For many months, I have debated on whether or not to make my blog private so that I could be less discriminate on the specifics of our lives. However, when it comes to safety and security on the internet, anything you put out there - even if made "private" - can be hacked into if someone who is good at that sort of things really wanted to see it. Undecided, I just kept on doing what I've been doing, but posting a bit less on my family/kids than before.
Finally, I have decided to keep my blog open to all. Let's face it. I really enjoy this blog, and I enjoy sharing it with others. However, I have a lot of cleaning up to do going forward. So, don't be weirded out when you see some of the following changes:
1. I will stop using the real names of my children and husband. In fact, I need to go back through all my old posts (ARGH) and change real names to nicknames. If anyone has any tips on how to do this in a timely manner, I am all ears! And if anyone has a genius nickname to give my hubby, I'm kinda stumped.
2. I will begin water-marking my photos - good, bad and ugly - so that no one can steal them and pretend that my cute kids are actually their cute kids. I will also reduce the photo quality to practically nothing so that they are not usable for anything larger than a thumbnail. Let's face it, there are a bunch of weird, sick people out there... (Thanks to my bloggin' buddy L for the tips on protecting photos.)
3. I will change my url, which currently includes my last name, to reflect the name of the blog instead. I'm not a pro at this stuff, so I'm not sure if this will mess anyone up who follows or reads via email. Sorry if it does! Consider yourself forewarned I guess.
4. I will go through old posts (Argh, again) and remove references to specific locations such as the town we live in. I have been a pretty good girl about this, but I know I've slipped a couple times in the past.
That's all I can think of for now. Dontcha think I've got my work cut out for me? Wish me luck! With all of this housecleaning done, I will be able to continue writing and sharing photos to my heart's content with increased confidence about our security. Not that many people read my blog, but it only takes one sick person, you know.
To you bloggers out there, what am I missing that I need to add to my blog security "to do" list???
Thanks to LeAnna at Thoughts and Whatnots for the encouragement to protect my photos. I've been putting this security stuff off for far too long.
4 comments:
The only other thing I can think of is not to post pictures taken with your phone. I guess smart people can figure out your exact location somehow from phone pictures. I think I will copy your idea for the watermark if I can ever figure out how to take a watermark. Oh boy, now I want to go through and change mine and Scott's names too but that would be going through almost 4 years of blogposts. ugh! If you find a fast way to do it let me know!
I think changing your blog address from your actual name is excellent advice! I've noticed a lot of people have theirs set up like that.
As for going through the old posts, if it's not a big deal to you, you can can just not link back to past posts in your archive (I think you can choose how far back to go) and most people aren't going to jump through hurdles to make their way back through by any other means. Might be an option to think of if going back through them all gets overwhelming.
Amelia, that you for the great idea. I've been uneasy for awhile about how much info there is about our kids. I never put our church, oldest's school, etc. on there, but ...I felt weird about having their names out there.
What does everyone think about having our kids' names on FB. I have mine set to private and only friend...friends, but still...?
LeAnna, thank you for that idea! I have so many videos on my blog, w/ me saying my boys' names that I was just going to make that one private, only invite my fam and start a new NAME FREE one! I'll see if I can figure out how to not "link back."
Thanks all!
I'm okay with using real names on facebook as most of the sickos are after "easy targets" rather than ones that require hacking. However, I still try to leave specific locations out/photos that reveal locations of where we live. I also don't announce when we are going to leave town. You know how often people leave themselves logged in on friends' computers...one of your fb friends could leave themselves logged in at the public library too and then a stranger could have access to your facebook. It's a little more far-fetched, but it's all about playing it safe. So names I'm okay with on fb, but try to keep the rest a little less specific.
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