If I am a professional in something, why not use Fluther to promote my business by using my real name as a user name?

Sure, it’ll get flagged and removed. You can’t use Fluther to spam people for your benefit. Alex had to ask permission to even share his CD which is free online.

I have seen a Dr. use his real name as a username ... the person is an active member of Fluther.

Yes, not allowed, because Fluther is Q & answer site, not a promotional site like Facebook or Linkedin.

Self-promotion is not allowed on the site.

We have a lot of users who have their own businesses and/or purveyors of products. After a while as they answer questions, you get to know this. I have used the PM feature to contact them privately about their businesses or things that I could tell that they knew about, and where I could find a product that I was looking for.
They in no way advertised or promoted their business in their posts, but they were helpful to me privately.

@talljasperman: He really is Dr. Rarebear?

Most professional people deal in a limited area of expertise and a limited geographic area, be they lawyers, physicians, dentist, accountants. I hold a profession license in my home state of North Carolina and my authority to do business is limited to this State.
I would see no point in soliciting business on Fluther when the jellies come from all over the world. There would be no point in doing it.

On the other hand, people whose profession involves disciplines that can be solicited, performed and completed on the web might see some benefit from some self-publicity on Fluther.

But your audience on Fluther is very limited and people on Fluther are looking for advice or solutions but not looking to engage someone to do a project for them..You could make a connection with a possible customer if you give advice either publicly or privately on Fluther but I don’t think that trolling for customers here is of much use to a professional. One’s time would be better served by working on public forums devoted to an area of one’s expertise.

My emails, Facebook, Linked-In, post office box are all filled with people trying to get me to fork over money or support their cause. I’m sure at least 50% of the Jellies could benefit from hawking something on Fluther, but there are puuuhh-leeenty of other venues for that.

Fluther is our oasis from puppy dog eyes and outstretched hands. As for me, the rule is greatly appreciated. Peddle elsewhere :)

@linguaphile you really think that many people sell stuff? I can’t think of very many people who sell things. Mostly they work for other people, including me. I’d be very surprised if there were more than a handful of jellies who make a living running their own retail businesses.

Pssst..who wants to buy my hybridized morning glory seeds, a Jack La Lane juicer, my Burkina faso gourd drums, my DVD collection and some really cool buckskin cavalry riding gloves?
Yard sale @ Colomas soon! lol

It’s called spam. I imagine posts can be flagged for that, but I haven’t actually checked.

@wundayatta Not just sell stuff, but have things they want to promote at one time or another. It’s not just selling I’m talking about.

Fluther is part of my fun time. I’d rather save the shameless self-promotion for work hours.

Plus, the best thing about the advice here is that it’s useful. Self promotion is only useful to one person, the self-promoter. A give-and-take of knowledge is useful to everyone.

@Ranimi23 Other people do use their real names here This Doctor is an example of this. There are people here that use their profile page for self-promotion. I’d name them, but we aren’t allowed to name people in threads. PM me for details if you want.

If you want to use your name and have the same name on your business, I don’t see what the problem would be unless you were doing it to spam. You’d just be using your expertise to answer/ask here.