A comment that MJH posted a few days ago has brought a thought to my mind that I have had previously on occasion. I've gone back and forth on whether or not I should include specific information on my family on my blog. I have a friend who, up until recently, did not include any actual names in her stories.
The obvious reason for this would be the safety of the kids, but I do wonder how big of an issue it really is. I can go into the obvious list of pros and cons, but instead I think I will just take a poll.
Please comment on what you would do. Would you protect your family and not include specific names, places, or even pictures? Or would you just hope for the best and post what you know your friends and family would like to see? Or would you do something in between, such as no names but pictures are ok? Be honest. If it were you and your children...
12 comments:
I choose to leave my family completely anonymous. It's not that I'm worried about someone using that information for stalking them (either in virtual space or meatspace). What I want to provide them is plausible deniability. The things I post on the internet are permanent. I've been on the internet since 1988, and stuff that I posted back then is still available!!
I suspect that this stuff is never going away. As a result, I really don't want anyone (especially when my kids are teens) going and googling their names and finding stories about them that I thought cute enough to blog about. Teenagers are brutal enough without google. They don't need an accidental assist from me.
I'm taking a cautious approach. It may, in the end be nothing to worry about. But right I don't know how to know for sure. So, I'm making it hard for someone to associate anything that I write with any actual people in order to protect those people who don't know I'm writing about them. And if this stance turns out to be too cautious, it's easy to go back later and be less private. It's hard to go the other way.
Still, I know plenty of people who have no issues identifying themselves and others in their blog. I may very well be on the overly paranoid end of the spectrum.
Joshua Gans, an economist from Australia posted on this topic. Read the post he links to. It's good. (That it just happens to conveniently agree with my opinion has not, in any way, biased my judgment of the quality.. well maybe just a little.)
Good question. One that I've asked myself, although I have no intention of starting a blog any time soon. On one hand, I think the likelihood of anything negative happening because of your pictures and names is very small. However, they are your family and I can certainly understand the desire to protect their safety & privacy. I guess if it were me I'd go ahead and post the pictures, but use only their first name initials. Or have alias/code names. I guess. It sounds silly when I say it, but I think it makes sense.
Jen
MJH - that's a completely valid point that I never even considered. I never thought about what my daughter would think about things I write. I just assumed she'd love hearing about the things I had to say. Naive of me, I know.
Jen - I think I might start something like that. I'd have to do a lot of cleaning up of past posts, but maybe I should start now. Hmm... Stay tuned to see if my style of writing changes! lol.
I think it's valuable to write about my kids. I just refer to them in ways that I and they will know who I'm talking about, but others won't. For example:
* #1, #2, #3, #4
* oldest, second, third, youngest
* wife, mom, completely perfect woman who can do no wrong... ever. (This last name took a little while before I learned it, but I've got it now.)
* etc
That makes sense. I think I would do a code name, but I have something in mind that is very similar to her real name. I just need to figure out a time when I can sit down and clean up all the references I have to her already. Who knows when that will happen? I still have hopes of posting updated pictures! Ha!
I think I would use first names only, and leave out all information about locations and jobs. Nicknames would be a good shield too, like using Ellie instead of her full name. Since your family all has pretty common names, you don't have to worry about coming up #1 in a google search with the name Ellie... Like you would with Zanzibarthomule.
Hahaha... Zanzibarthomule. It's nice to see you've given some thought to what you would name your yet-to-be-conceived son. You can nickname him Zanzi.
An update... I've decided to settle for "Ellie". I thought I would give her a code name, LE, but then decided that it wouldn't come naturally. I went back and cleaned up most of my posts. I haven't looked at any of the comments that people have left, but at least it's a start.
Looks like you already decided what to do, but I just remembered something that may or may not help you. I have a friend whose family has a website with posts and pictures and everything. They have it set up so you have to log in to get past the home page. So no one can see anything without the family knowing about it. Don't know if that's a possibility here, but it's something to think about.
Jen
That's probably worth looking into. Thanks for the idea!
I've thought of this too. I follow some bloggers who opt for completely anonymous and others that bare everything and I fall somewhere in between.
I try not to use my last name on my blog but I do use first names and pix.
I am debating on including facebook, etc. links because those use my full real name, which visitors could use to google me. I'm pretty easy to find on google.
I waver about that because I do use cusswords on my blog, not something I necessarily want the "professional" side of my life (employers) to see, but then again I am not blogging about anything horribly shameful or revealing. Interesting topic...
I like the fact that if someone knows me and they put in a little effort then they can find my blog. I don't mind that at all, but I see what you're saying. It's definitely a side of me that the typical coworker never sees. Luckily for me, when I google my name there are plenty of other options that come up long before mine. When I google Ellie's name, it comes up with some famous artist. Ok, maybe not so famous because I've never heard of her, but at least I know there is that buffer.
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