I was a writer for the St. Petersburg Times from 1987-1993, and one of the first pieces of advice I got (I think I heard it initially from then managing editor Mike Foley) was “get the dog’s name.”

That turned out to be an old journalism saw encouraging writers to get as much detail as possible.

During my tenure at the Times, I don’t remember if I ever got the dog’s name. As the pop music critic, I didn’t have many opportunities (maybe if I interviewed someone at their house and they had a pooch).

Apparently, getting the dog’s name is still part of the modus operandi at the newspaper. In today’s front-page story about a young man, James Kenneth McElroy, who attacked his family in Tampa, Thomas Kaplan writes:

Another neighbor, Bob Torres, 56, never got to meet [the family]. On Tuesday night, Torres and his son had been walking their German shepherd, Jason, when they passed the McElroy family's small, olive-colored ranch house, its lawn in need of a mowing.

That reads kind of silly to me. I really don’t care what the dog’s name is. As an adage, “get the dog’s name” works, but as far as including it in the copy, not so much.

This story falls into the "The road to hell is paved with good intentions" catagory:

Last week, Virgin Mobile and the National Network For Youth embarked on a web campaign to raise clothing donations for homeless youth. Yawn, right? So to ratchet up support for the benefit, they encouraged the young and altruistic to post strip tease videos on their website. The more views on their stripping posts, the more donations of new clothes they’d provide. The website name says it all: Strip2Clothe.com (go ahead, I'll wait).

Their slogan is just as catchy: "Take off yours, we donate ours."

Not surprisingly, a firestorm ensued, most notably by some of the charities under the NN4Y umbrella.

From the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

"Strip2Clothe" has sparked outrage among NN4Y's own members. Some groups say they were never consulted about the concept and are appalled by the idea of young people stripping as a means to get clothes for other young people. The organizations' names have since been taken off the site.

"It was a shock to everybody," said Trudee Able-Peterson, coordinator of outreach services at StreetWorks, a Twin Cities collaborative of outreach programs. "This is the message we send kids? That my granddaughter, who's 17, should strip to provide clothes for other kids?"

Rebecca Lentz, a spokeswoman for Catholic Charities, called it "distasteful and inappropriate and exploitative. We never authorized this nor were we ever approached to be involved."

At first glance, the concept seems a little edgy and innovative. But then you start thinking about all those homeless youth that are on the street because of sexual abuse. While full nudity is prohibited, there is no limit on ages. Hmmm ... on second thought, maybe having young people strip on the web for all sorts of pedophiles is not such a good idea.

The Star-Tribune reports the folks at Virgin Mobile and NN4Y are re-evaluating the concept, too. But they haven't ended the campaign.

So, what do you think? Were the folks at Virgin (oh!) thinking outside the box, or are they a bunch of pervs?

You know, sometimes this newspaperin' gig is pretty depressing. Especially when you look at the kind of comments us journalists receive on our online news stories.

Fortunately, here at CL, I think we do pretty good. Our commenters tend to be fairly educated and enlightened folks, despite what their profile icons might tell you.

And, honestly, I don't mind the online readers over at Tampabay.com either. Sure, you have a disproportionate amount of bitter white hairs, but overall, you can glean some interesting opinions from those comments.

But on TBO.com, the average commenter is a whole 'nother animal. Consider the comments on yesterday's story about my namesake, Alexander Pickett, who died after jumping off the Gulfport Pier:

Posted by ( Shadow59 ) on July 9, 2008 at 8:33 a.m.

If he jumped from the pier that doesn't make him a swimmer, just makes him an idiot.

Posted by ( jdickerson ) on July 9, 2008 at 10:19 a.m.

swimmer or sinker?

Posted by ( Shadow59 ) on July 9, 2008 at 2:18 p.m.

rikasflash-

If you feel my comment was senseless, feel free to jump off the pier in the next storm and see what happens. Unless you think that would be too stupid.

Man, that's cold.

And then today, in a story about some homeless dude to died on Tampa Street next to a van:

Posted by ( fugger ) on July 10, 2008 at 10:40 a.m.

why is this a story?

Posted by ( DarthRandall ) on July 10, 2008 at 11:21 a.m.

Another senseless Hobocide. How tragic.

Posted by ( Quagmire ) on July 10, 2008 at 11:11 a.m.

Was the homeless man found near an inoperable van down by the river?

Okay, I admit, that last one was pretty funny.

Is anyone with me on this? Examples?

So, I woke up dead this morning. Well, not me, but my namesake, another Alexander Pickett. Another 27-year-old Alexander Pickett.

I got a call this morning from the Creative Loafing HQ after our HR director received some calls about the fellow Pickett, who died last night after jumping off the Gulfport Pier. According to news reports, this man was relaxing with friends and family when he decided to jump into the Gulf. He quickly lost control of the situation and had trouble keeping his head above water. Bystanders and friends jumped in to save him, but he went under and never came back up. Authorities recovered his body about five hours later, 50 feet from where he jumped.

Sad story. My condolences go out to his family. Us Alexander Picketts are good, decent people.

Of course, this is the only other Alexander Pickett I've ever heard about. Search my name on Google and you pretty much come up with me. Search my full name, "Alexander Pickett," and you'll come up with references to an actor. I can't find a MySpace page for the dude. No other info on him except for these news reports.

The whole situation is a little surreal, seeing my/his name and age. And living in the same county as me. I keep reading the news reports, my name popping out every time. I wonder if he read Creative Loafing and saw my/his name. I wonder if he hated that, or if he used it to get the ladies. I wonder if I would've ever met him and whether we'd be great drinking buddies, just because we share the name.

I was just on that pier a month ago. I remember thinking, "I wonder how deep this water is?" I've definitely done some dangerous stunts like smoking salvia and agreeing to be waterboarded. And those are just the ones you read about.

Reminder: Call grandma and save her from a Times-induced heart attack.

Just got another e-mail from someone wondering if I’m alive. It’s touching. Thanks everyone. Sorry, folks, but you can’t get rid of me that easily.

I'm going to keep looking into who this guy was (maybe there will be a photo released?). But in the meantime, tonight, I think I'll celebrate. Just because I'm alive.