Hiya! I'm starting to upload art from an artist that has never had his stuff put on e621 before. He has an online name that he posts under, but as he works professionally he also uses his real name a fair bit online too.
When I create his artist tag, which do I use - his professional name or his online handle?

Use the artist handle. I really couldn’t imagine a reason to use their real name, especially in this day and age where doxxing and harassment are more common than any of us would like it to be.

BlackLicorice said:
Use the artist handle. I really couldn’t imagine a reason to use their real name, especially in this day and age where doxxing and harassment are more common than any of us would like it to be.

Yeah, that's what I thought, but I guess it's a bit different with him being an established industry professional - it might actually be easier to find his art online using his real name.

Deerpression said:
Yeah, that's what I thought, but I guess it's a bit different with him being an established industry professional - it might actually be easier to find his art online using his real name.

Add the artist handle, than suggest alias for the artist name as well as any other names you know of to said artist handle

Use whatever name the artist has posted the work under. There are artists who deliberately keep their professional and "prurient" identities separate, for the specific reason that they're worried about damaging their careers or losing out on opportunities.

BlackLicorice said:
Use the artist handle. I really couldn’t imagine a reason to use their real name, especially in this day and age where doxxing and harassment are more common than any of us would like it to be.

Why do we use "keanon woods" instead of "blackrat" then

PheagleAdler said:
Why do we use "keanon woods" instead of "blackrat" then

Because the old administration was a bunch of assholes that insisted to use the real name "so they can't just switch aliases and cause a bunch of work for us".