So, for quite some time I have been pondering on the whole idea of a "private" blog. Last night I went out with some girlfriends that I used to work with before my mission, and we got talking on the subject...in a round about way. Some pretty disturbing things were brought up, and I was led back to thinking: "Should
I make our blog private?" I have tried to make it as safe as possible without using last names, or giving specific birthdates or anything along those lines. But is that safe enough? So, I need your help. Lets have a discussion on the pros and cons of having an open blog vs. having a private blog.
Now, I know there are people out there who look at our blog and never comment. I'm sure I don't even know all the people that stop in to see how we're doing. I do it to others, so don't worry--I understand. I really do want to hear
everyone's point of view on this.
Let the comments begin!
13 comments:
Decide what your main goal is.
If you want to write a blog that people can read, going private prevents that. People with rss readers (google reader for example) will not see your updates and will be less likely to read your blog anyway. If people aren't reading your blog, what's the point of blogging.
If you would rather control who can read what you post online, you would be safer simply sending out an email to the people you want to communicate with.
As my college computer security teacher used to say, "If you want to be safe online, use a cinder block instead of a computer."
I have been thinking about this too. I probably will eventually. There are a lot of creepy people out there. On a happier note- your family picture is BEAUTIFUL!!
I had put a live feed on my blog. Its easy and you can see every person who looks at your blog. Ive been thinking about it for a while too??
I like the idea of a live feed. I'll have to see where you got it.
Keep the comments coming! I know I don't have many friends who have gone private, but it would be interesting to hear their reasons...
I wouldn't blame you for going private. I fully intend on going private once we have adopted, but for now we need the advertising, the more people the better.
I think it's weird when countries like Bahrain, Iran, and Israel pop up on my stats. It's just unsettling...
Anyway, it just fully depends on if you want just people you know to look at your blog or if you want anyone to be able to find it...
If you go to my first blog its on there, www.katiezack.blogspot.com I believe you just click on it and you can add your own. I need to put it on my new one by the way...
I don't know if I want to go private I haven't had anything happen that would make me worry about going private. What are some of the things that happened to others? My sister went private for a little bit and she said that people that she had invited were having a hard time viewing her blog.. I don't know I don't think I want to go private.
I emailed you my comments.
Alright, I'll just post here.
Hi friend, Since I am a private blogger, I can provide that point of view.
I personally am happy to be a stalker, but I am not that excited about being stalked myself. There's one reason I am private myself. :) I really don't want just old random people, like ex-boyfriends or whatev, checking up on me that I don't know about. And I don't want to worry when I am writing that people that I didn't want to read it are reading it. I don't know. I am just weird that way. I want to write freely, and post pictures freely, knowing that people I love and trust are the only ones looking.
I do feel bad that my blog doesn't update people on when I last posted, like says the date for them so they don't have to just check up and forget to stop by. And for the first time they log in, I feel bad they have to sign in and I had two people comment they needed help on how to get in. But I have 70 readers or something, so that wasn't too big of a problem. I feel bad about that small inconvenience, but once a person is in, there computer never makes them log in again. So the good outweighs the bad. So the transition is a bit of a pain, but then it's smooth sailing.
I do have a live feed on our blog, but that doesn't help with stalkers. There could be a stalker in my neighborhood for crying out loud, and that posts the same thing as when I myself get on my blog (American Fork logged on, etc.). I am more worried about the stalkers close to home than far away!
And this leads me to the biggest reason: I was watching Law & Order once, which I never do, and it was a show about people that get off on little kids, and they just look at their photos online and watch them grow up, and have fantasies about them, and stare at their pictures as they do things. THAT WAS ENOUGH FOR ME. Whether that is a big risk or a small risk, I want ZERO risk when it comes to that.
So there you have it!
Like I said, I really wish my blog still gave people the date of when I last posted, so I feel bad I don't provide that, but I've decided private is best for me.
Good luck in the decision. I will say one thing, almost every person that is public is facing this question, and whether you decide to go private now or not, I do believe you will keep wondering later if you should. So you have to ask yourself, should I just go private now? Cause I think most people eventually will...I don't know. Like I can't imagine your worries would one day go away and you'd never worry about going private again, ya know?
Food for thought.
Are you surprised I am the friend that wrote you an essay? Sorry.
I'm taking my blog private next weekend because there are enough strange people out there. I have pretty girls and I would be devistated if something awful happened to one of them because someone knew one of their names from my blog. Kids just trust too much and my husband is very untrusting of the world. I didn't want to do it, but if I can avoid the danger of having my kids hurt by doing something as simple as making my blog private, I will.
I have the same dilema everyday almost. Eric thinks it a hassel having to sign into see other people's blogs and sometimes it's fun to run into someone's blog to see how they are doing once in a while. I am paranoid and keep telling him I want to go private but I understand his point of view. Either way we want to be able to see your blog so let us know what you decide.
Ok, this is a little old but I wanted to leave my .02 anyway.
Of course going private is a personal decision, but I am against it, only because I don't want to restrict family/friends who are reading my blog or old friends that might come across my blog via another blog friend's page.
One thing you can do is to not have your blog appear in search engine results. You can change this under "settings" on your dashboard. So if someone googles "A Team" or "Lindsay and Brock" your blog will not come up in the search results. I really feel like this is enough to keep random strangers from coming across my blog. And if they do, I try to limit specific personal info anyway. I guess I think the only people who will see my blog are friends or at least people who know my friends...I've tried googling stuff from my blog just in case, and it's never come up.
Anyway, I don't have kids, so I may feel differently if I did...but I think you are being cautious and that is what is important. If you do go private, please invite me! :-)
Cute holiday pics too!
With all the work I have done with sex offenders, I'll tell you what I know. You may not want to hear it, but here it is...in a computer safety conference I attended they laughed about private blogs or facebook accounts b/c they said any of your basic hacker can get past the security settings with no problem. The truth is if someone deviant wants to see your blog, they can access it with or without it being private. I am sorry to say that a private setting only stops stupid criminals/perverts and the world is full of smart ones. So I would say stay public, but do what you are doing in not mentioning specifics about names/dates/addresses, etc. Good luck.
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