Where do you draw the line when it comes to how much information you give out on the web?
It’s a question that has been running through my mind for weeks now. It’s something that I’ve been slightly paranoid about since I started my blog, but especially since I read the blog Mama Still Wears Gucci. Her blog is one that I adore (she’s hilarious) & when I stumbled upon her link Loving the Hate I was laughing out loud at her hilarious comments to people who had left her hate mail. But at the same time I was totally shocked that people said some of things they said to her.
She explained why she was getting hate mail in one of her weekly “Douche of the Week” posts. For one reason or another she had some trouble with people finding out her personal info (she goes into detail about it in the link above) and things got a little scary for her & her family.
Which lead to me to think: Should I use my son’s name? Should I use my husband’s name? Do I want to give out my last name? Or what about my town? I have wanted to write about a few places that I love to visit around town. For Lboy’s birthday I want to write about the local bakery that’s making his Dr. Seuss cake, but that hesitation of, “Don’t do it, it’s too much information” always gets the best of me. And my town is small, I have a gloriously beautiful an unusual last name, it’s not like I live in NYC or the OC or some big place where tons of people live, I’d be pretty easy to find once that info was out there (everyone is trying to find me don’t you know that?!)
So whenever I have a blogging question, I turn to Ericka at Alabaster Cow. She gives out her & her husband’s name, her daughter’s name, their last name, & she has a site dedicated to Supporting local businesses in her hometown (which is something I have been wanting to do for ages where I live, but I’m not sure if I should.) I wanted to know why she felt comfortable to do this or what her reasons were (I pretty much turn to her for everything when I have a question and some of my favorite things about my blog I have done because she did it first–I discover a lot of thing over at her place! lol)
She told me, “I started the blog to promote my writing and in order to put my stuff on the internet I needed to put my first and last name for copyright purposes. Plus, I have a number of things out on the internet (stories, poetry, contest info) that has my name as a published writer so I wasn’t too worried about it. I then figured if I had my name and info out there it really wasn’t going to do me any good to pretend Ava’s name was any different – her name’s already on facebook, listed at the hospital where I gave birth on their site, etc. So even if you think people can’t find that info, they can. I just make it easier for them lol! 🙂 But really you need to do what’s comfortable for you!!”
Now I turn to you dear bloggy friends, how do you approach the security of your blog? What are your reasons for giving or not giving out information? Enlighten & help me please!
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Comments are down–AGAIN! As much as I love disqus, I have been having so many problems with them the last two days! I may have to get rid of it–their site said that they were uploading something last night–hmmmmm…….
If you have something you want to tell me, I would love to hear what you think about this–
email me at mymommymonologues@gmail.com!
Thanks!!!
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UPDATE ON COMMENTS: I think they are back up & working now….I’m giving disqus a few more days of a “trial run” and if it’s not working I’ll be switching back to blogger comments! I just love disqus because it gives me the opportunity to write back to each & every single person individually! *Fingers Crossed it Keeps Working*
Thank you to all who wrote me via email today! You gave me something to think about & discern about where I want to take my blog….I might do an update post on this one because of the very cool emails! Thanks again!
I'm pretty cautious about what information I put out on the web…I prefer not to use my name, location beyond region, or names of my family members…I use pictures though. Its everyone's comfort level!
I'm fairly cautious as well; we live in Houston (so I don't have to worry about the small town thing) and I'm open about that.
But, my kids and husband have nicknames (although, a couple of vlogs have revealed their real names) and if we are ever going to be out of town, I don't blog about it until AFTER the event. Oh, yeah — and my address isn't discussed (but, it could be found online if anyone searched).