I've noticed a little bit of blog hysteria going on today. Several of my friends are making their blogs private. Of course, this sparked my interest.I spent a long time thinking about what to do with my blog. I do blog pictures of my kids but I never considered having my blog be private. I must say, I continued to dwell on this for most of the day. Maybe I felt pressed to make a decision because today is election day and it's a big decision making day. Or maybe it's just that the weather is terrible and I needed something to fend off the boredom.
Well, I've thought long and hard about this and maybe it's TMI but I even prayed about it. I watched the KSL story (I'm confident this is the source of the before mentioned hysteria.) I also surfed the web a little to get a bigger picture. Today I went to KSL.COM to read the text from the news story. I was very interested in the comments that people left.
I noticed that there were some flaws in the news story. I feel this way about news coverage in general. They dwell on the negative and inflammatory parts of a story. They aren't usually very good at showing both sides of an argument. I think sometimes news stories tend to encourage panic.
I think we need to nudge our lawmakers and make sure the laws keep up with technology. But I don't want to hideout until they fix it. I believe bloggers can be cautious without going private. I know there are risks to blogging but there are also risks involved in driving to the grocery store.
For the sake of election day...Here is where I stand
I will not live in fear.
I will share my beliefs through my blog.
I think fear has a lot to do with why our country is in crisis at the moment. People are afraid to believe in our financial system and it can't run when everyone is holding back. Fear also causes people to be less friendly when they are out in public and it keeps the community from pulling together. (Disclaimer: I am not a financial analyst or a politician, just a citizen.)
I want anyone who happens to come across my blog to stop, find out a little bit about me and possibly click on the picture of Christ on my sidebar. I hope that anyone who reads my blog will see that I believe in family. I hope that they can laugh a little and see that I am human. I refuse to blog solely about the good things in my life or only about my talents. (I call that blog-bragging.) I also want them to see how happy my children are living in our family. People have gotten very confused about families. This world could use some good role models and I want to try to be one.
Having said this, I will note that I do not use my blog as a journal. I write about silly things, special things, and a lot about life. But my journal is separate. I believe that journal entries are sacred to our future family members and shouldn't be broadcast over the Internet. This is just my opinion and I want to say that anyone using their blog as a journal has every right to do so and should definitely go private.
Please don't think that I'm being naive about blogging. I'll say it again, I think you can be cautious without going private. I have taken certain precautions, for instance, I review all comments before they are published. I also avoid things like marriage dates, exact birth dates and addresses of homes and schools. One of my woes is actually that my blog seems so vague.
But being able to link from blog to blog through my family and friends was the greatest reason that I fell in love with blogging. If everyone goes private, I won't be able to catch up with an old friend that I find on a mutual friend's blog. Nor will I be pleasantly surprised when one of my cousins finds my blog through another family member's blog.
The average reader might say, "They can email you and get invited." Well, human nature makes me think that people would be more likely to say, "Oh, darn, her blog is private." and head off to another link rather than put themselves out there by asking to be invited. Anyway, isn't asking to be invited what Facebook is for?
And I want people to know that I'm here. And more importantly, I want them to know I BELIEVE. I want them to know that everybody has hard days. I want them to laugh with me and cry with me and share ideas with me. So, go ahead and come back to my blog because I'm not going private. (But if you are, I really want to be invited!)
Boy, it sure takes me a lot of words to get to my point!
Keeping safety in mind is a great thing and so here are some links that you might want to follow.
Track visitors on your blog
http://www.histats.com/
Child abduction and molestation are often committed by someone the child knows. Check out this link for perpetrators in your area.
http://corrections.utah.gov/asp-bin/sonar.asp?m=1
Utah has a cool new law about freezing your credit. There are a lot of articles about it but I like this one.
http://attorneygeneral.utah.gov/932.html
Maybe you shred everything but what about when the postman puts your credit card offer in the wrong mailbox?
https://www.optoutprescreen.com/?rf=t
Week 12: Transitions in Marriage
9 years ago
6 comments:
Thanks for that Marion. I changed mine for KSL and for another reason. I kinda let my feelings about Obamah get to me. I really just had a hard time with one of these women on my mommies board. She feels that its okay to have abortions and that its okay to have Gay Civil rights and so on and so forth.
I am fearing that she will find where I live and things like that. Anyways so a long story short there are some people who hate me. My SIL who is married to my brother really hates me and that its hard to feel safe.
I mean I pray and I feel a peace I just dont want to have someone take or change my freedom. If that makes sense.
Now with that said can I be invited to see Aleksis blog? I would love to see her art. I am always so impressed by it.
WOW I cannot write small its hard. Now I know how you feel.
I read that article and the comments just like you. And I, too, feel okay staying public for now. My frustration is when OTHER people comment on my blog or talk about me in their own and give out my location or more personal information. That frustrates me.
I've found so many old friends through blogging. There are many more that I would love to come in contact with, but they've made their blogs private and I don't have their e-mail addresses so there's no way to ask for an invite! It's sad to me I won't be able to ever connect with them.
I really do understand others' desires to make their blog private, and maybe in time I'll feel the same way.
Good for you! If you did go private then I wouldn't be able to snoop!
Well said, Mj. And I have been thinking about this as well. I agree with you - we can be careful without being paranoid. (Also, I noticed that some of the people having problems with thier blog discovered that it was members of their own family that were terrorizing them!) And I love that you said there is danger in going to the grocery store - because I had the EXACT same thought!
It is always so good to read your blog. You are a very uplifting spiritual person. I never have stop looking up to you, and hope to be just like you someday. I figured since I don't ever see you I wanted to tell you that Nick and I are having another baby. It was a little unexepted, but we are excited. Well love ya!
I am glad that you are keeping your blog open. I wanted too, but i realized that i have too much private info on mine like our last name and our birthdays. My sister also had a little incident where she had someone leaving rude posts on hers. My mother-in-law is also going crazy with my blog because she says that just anyone can print off pictures of my kids and they can get way to much info. I wasn't as careful as you are. Actually i have no idea where you even live. I would love for you to still be able to read my blog. Please email me at ekmkggj@q.com so that i can sent you back an invite. I am having a lot of fun getting to know you. You are a beautiful person.
Kellie
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