A few other ladies are asking some really great questions about blogging. Check out their sites:
- MelNel at aufdeckende Gespraeche wants to know who you blogroll and just can’t miss.
- Jeana at Days to Come wants to know how you make your privacy decisions (e.g., whether to use fake names, show pictures, etc.)
- Momrn2 at My Quiet Corner is also weighing in.
Feel free to leave comments here, there, or anywhere. I’m just so interested that we’ve got a little intra-blog discussion going on! I’ll be continuing this conversation with another question next week. I am going to try to have it be a regular weekly post.
As for this weekend, I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to post because my dad is coming in from CO. I’ll try though!
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for the link!
On the privacy issue, I like reading blogs that have cool nicknames for their kids. It seems to give a window into their personalities, and I like that.
It’s fun for me to ponder where the blogger’s nickname comes from. You know there has to be a story behind most of those chosen bylines.
I am also daily amazed at your photoshopping abilities with the glasses and the noses. Every day I think “How does she do that?!”
MelNel, you are the second person to think that I PhotoShop those glasses in. I don’t! I actually have in my posession 4 pairs of those glasses and I take them with me when I think I may be taking pictures that will make it to the blog.
I can PS, but I don’t in this instance and, frankly, PS is a lot of work that I don’t have time for.
Oh, man. So hard to answer the first question — I have many favorites, and all for different reasons. But in terms of who I consistently am entertained and wowed by, writing-wise, here’s a few faves (other than Madame Chilihead, of course!): Breed Em and Weep, Finslippy, Mom 101, Soul Gardening, and I Am Doing the Best I Can.
In terms of privacy, I read lots of blogs before I started one — the ones I read were mixed in how open they were about themselves/family. I decided for me I feel comfortable only with revealing actual information about myself (real name) on my blog, but I use an initial to refer to my husband and pseudonyms for the kids. I do post pics but don’t share my actual town or other identifying info (like names of kids’ schools) and I always refer to friends/family by initials or pseudonyms. Mostly my privacy concerns are because my family and most real life friends don’t know about my blog, I want to be able to use it to vent if need be.
Sorry for the long comment!
I use my kids’ real names but not our last name. Coming up with six nickname and keeping them straight is too hard. Honestly, they all do have their own little nicknames that we call them by, but I don’t want all our friends and family to start calling them by those nicknames. They are kind of our own special little names? Is that dumb?
I’m just banking on the fact that the axe murderers won’t figure out where we live.
I’m delurking here…
I don’t have a blogroll, but I have a set of blogs I visit almost every day (M-F). I take weekends off. There are some that I have built great relationships with and I just want to know what was on their mind that day. As I find time in the workday, I visit commenters who are on my blog and on the blog of others. Usually someone will say something that will make me want to see what that person is all about.
Bottom line: I spend too much time blogging, but I love it. I just can’t let it interfer with my paid work time.
Privacy: With a name like Shalee and enough details from the blogs, any novice googler could find me lickety split. I don’t fret on it. I just have hope that God will protect us.
Since I have one of each sex in children, I usually just say the boy or the girl. Boring I know, but I don’t have to keep up with any names then.
Totally off topic, but I just gave you a virus. Go check it out on my blog.
Good grief!!! I finally got an account on bloglines and I CANT FIGURE OUT HOW TO USE IT.
Pathetic.
Hmmm… great questions. I’m going to check out those sites and see what other’s are saying as well. Thanks for the links!
Not to buck the trend, but I don’t worry overmuch about keeping my anonymity from my blog. Although I seldom use my last name, a determined reader could read enough posts to easily divine the first and last names of myself, my wife, and my child. I even post the occasional family picture.
While this may seem shockingly foolish to some, I don’t put a whole lot of stock in “cyberstalking”, at least not for us normal, run-of-the-mill non-celebrities. Real life is much more hazardous, as evidenced by my run-in with a real honest-to-gosh armed robber at the convenience store two weeks ago.
So many people who worry about blog anonymity would not blink an eye if their own (or their child’s) picture and name appeared in the local newspaper (Local Kid Wins Spelling Bee!), and that would seem to present a far greater hazard for local stalking than a website with a less-local readership.
A determined person can find out my name, address, and phone number from publicly-available records. I refuse to let this make me live in fear. At the risk of sounding overmacho, that’s why I own a large Nissan-eating dog and a couple of loaded firearms.
I don’t mean disrespect to anyone who feels more caution is in order. It’s your family, and you protect them as you see fit.
Sorry to drone on so!
One other thing – I never, ever, ever refer to my employer by name. I don’t even mention their industry type.
This is not due to any desire to protect their privacy; rather, it’s a desire to protect my employment.
I have done a post at my “quiet corner” on the privacy issue. Didn’t want to take up your comment box with my response.
I think that no matter how hard we try to be anonymous or protect ourselves in this forum it truly is possible that with enough skills, determination, and time anyone can figure out who you are and track you down.
Then I look at some of the bigtime mom bloggers like Dooce who is read by literally thousands people everyday from all over the world and who shares pretty much everything about her family and their location.
As with most things in life we have to decide for ourselves what is best for our families and respect the choices that others make for theirs. This includes blogging.
Since I was infested with a group of f*tish blog stalkers last December for something I thought was harmless and impersonal I’ve had to rethink everything I say and write both on my blog and in the comments of other’s. It was really scary to realize that people are out there looking for free photos to lift off of public weblogs for their own raunchy purposes. I just thought I was writing to an audience of fellow moms.
It’s a lot to think about. I don’t think I have the perfect answer for myself either. I go back and forth a lot.
My oldest son is a lawyer and he just about had a hissy fit when he saw everybody’s name on my blog. So, like a good mother would, I went back and took them all off and re-named them in my sidebar. I still have pics though! They’re just too cute to take off. For now!