registration, as well as CLEAR instructions to the buyers.

I have 80 or so pieces of content here. If they all carry the risk of revealing my name somehow, I have to delete them and reverse all my hard work.

[quote="Amy W"]I'm pretty sure CC would never send author information out to buyers. Remember, CC doesn't want the buyer or seller to circumvent the system; if they have access to our real names, buyers just might try to contact us another way.

There was another post about this before, http://www.constant-content.com/forum/v ... =2&t=13817.

And Ed said, "The only way we can figure out that your real names are being revealed is by your word processing program's registration. If I hear anything else, I'll let you know. If you're concerned about this, please include a byline in the article as you would like it to read, even if having a byline isn't important to you."[/quote]


The word processing I used isn't registered to me, but to my husband, so I'm baffled how they got my legal name; (I didn't know my 'name' was available to anyone who receives a document from me based on my word processor. Should we always use a fake registration? Dang). If clients can access my registration and accounts page, I'm REALLY concerned. I would like CC to take some action here. I've written all over the web using my pen name and that's the way I want to keep it.

Meggie

Hey, Meggie

If your Word program is registered to your husband, then I'm just as stumped as you are. This has happened to me before - I just assumed it was like Celeste said, that they got my name from Word's registration. I think the only thing you can do now is contact Support and see what they say. If buyers are somehow able to view our accounts page, then maybe CC will let you use your pen name as your legal name.

And in my best attempt to make you feel better about the situation, the Internet is a very big place and used by a lot of people with the same names. When I search for my name, Amy White, I find hundreds of pages for a folk singer, and a hundred more pages for random Amy White's across North America. Yes, some people might think that the writer Amy White from CC is singing folk songs in her spare time, but most people will rightfully assume that they are two different people. Without a bio attached to your articles, no one can be sure as to who actually wrote them - you always have deniability on your side. Not that I'm making light of the problem - it is a huge problem and it should be fixed. In the meantime, always use your pen name in the byline of your article.

In my case it's not just about keeping my real name private, but also a matter of wanting my writing name to have the credit for the article. Having an article out there under two different names makes me susceptible to plagiarism accusations.

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions. I've taken them to heart and have implemented some changes suggested.

I sent off an email a couple of days ago to CC but haven't heard anything back yet. When I do, I'll post their response here so we'll all know what the skinny is on this. Meanwhile, I sold another article yesterday and now I'm nervous about that one as well. I don't want to remove all my articles while waiting for this to be resolved, but I'm trying to build my online credentials and the inconsistency in name usage is a problem.

Meggie

Hi everyone!
We are still looking into the problem. Even though we are not entirely sure how author's real names are being found out (there is suspicion that registration on other sites is part of the problem), we do know that the name listed under the properties section in any word document will certainly provide buyers with the name that is listed. We will continue to investigate this particular set of circumstances, but we recommend that writers search their pen names in search engines to see if there has been any cross over, as well, make sure that your word processor has your pen name listed under the properties. If you have any comments please contact support@constant-content.com.