I have been pondering this post for a while. When I started this blog I opted to be anonymous. Partly because I don't know who is reading it and partly because I work in education. In theory, nothing can come back to haunt me. The neurotic/protective parent part of me is afraid someone will see how cute my kids are and want to come and take them. So I don't post pictures of them. Not even old ones. Which can be frustrating because some of the pictures are just plain funny and would go really well with the stories I am sharing. I also don't use their names. Plus names and pictures make it easier to connect with who you really are and there goes the whole anonymous concept.
Working in education, you have to be very careful what you say about your customer (aka students). People are really protective of their kids. And they should be. And because there are only a certain number of students that any story could be about, if someone did figure it out. Yikes! So don't really write about my students. Ducky reminds me periodically that HR can figure out who I am if they wanted to.
So, there is always the question of what to tell and how much to tell. Sometimes I feel like I am being paranoid, but other times I know it is the right choice.
6 comments:
You don't have to tell me! I have a very tense situation going on with my parents and my mom loves to surf the internet, I don't want her to be able to google us and find out what I have been saying (truthfully) about her! Yikes.
i'm not very careful. i use my name, my husband's name, photos, the whole shebang.
but i don't have kids.
i don't, however, post negative stuff about people. i'm much more afraid of hurting people inadvertently than i am of having my identity stolen.
i think you have to follow your level of comfort. i like your posts, and i think they're intelligent, entertaining, and interesting.
would i like to see photos and know more about you? sure. but not if you're not comfortable.
When I started reading RC I was excited because she is my friend, and she is so funny. I would be reading, and laughing, and my kids would ask what was so funny, and I'd tell them, and then they'd hear me typing and want to see my comment, but I wouldn't let them. Since I was enjoying the blog so much I told my mom to read; she loves RC, too.
I liked the idea of leaving a comment and being anonymous, or so I thought I was. Everyone I know figured me out pretty quickly (favorite foods gave me away...). My husband laughed at me when I said this was private. "Private, on the internet! That's a good one."
Treasure any privacy or anonymity you can get!!! But keep writing, please, I really enjoy your blog!
There are days when I wish I wasn't being anonymous, but there are other days when it doesn't seem like a big deal.
I think it is just the not knowing who is reading this. Mostly the lurkers that don't comment. My map of visitors tells me that there are quite a few people who have never said a word. From all over. I find it fascinating that so many people have found my blog.
lcm- thanks for coming to visit. It has been fun catching up on how you've been since the move.
laurie - thanks for all the nice words. I'm not worried about identity theft, it is more to protect the boys.
two cents - the internet certainly makes info easily attainable. And don't worry, I'll keep writing. I've gotten a bit addicted.
ped, you can go to statfinder.com and put a free little inobtrusive statfinder on your blog. it tracks precisely where hits come from--what city, what state, what computer IP number.
it's a litlte misleading == aol accounts show up as fairfax, va., even if the person is blogging from nebraska -- but you can figure out pretty well where your hits are coming from. and therefore who is reading you...
laurie- You are ever so helpful. Thanks!
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