Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Going Private?

I really don't want to go private, but am thinking I just might have to....dang it! I've just had some visitors from odd places and a few comments that make me nervous. SO...leave me your info and I will send you an invite...

What do YOU think? Is there a real danger to blogging publicly?

19 comments:

Audrey said...

I don't blog publicly, it gives way too much personal information to anyone out there who happens to come along...
hunt.audrey@gmail.com

chrissy said...

i've personally never heard of anything bad happening to anyone from blogging, but it always made me second guess what i was writing and who would be watching. the downside to going private is that it cut my comments and visits down to a fraction of what i was use to seeing, but the good side is that there's total piece of mind knowing that only people you want to be reading are reading.

if you decide to do it, add me :)

chrissy.bailey at hotmail.com

Rae said...

Hey, Kristy! I'd love to be invited--camerae at gmail dotcom

Rae said...

By the way--it's Rae. My "new" Blogger name is LuLu (my family nickname actually)...in case you were weirded out by the name! ;)

Andrea said...

As you know, my blog is private. Sometimes I want to go back to being a public blog to make it easier on "my readers" (knowing that I've updated, not having to login, etc.), but then I don't want to have to watch what I write about my family, so I've stayed private.

I would like to be invited.

Sherrie said...

I've never had any problem being public and I haven't heard of anyone experiencing any type of real danger. I guess it could be out there though. If you go private please add me. smcarpenter67@bresnan.net

Heather said...

I have been debating the same thing.
hdmp06@gmail.com.

Anna said...

I'm not sure, I like the easy access of public but sometimes it is worrisome. I do enjoy reading your blog so if you go private I'd like and invite, do you need my email?

rachaeljanae said...

I know I'm the extreme minority on this issue, but I think it's pretty paranoid to go private because you are worried about your kids' safety. It's like my neighbor who won't let her 5 and 4 year old play in their fenced backyard by themselves because of "all the people that are just hanging around." I've never seen anyone just hanging around our neighborhood--and please, you just have to assume some acceptable risk to remain sane!

Has anyone heard of any problems with stalking a family of little children because of what their mom posted on a blog? It would definately make the news. I've gotten a few weird and random comments too, but I don't post our last name, address or telephone number, so they would have to do some homework to track us down and be a bad guy to want to do anything with that info. I just don't believe criminals work that hard for my one family in a million that happens to have a blog.

Besides all that, the main reason I blog is to keep in contact with my family and most of the important ones are grandmas who can barely work their email, let alone get a gmail account.

OK, that's my rant. If you decide to go private, please add me because I really enjoy keeping up with your family!

Lara Neves said...

I guess I'm also in the minority on this one. I don't see the point in going private and I refuse to live in fear that some random person from India is going to come kidnap my children. :)

As far as the odd comments go, it's mostly just people advertising their own blogs/business. They'll do a search for something that applies to their company and then comment on all blogs that happen to use those search terms. Or they'll just go to blogger and troll through the recently updated blogs.
While annoying, the comments are not intended to scare you. You could always go to comment moderation if that's what bothers you.

The internet is big, and I figure I'm way too small for anyone to concern themselves with me. I try not to have my last name mentioned, but it has gotten mentioned before I started being more careful.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. If you decide to go private, I'd love to be included, but since I can't read with a reader I don't check the private ones very much.

lalakme at gmail dot com

Sherilyn said...

Please include me s_neuenswander@yahoo.com. Love keeping up on whats happening in your little world

Lara Neves said...

A couple more things (sorry, I'm a little invested in this topic...I seem to leave these types of comments whenever a friend decides to go private.) :)

Avoid posting pictures of your kids in just a diaper or underwear, and if you do, don't say that. That is a big problem with blogging, there are a lot of weirdos who want to find those types of pictures. I read about your comment from the guy with free wallpaper, and it was probably him advertising his porn sites because you had the word underwear in your posts. Little tweaks like that will keep those creeps out. They're just googling those words and that's how they find you, again, all in the name of advertising.

When your blog is public you have to realize that someone might find it and like to read it. That's totally fine with me. That's part of why I blog, to make connections with other people. If someone enjoys what I write, that makes me happy, even if they're just lurking. My blog is less about my family as it is about my thoughts and such, even though I write plenty about my life and family. Anyway, I just think you need to really think about why you're blogging. If it's really only for friends and family, then private is probably the best way to go, so you know who can look. Unfortunately, blogger only lets you invite 100 people to look at your blog when it's private.

Jason and Andrea Wilcock said...

Maren is ADORABLE! I love that Kelly adores her.

I like being "private" with my blog, then I don't worry about ANYTHING I post. I can post whatever and use more details. Here's my email: lati97@yahoo.com.

Take care!

midRae said...

I seriously have not thought about this one way or the other. I just post what I want when I want and try to avoid the last name, address, or phone number. I had fun with nicknames but I don't use them for the whole family. Granted, I haven't been doing this for long so I don't see the traffic that other see, so in my mind, I just don't have a problem. I would love to continue reading if you do go private, so please include me. You can find me at munkfam at infowest dot com.

midRae said...

My oldest did warn me about posting pictures with people's license plates visible. I really hadn't thought about it. I guess I don't think alot, I just do. Good luck with the decision.

Jen said...

I go back and forth on this one too. But in the end, I fear it may scare away some of my less techno readers (grandparents, mainly) who already need coaxing to check our blog. Plus, I've reconnected with lota of old friends who found me or who I found through the blogs of common acquaintances, and I'd be sad to think I was cutting off that opportunity. So, hmm... no great advice from me. But if you do go private, add me, please:
burt at suu dot edu

Tiffany said...

Dont leave me out when you do go private! hawkefam at gmail.com!

Unknown said...

I am still public just for the fact that I have found many people that I wouldn't have it I had been private. I would just put a tracker on your blog to see who has been there.
If you do go private add me though.
green_p_12@hotmail.com

Jeanine said...

Hey Kristy, if you go private will you add me. I love reading your posts jeanine dot parson at hotmail dot com. Thanks.