It wasn't always printed at the bottom of the column, but it was always disclosed. If someone wanted to talk to the columnist, they didn't correspond at length

It wasn't always printed at the bottom of the column, but it was always disclosed. If someone wanted to talk to the columnist, they didn't correspond at length with journalists under the fake name. Or claim that Abigail Van Buren was unavailable due to travel. Contemporaneous newspaper articles discussing the writers behind the columns are easy to find.[1] [1](https://www.nytimes.com/1971/05/18/archives/a-rival-for-ann-landers-and-dear-abby-but-its-in-the-family.html https://www.nytimes.com/1971/05/18/archives/a-rival-for-ann-...)