shanvan Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 I'm thinking about starting a blog to keep track of our homeschooling adventures. DH is a little concerned about me posting photos and also concerned about the possibility of people posting nasty comments. Have any of you had bad experiences with your blogs? Do you use any type of protection to limit access to your blog? TIA Shannon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Buckin' Longhorn Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 You can make your blog private if you like. That way it can only be accessed by invited readers. Mine is public, but I'm a rebel that way. As far as posting photos, that's really a personal choice. Some people post photos only from the back or from the side so their children's faces aren't visible. I post photos on my blog, but I don't use any real names. the closest thing I give to my actual location is my state, so I feel pretty safe. Honestly, I just don't think anyone is looking to do me harm via blog land. There are many other ways to get to me if that's their intention. When it comes to nasty comments, I have only had one person put a rude comment on my blog, and I've been blogging for about 5 years. It's very easy to delete it with one click of a button. If you want, you can set comments to be moderated and you will have the ability to view/approve/delete comments before they are visible to others on your blog. Jump in! It's an addictive habit. E.T.A. I use Blogger for my blog. All the tools I mentioned are available free and easily on that platform. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satori Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 I love homeschool blogging, but your concerns are valid. Some people don't post photos of their children, or make sure not to post faces at least. Many use nicknames and never use real names. Although I use first names, I try never to mention last names or specific locations. As for rude comments, I've been blogging for two years (and many more non-homeschool related) and I have only gotten like a few rude comments, and that was related to personal belief on issues. I did get a lot of spam, so I've implemented spam-blockers. I used to approve every comment, but now I've been able to let comments go live right away, as spam and rude comments are so rare now. You can make your blog private if you wish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Margo out of lurking Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laughing lioness Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 (edited) I just don't post our irl names because of dh's profession. Never had a nasty comment. Love blogging and have made a ton of friends becasue of it- the real issue is the addiction of blogging:001_smile: Edited February 13, 2011 by laughing lioness Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarcyB Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Privatize your blog if you're doing it for your family. If you're going to be sharing to the public, think about setting up pseudonyms for your family, so that you don't share those details. You can also do it for your area, as well. Don't post shots with your children, but maybe crop to the detail of a shot for emphasis instead of a stream of shots of all of them. Do what makes your family comfortable - don't try to go beyond that, but make it fun for all! As far as comments, I'm online often enough during the day that if one bad comment did go through, I could delete it. But you can have them set at moderation so that you catch them before they're published. But after all the years I've been blogging in various formats, I've never had an issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheres Toto Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 I blog, use photos and real first names. But, I don't mention anything that would identify our area outside of what state we are in. We are in a very populated state and even if someone knew dh's first and last name, wouldn't find us because there are at least 7 others in our general area with his exact name. My kids have very common first names. I'm more worried about someone seeing them in public and trying to grab them or them wandering away and getting lost. I do have all comments set to be moderated but I have never had a nasty comment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hen Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 I've been blogging for almost 4 years, and haven't had a mean comment. You can set the comments to not allow annon comments- I do allow those, but that might weed out meanies. I do post photos of my kids, but I watermark them, I also don't have our real names on the blog or our city. you can keep it totally private, like others have mentioned. I really like interacting with other bloggers, tho. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anneofalamo Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Our lives are a complete and open book, my hubby is a pioneer pastor, we have people in and out of our home weekly, that prayer and grace of God is the only hope. I blog all, pics, names, and have on occasion posted flyers with our phone number. I moderate comments, and over the past 4 or 5 years, I have gotten a hand full of spammers, not one mean comment, and a few folks have called and it has been good. You can make it as private or public as you want. I enjoy blogging, I have two, one for business, one for personal, and then I guest blog at numerous places. Now if I could just figure this Facebook thing out!??:tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shanvan Posted February 14, 2011 Author Share Posted February 14, 2011 Anyone else have experiences to share or tips for me? Shannon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivka Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 I've never been able to understand what people think might happen if they put a picture of their child online. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shanvan Posted February 14, 2011 Author Share Posted February 14, 2011 I've never been able to understand what people think might happen if they put a picture of their child online. I've been told cut and paste with p*rn*graphic photos. I haven't ever actually known it to happen, just what I've been told by one of the other leaders of a homeschool group when I wanted to post photos on the group's site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NanceXToo Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 I post pics of my kids- people see my kids in public all the time, so why not pics of them? I also use their real first names. I don't post my last name, address or phone number and I'm comfortable with that level of privacy. I have received a few comments that were just spam, which I delete, but no nasty or negative comments in the two years I've been maintaining my homeschooling blog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roxanne23 Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 (edited) . Edited January 4, 2023 by roxanne23 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ocelotmom Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 (edited) I've been told cut and paste with p*rn*graphic photos. I haven't ever actually known it to happen, just what I've been told by one of the other leaders of a homeschool group when I wanted to post photos on the group's site. I've heard of this too, though I have no idea if it's urban legend or not. Personally, the idea is yucky, but it's not going to stop me from putting pics online. More verifiably, innocent pictures of children in diapers, swim suits, and things like that sometimes get excessive attention from unsavory places. Also, people sometimes take pictures of kids and create blogs about their pretend lives and pretend children, which is kind of creepy, but probably not actually harmful. I searched around a while ago, and haven't found any verifiable information about children being harmed by strangers because their parents posted their name/picture/whatever on the internet. Could it hypothetically happen? Sure. But I think my kids are in much more danger if I take them to the park. (I'm having real-life issues with this concept, too. DS's cub scout troop made backpacks, and were taught not to put their names on the front, because a stranger might learn their name. Now, this makes sense for kids too young to understand "Don't go with people just because they know your name", but by 7ish, I think most kids are capable of understanding that.) I consider the biggest threat to my kids from anything i post online to be from their peers (bullying) and/or future employers, so I try to keep that in mind when posting anything public that could realistically be linked to them. The combination of their names is kind of unusual. I just googled it and found that someone (Almost certainly someone I know and not random chance, given that they're in the same state as me. I have suspicions as to whom) apparently used their names in a NaNoWriMo Novel. That's... odd. And negative comments happen. You decide that some people are just jerks, delete it, and move on. Or moderate comments if it becomes an ongoing issue. Edited February 14, 2011 by ocelotmom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mergath Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 I have positively plastered the internet with pictures of my dd and myself, and have mentioned in various places both which county and which town we live in. We use our real names on Facebook, and our real first names in many other places (Jenn, in case anyone was wondering- I generally go by my handle out of habit) I have never once had anything happen. And according to the state registry, we have a child molester living a couple of blocks away. Never even seen him, much less at our front door. The odds of somebody tracking you down because they saw your picture and first name online are astronomically remote. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kewb Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 I have been blogging about our adventure for 3 years now. I post photos of the kids. I don't use their names. Based on our activities it is pretty easy to figure out where we are. I have yet to have any nasty comments or issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 I post pictures of my kids on my blog. There are pictures of them elsewhere on the web because of their activities. I figure if someone cut and paste them into p### I wouldn't know it anyway and neither would the kids though I doubt people are going to and have never known it to happen to anyone I know. I use their real names as well. I don't put their last names in the blog or say exactly where we live. I also try not to post anything there we are going to do before it has actually happened. (Try to post after the fact.) I also have mine set to moderate comments before they appear. I did have one person post a comment I wouldn't have wanted my kids to see and they didn't have to because I simply did not allow it through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairytalemama Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 We have unusual first and last names, so I leave those out. Otherwise I just blog for me, because I want to hold on to these memories. If someone else gets something out of it, then that's great. I've never gotten a negative comment. We use pseudonyms because of our unusual last name and our heavy involvement in our community. If you were to google my real name, you could find out exactly where I live instantly. I decided that for my comfort level that I would rather make my public blog a little more private by using fake names. I also moderate my comments for my comfort level too. It's all about your comfort. I have no problem posting photos of my kids. The grandparents love the blog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 We used pseudonyms and I also never showed recognisable photos of the boys. I had all comments set to be read by me before they showed up on the blog, just in case, but I didn't have any problems. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Margo out of lurking Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 I did have one person post a comment I wouldn't have wanted my kids to see and they didn't have to because I simply did not allow it through. The only time I've ever had issues with comments is when my dad thinks he's being funny. He doesn't come across well; I sometimes delete his comments, or just tell him they never showed up. "Blogger can be that way sometimes." Blogger is not really that way, but he doesn't know it. :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eleni Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 I have never gotten any nasty comments. I also post photos, and sometimes use first names, However, I have met several wonderful people through my blogs who have become very good friends. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 I've never been able to understand what people think might happen if they put a picture of their child online. :iagree: I've been told cut and paste with p*rn*graphic photos. I haven't ever actually known it to happen, just what I've been told by one of the other leaders of a homeschool group when I wanted to post photos on the group's site. Okay, I have heard this and I think... well, I don't want to be too insulting, because I think the media would like us all to think this is an actual scary danger... but first of all, so what? Gross, absolutely, but... well, if my kid had a chance to have his picture in the paper, it wouldn't stop me (in fact, I've signed permissions for that before though they didn't end up using it) and a personal blog gets a lot less traffic than a newspaper website - even a local one. Secondly, the idea that having more pictures of kids out there in general will encourage weirdos to look at more pictures grossly misunderstands the sheer volume of pictures of little kids out there online anyway. In fact, assuming that one's tiny blog, however adorable your kids are, will somehow even be found by someone wanting to do such a thing, is also statistically unlikely - and not getting mugged unlikely, more like being hit by lightning repeatedly unlikely. So, um, feel free to check out the pictures of my kids on my blog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shanvan Posted February 15, 2011 Author Share Posted February 15, 2011 Well, I'm becoming more comfortable with the idea, the more I read. As for DH, he has reservations. Okay, lets say I start to build a blog on wordpress (for example), am I able to preview what I've done before it becomes accessible to the public? That is, assuming I decide to make it public. That way I can show it to DH first. Shannon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Margo out of lurking Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Okay, lets say I start to build a blog on wordpress (for example), am I able to preview what I've done before it becomes accessible to the public? That is, assuming I decide to make it public. That way I can show it to DH first. I am not familiar with blogging on Wordpress, but I'm assuming you have that option. On Blogger, you can have dozens (or more) Drafts that won't publish on your site until you actually press the "Publish" button. This would serve your purpose to make your post and then have dh preview before actually publishing on the internet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.