• Hi Guest!

    The costs of running this forum are covered by Sea Lion Press. If you'd like to help support the company and the forum, visit patreon.com/sealionpress

Interviewing the AH Community: Jonathan Edelstein

It was I who asked him whether he would be interested in being interviewed.

I was in two minds as to whether I should reply this and if so whether I should do it publicly but I would like to ask people not to do this, please.

Which is not to say that you were at fault here, you're not. It's all on me for never really being clear on this and for my views changing but just going forward I'd rather this didn't happen.

I enjoy interviewing people for this blog but a) if we're promoting people and given them a platform then it needs to be someone that Tom Black is happy to have use that platform so every interviewer is approved and vetted by him and b) I have to do the questions and do the editing etc.

Thus I don't really want a situation where people are making commitments on my behalf.

If I get a message from someone saying 'hey I've heard you're interested in interviewing me' and they're either someone who Tom doesn't want to platform or it's during a time when I'm too busy to do it, that puts both of us in an awkward position.

So I'm fine with people suggesting people who might be interested, that's really helpful, but could you please message me first before you contact them so that if they are approached it's not with an offer that might be retracted.

Now for clarity's sake, that wasn't what happened with Jonathan. He was already on our list and cleared and I reached out to him not the reverse. I was and am really excited to talk to someone I admire a lot.

I didn't know you'd reached out to him first until I saw this comment, Jonathan never mentioned it. So no harm was done.

But I can see that practice causing possible problems and I just want to stamp it out before it does.
 
I was in two minds as to whether I should reply this and if so whether I should do it publicly but I would like to ask people not to do this, please.

Which is not to say that you were at fault here, you're not. It's all on me for never really being clear on this and for my views changing but just going forward I'd rather this didn't happen.

I enjoy interviewing people for this blog but a) if we're promoting people and given them a platform then it needs to be someone that Tom Black is happy to have use that platform so every interviewer is approved and vetted by him and b) I have to do the questions and do the editing etc.

Thus I don't really want a situation where people are making commitments on my behalf.

If I get a message from someone saying 'hey I've heard you're interested in interviewing me' and they're either someone who Tom doesn't want to platform or it's during a time when I'm too busy to do it, that puts both of us in an awkward position.

So I'm fine with people suggesting people who might be interested, that's really helpful, but could you please message me first before you contact them so that if they are approached it's not with an offer that might be retracted.

Now for clarity's sake, that wasn't what happened with Jonathan. He was already on our list and cleared and I reached out to him not the reverse. I was and am really excited to talk to someone I admire a lot.

I didn't know you'd reached out to him first until I saw this comment, Jonathan never mentioned it. So no harm was done.

But I can see that practice causing possible problems and I just want to stamp it out before it does.
Fine by me - yes, Jonathan is a (very talented) author in SLP's stable so obviously no issue, but yes, Gary makes the calls and as the proprietor of the company, it's my final say (which I would only invoke over very serious issues, usually legal, obviously).
 
I was in two minds as to whether I should reply this and if so whether I should do it publicly but I would like to ask people not to do this, please.

Which is not to say that you were at fault here, you're not. It's all on me for never really being clear on this and for my views changing but just going forward I'd rather this didn't happen.

I enjoy interviewing people for this blog but a) if we're promoting people and given them a platform then it needs to be someone that Tom Black is happy to have use that platform so every interviewer is approved and vetted by him and b) I have to do the questions and do the editing etc.

Thus I don't really want a situation where people are making commitments on my behalf.

If I get a message from someone saying 'hey I've heard you're interested in interviewing me' and they're either someone who Tom doesn't want to platform or it's during a time when I'm too busy to do it, that puts both of us in an awkward position.

So I'm fine with people suggesting people who might be interested, that's really helpful, but could you please message me first before you contact them so that if they are approached it's not with an offer that might be retracted.

Now for clarity's sake, that wasn't what happened with Jonathan. He was already on our list and cleared and I reached out to him not the reverse. I was and am really excited to talk to someone I admire a lot.

I didn't know you'd reached out to him first until I saw this comment, Jonathan never mentioned it. So no harm was done.

But I can see that practice causing possible problems and I just want to stamp it out before it does.

Thank you for the warning.
 
Back
Top