Do I want a byline?

[midwife]

Hi guys,
Sorry that I flit in and out for advice, but you all have such good advice! I'm writng for a content site that does not typcally use bylines but they have offered me a byline because I am a moderator at the site. As a mod and a member of the site, I am a little anonymous (I mean, as anonymous as one could be on the Internet), so I have mixed feelings. I would want to keep my user ID/mod/member identity separate from my byline, and I think it might be simplest to not have a byline at all. But is that dumb? What are the pros of having a byline? Certainly any clips I use for future jobs could be provided sans byline with my word that it is my work, right? Or is a byline necessary?

Thanks and have a good weekend!

[CACTUSWENDY]

I think it depends. Do you ever plan on using this experience as part of your portfolio? You could use a Pen name. That's just my thoughts on it.

[midwife]

Thank you, Wendy! I do think I would use it as part of a portfolio and I think I'll use my initials and last name perhaps.

Have a nice rest of your weekend!

[Scriptissima]

I second Cactuswendy's suggestion and would go with a pen name. This way you can always refer to those articles when need be, but you don't have to worry about being identified when you want to stay hidden. That is what I do with several online publications - I don't necessarily want for those articles to show up when someone does a Google search with my real name. The latter is "reserved" for the "higher quality" articles, and I don't want it "burned" by my occasional work for content generators.

[midwife]

Thanks, Stef! I went ahead and submitted a pen name.