i read a lot of blogs.
a LOT.
some of the ladies i read use pseudonyms...for themselves, for their children...
some use their first names.
some are just all out in the open--first and last names, where they live...
and to be honest, the blogs i seem to enjoy more are the ones where i know their names, i've seen their faces. let's face it--blogging is letting someone in on a slice of your life. it's creating a virtual "friendship" (even if it's one-sided. i'm fairly certain some of the "bigger" bloggers i read don't know i exist...but we're still bff's in my head) and knowing their names makes it somehow more real...in my delusional fantasies.
wait--am i one of the freaky stalkers?
:o)
here, obviously, i use my name (occasionally), but that's it. for the kiddos i use their nicknames (yes, they do really get called those things).
so i got to wondering...
in this day and age, is it necessary? i want to be a cautious momma, but at the same time--is the internet and blogging the future? is the concept of 'online privacy' really a myth?
a concerned friend sent me a message a couple weeks ago, pointing out that from a few miscellaneous clues in some of my posts/photos she was able to google more info about me.
i was thankful for the heads-up. (even though i've been too lazy thus far to go back and fix those things...:)
then i posted my ultrasound photo, and got a comment from someone about when my birthday was. i was careful to block out the hospital name and my last name, but didn't even notice my birthdate on the picture.
does it matter?
i googled my name and birthdate...and didn't come up with anything. well, i came up with some things--other gals born around me with the name shannon. but not me.
i can't help but think that it's not like i'm hiding myself. i'm listed in the phone book: name, address, telephone number. if you search for me, i can be found. i know people request not to have their name or number in the yellow pages--but for the most part, does anyone think twice about it?
is this the yellow pages of the future?
then i read things like this over at the Spohrs are Multiplying. if that doesn't freak you out nothing will. or another blog i read and enjoyed--blog baby--just recently was taken down because the mom discovered some rather nasty people were looking at her children's photos.
i post my children's photos....can't help but make you think....
so tell me--what do you think? if you hide or, vice-versa, reveal personal info about yourself on your blog--WHY? have you had any positive or negative results from this?
even if you don't blog, what are your thoughts?
Funny story about this. I'm a fairly new blogger and really only got into it for my own amusement. Very shortly after starting my blog, one of my husbands co-workers found it through a google alert on our last name. My husband works in the media and the blog was basically semi-anonymous. But they put two and two together with some tidbits about our life. I had posted some funny stories about typical life happenings. Well my husbands co-workers used the stories to humiliate him. Now I won't take the time to argue the maturity of all this, but it did impact my marriage and ultimately I had to go in a delete a lot of the more fun material on my blog and went very private. And now I've been thinking of going even more private so that I can actually share the things I would like to. Isn't that ironic that I need to be more anonymous to get more open and honest???? As far as the pedophile's go, thats a whole other bowl of soup . . .
ReplyDeleteI feel like it's naive to try to protect yourself against all the bad people on the internet by hiding things. Sure, I don't share every little thing on my blog, but the stuff I keep to myself are more things like intimate stuff between my and my husband, or political leanings, or stuff like that. You know, like what you wouldn't share in polite conversation.
ReplyDeletePeople are going to look at your children no matter where you go - the mall, school, church. No place is really and truly safe. I refuse to live my life in fear of the unknown.
First of all...ick.
ReplyDeleteMy blog was attacked a year and a half ago. We were very anonymous. I didn't use any of our real names, tell where we live...nothing. But someone read some of my child training posts, got very upset and got a huge liberal, feminist group to attack me. Even though I was discreet, in 15 minutes they figured out who we were, where we lived and posted our address on their forums. I was called horrible, vicious things, they called the police and I even got a handful of death threats.
I took the blog private for about 6 months while we prayed about what to do. For us, we felt called to stand up against the darkness and went public. I started a whole new blog and while I don't say where we live, I do use out names. I just didn't matter.
There's no right decision here. The answer will be different for all of us. I sympathize with these sweet families that were just trying to reach out and were abused. It's awful. Lisa~
these are such interesting comments.
ReplyDeletebig boop's thoughts about the irony of having to make her blog more anonymous in order to be more open...crazy. i'm assuming your husband works with adults ;op
miss m--i agree. our children are exposed EVERYWHERE. anyone could take a picture at any time. and the real creepy people that we have actual contact with in person definitely scare me worse than the virtual creeps...but at the same time, is it worth taking that extra risk?
and lisa...interesting to hear from someone who took the opposite approach. when you were attacked and "outed" you became MORE open. personally, i love your child training posts. i'm constantly sharing/using your suggestions.
thanks everyone for your thoughts!!!