Rant: Identify yourselves!

Ooh, the LJ Santa left me six months of paid time! Thanks, whoever you are.

I seriously doubt that rants are what you wanted me to use this space for, but here's one:

Writers. Writers who post your fiction on your own web pages:

Why the hell would you put put up a story that doesn't have your name and your e-mail address on it?

I can't tell you how many times I've followed a link and found myself reading a terrific story by ... um, well, I'm not sure who it's by. Often there's not even a link back to the home page. Sometimes I can erase stuff out of the URL and climb back up to the top that way, but other times, it doesn't work.

Also, writers? Be aware that some of us will copy your story into a word processor document so that we can savor it again later. Which means that if your title, your byline, or your e-mail address is a graphic, or exists only in the html header and not in the story itself, it won't come through. And then lame people like me will read your story for the third time and go, "You know, I really should send some feedback to ... um ... whoever it was who wrote this story. If I could remember where I found it."

All I want for Christmas is a more orderly world. And some Hershey kisses.