In praise of praise

November 14, 2011 Editor Bit of fun freelance lifepraise

[caption id="attachment_2185" align="alignnone" width="580" caption="Screen shot from Freelancethanks.com."][/caption]

Working independently has its benefits, but consistently receiving encouragement and thanks is not one of them. Editors don't always take—or have—the time to give positive feedback and, when dealing with freelancers, some employers think putting a cheque in the mail is praise enough. Some days, it isn't.

"Is there an app for that? No, but there is a website.

Freelancethanks.com is a random-praise generator that doles out encouraging exclamations to brighten a freelancer's day. Messages like "Brilliant!" greet users on the site's landing page. But if one compliment isn't enough, hitting the "More!" button keeps the generic praise a-comin'. "You nailed that deadline!" "Awesome stuff!"

The site, designed by DRAWINGISGOOD's Adam Shield, has a matching Twitter account (just created last week). From its About page:

Freelance Thanks is a pat on the back when you’ve done something great, but there’s no one there to congratulate you. Maybe you’re self employed and you work from home or you’re a student working away in a library. Working alone can often be tough. Sometimes all you need is someone to say, good job! Well Freelance Thanks is here to do just that.

You can also ask for "more personalised thanks" by email or through Twitter.

Maybe having to ask for thanks deflates the benefit a bit, but, hey, it can't hurt.

Hat tip to Brigitte Noel and Matthew Braga.

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Canadian author alleges publisher and U.K. writer stole idea for children's book [caption id="attachment_2093" align="alignnone" width="580" caption="Covers of the book published by Scholastic (left) and Carruthers' self-published book."][/caption]We recently shared the story of a freelancer who suspected a profile idea she had pitched was…