Are farewell columns self-serving?

[forever_town]

A freelance writing gig I had for much of 2013 and 2014 came to an end in mid-November last year.

In that gig, I wrote about everything from national news to sports to music to other stuff in between.

I had a two-day window in which I could have written sort of a goodbye column if I chose to, but I decided not to because I felt it would be too self-serving.

I made a similar decision six years prior when I lost my full-time newspaper gig, figuring that writing such a column would be more for me getting schmaltzy or venting spleen rather than for readers I figured probably didn't give a rat's tail about me as a person.

Some farewell columns get praised in these parts, while some others get criticized.

If there's a line between a farewell column that gets praised and one that gets vilified, where's the line? Or are goodbye columns all just a bunch of garbage that no reader really cares about?

 

[outofplace]

They are self-serving, but that doesn't mean they can't also serve the reader. I think it is worth doing if you had a column. You have been speaking to your readers and hopefully creating a connection with them, so it makes sense to say goodbye and offer them some closure as well.

I thought about it with my last job and I think it would have made sense given the ties I created in that community, but I did not get the opportunity.

What you should ask yourself is if you really have something worthwhile to say. If you do, then it deserves praise and damn the rest.

 

[DanOregon]

The best ones tell a story. The worst are like acceptance speeches with a list of people being thanked.

 

[Smasher_Sloan]

A two-year stay somewhere really doesn't merit one.

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

They're ridiculously self-serving and unnecessary 99.999999999 percent of the time.

 

[outofplace]

A two-year stay somewhere really doesn't merit one.

Just as with any column, it is the content that determines its merit.

 

[steveu]

If you've been in a market over 20-25 years and you are well-known... and you weren't forced out the door (a rarity in this buyout/layoff/furlough obsessed business these days, IMO)... then yes, I'd say you could get away with one.

Otherwise, I'm in agreement. Two or three years in a city? Meh.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

I worked 18 years at one paper with 10 as the SE. I wrote a standard preseason football column and tacked on a final few grafs that I was leaving. I didn't want to do 14 inches about me. Two seemed enough (that's what she said).

 

[expendable]

I wrote one when I left my shop as SE after a 15 year stay, but I struggled with it for many of the reasons stated above. In the end, I decided to write it simply because I wanted to.

 

[Matt Stephens]

I think it depends on a mixture of what your job is, how long you've been there and what your connection to the community you serve is. I hadn't planned on writing one for my first stop out of college, but I was asked to and happily did so, even though I was only there a year. At my current shop, if/when I leave, I'll write one because A) I'm a columnist, and B) I've been around here for most of the past decade and have gotten to know readers quite well. It would feel weird to not say goodbye to folks I care about.

It all depends on the author and their situation.

 

[CD Boogie]

A freelance writing gig I had for much of 2013 and 2014 came to an end in mid-November last year.

In that gig, I wrote about everything from national news to sports to music to other stuff in between.

I had a two-day window in which I could have written sort of a goodbye column if I chose to, but I decided not to because I felt it would be too self-serving.

I made a similar decision six years prior when I lost my full-time newspaper gig, figuring that writing such a column would be more for me getting schmaltzy or venting spleen rather than for readers I figured probably didn't give a rat's tail about me as a person.

Some farewell columns get praised in these parts, while some others get criticized.

If there's a line between a farewell column that gets praised and one that gets vilified, where's the line? Or are goodbye columns all just a bunch of garbage that no reader really cares about?

Yes, they are self-serving -- and so is asking people if they're self-serving

 

[MeanGreenATO]

Self-serving, without a doubt.