Garth and I have been talking about what we want to do with out blog-do we want to stay with blogger, go to typepad, wordpress, our own website, those kinds of things. We haven't personally had any weirdo comments on our blog and are wondering how many of you have? We are kind of curious if we are worrying about this all a little too much...or not. Also, we are thinking about having the vague name type thing for our family on our site, but are still discussing the benefits, etc. of it. So, what I am wondering is this:
1) have you had any weirdo comments on your blog, and if so how many?
2) what you think about the safety of blogs, etc. as in-how to make them more "safe," not to go dinosaur age and not have them (not blogging isn't really an option here in case I was too vague)
3)Suggestions for making our blog a little safer
I think that is about it. I know everyone is probably having a crazy summer like we are-so if you don't have time to comment, can you think about it and let me know sometime? Thanks! :-)
PS Have a great day!
**I really appreciate all of the comments made-I had no idea that my post would get such great responses! Thank you all for your input and ideas-we really appreciate it! Have a great Saturday!
16 comments:
You know my feelings about this because you read my blog! ;o)
Did you make those name changes?
It was great to see you guys!
Hopefully we'll make it to San Diego next year....or the year after.
P.S. You'll note that I changed your kids name on my blog. ;o)
I personally see no point in living in fear. I haven't heard one reliable account about something bad happening as a result of a blog. I think going in public is probably 100X more dangerous than the blog. What I get from reading my scriptures is that we are not supposed to live in fear.
well since you asked i'll share my opinion. i seriously think it is ridiculous that people use ficticious names for themselves/family. Honestly, who cares what your name is. Do we not know every athlete, celebrity, politician, etc names, and kids names? And then what? What is the difference if a sex offender thinks your kids name is Billy or thinks it's Mark? What difference does it make? What paranoid society are we living in? Tell your kids not to talk to strangers, trust that they're smart, and live your life. I'm not down with all the fear mongering happening these days.
You should just make your blog private and only those invited can read it. That should make you feel better. Hope you are settling in well!!!!!! :o) Love you guys!
Well...I went private. Two random comments. One claiming he met me and I told him to check out the blog, and another wine finatic from Brazil that found our blog when I made the post "Going Private." I know a girl that had a rediculous amount of hits on her kids bathtime picture. I don't really like the changing name stuff though. I have the blog so family and friends can keep in touch and see what's going on with US. I'm not fearful, but I prefer to know who is looking at my blog. Better safe than sorry.
Why don't you just go private?
Just as a quick response to the private idea...we have connected with some friends from long ago, missions, etc. through blogs that we might not have if we had gone private. So, I personally don't really like the private thing for that reason and because I keep thinking of the comment made by Elder Ballard about sharing the gospel, etc. through blogs. I think people read our blogs and know that Mormons are Christian through the things we say and do, some of which comes from our posts on blogs. Anyway-just my thoughts. I think for now we will stick with what we are doing. Thank you, thank you, everyone for your comments. They all helped and we will continue to reevaluate and give thought to what works best for us! Love you guys! :-)
Here are my thoughts about why we did change our names, etc.
I had a good friend attend a "cyber bullying" conference because she is a school teacher. The stories that she heard are truly terrifying. I would never ever want my children to live through some of the things she mentioned, and even though the chances are slim that it would happen, I love my children too much to take the chance.
Think about this: you are putting your kids names out there....then, you also put their birthdates, etc. That opens them up to identity fraud. The other scenario that we heard a lot about is weirdo's downloading kids photos and using them for not so nice activities.
What if you did put a photo of your child in the tub or in a swim suit out there, and you found out some guy was using it? Would you feel secure then?
As for this blog, I can tell you that I can find a TON of info about G & J out there just with the information they provide. It doesn't take more than a google search.
I'm not trying to scare you, but I am trying to caution you. Our blog has nicknames and all the posts are open for the world to see, except for the post with photos of my kids. I agree that we shouldn't live in fear, but that also doesn't mean that we should take precautions to protect our children.
We check out our babysitters, don't leave our children with strangers, check for sex offenders in our neighborhoods, etc. Why would we be stupid enough to put our entire lives on the internet for people to find? I've even seen people list their addresses (or links to houses they just bought on the realtor site!)...right next to the photos of their pretty little girls and boys. Kinda dumb, like what Janelle was saying about the bumper stickers, but probably worse because names, birthdates, ages and photos are included!!!
I think Janelle would be wise to protect her children. Its wonderful to try and share the Gospel, but should we disregard the safety of our children to do it?
Correction:
I agree that we shouldn't live in fear, but that also doesn't mean that we should not take precautions to protect our children.
Well since I finally figured out how to leave a comment, I thought I would. Personally I have really enjoyed checking in on old family friends through links on yours and other blogs. I have seen an idea that I think is a good compromise, some blogs have an ability to track who goes on the blog and the link they came through. I had the same one from Brazil that Joanna did (I think) and I am pretty sure it is computer generated. One of those that by clicking on it you get junk. I love blogs and have developed a real gratitude for them and the way you can connect with family and some distant friends. Like anything I think it means that we need to be careful, and thoughtful of what we post (some bathtub scenes may not be appropriate for instance), but we can still enjoy the openness of good communication the same way we enjoy General Conference via TV and are careful with the other channels we choose to watch. I think my grandchildren are more at risk at a public park or beach than on a blog.Thanks Janelle for the stimulating conversation. Love, Mom
You were just asking about weird comments?
Well, just tonight Tori got EIGHT ads on her blog comments section....she'd barely posted too!
http://kirkandtoriisom.blogspot.com/2008/08/dinosaur-museum.html
Well, as you know, I made my blog private for awhile, but recently made it public again. I originally made it private because I had some weird comments from people that I didn't know, saying things like, "click here" with links attached (I never clicked to find out what it was). I made it publc again after going to a family reunion & having a lot of comments from extended family saying that they wished they could see it. I've been thinking about going private again, but I don't know. I like that old friends & roommates can find me, but I don't like the idea of lonely, creepy people looking at all the stuff about my kids. I understand we shouldn't live in fear, but we can't be naive either.
I've had some spam comments (very very few) and no weird ones that I can remember. I think as long as you aren't giving away your last name and address, you're totally fine. :-)
~melody~
http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2006/10/12/12pogue-email/
Great post here about privacy paranoia...
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