A 'friend' of this girl had seen them and thought...hmmm, those don't look quite like her. So, she started poking around the internets and it brought her back to my blog--she was not a reader.
Then, out of decency and outrage towards her friend, the 'thief', she contacted me.
I then filed a report with FB and bam! She was shut down.
End of story, right? Maybe, I mean...it could be.
I love the internet. Love it, love it, love it.
Everyday I can learn something new and travel far. I probably think of something to google at least once a day. Me loves me some internets something fierce.
But the thought of someone stealing photos of me-or my babies-and pretending this is their life is creepy (thought I am strangely and egotistically flattered she liked my pregnant belly more than her own).
There's always the option of going to Wordpress and doing password protected blog. I know a lot of people have done so.
I'm conflicted. My stats consistently show 400-500 readers per post on this blog. Again, I'm flattered. I do nothing to advertise, hell, I don't even have a nice, fancy template! But people find me--and apparently keep on reading once they get here. I have readers from around the world and all walks of life.
I've 'met' a great (straight) South African, god-worshipping, Jesus-loving, craft-making, mother of twins through this blog. We 'get' each other even though in 'real life', I'm sure we would've never met. I have a large number of military wives reading this blog (???!!!). I've had people ask me in the comments to please keep blogging, they look forward to it and read it in the middle of the night as they are nursing.
I know through the search words that there are a lot of people who come here looking for answers on one topic or another and I LOVE that I can help people. I try to keep my posts as helpful and detail oriented as possible, because that's what I find useful when I'm searching for information.
I am a research queen and the blogosphere has been invaluable in my quest to TTC, raise twins, travel, etc. etc. If I were to go to a password protected blog, I would lose a majority of my readers PLUS I wouldn't be able to help out through my blogging.
There's always the option of removing all (identifying) photos and simply blogging. I really don't know. I'm not a private person by any means and I enjoy sharing, but this incident was/is upsetting.
To be continued....
26 comments:
That is UBER creepy, and kind of amazing that this girl's "friend" could track you down! As a mommy of twins, a friend of mine directed me to your blog while I was pregnant and it was, honestly, an invaluable resource, if nothing more than for the reassurance that what was happening to me was not abnormal. I'd hate to see you go, but I wouldn't blame you one bit!!!
going through something very similar. someone hacked both my blag and my fb account twice after my separation. and i'm not private, love and believe (sounds weird i know but i'm an art therapist:) in blogging. however, fb is starting to annoy me so in considering shutting that down, i've been thinking of keeping just my blog and password protecting it again. but then, i feel really annoyed that i should have to do that. still thinking...
That is beyond f'd up. It only takes one bad apple to ruin the bunch, huh? I certainly hope this doesn't shut you down. We try to retain a bit of anonymity on our blog, though we use our son's real name and face. We use wordpress and password protect anything that's too identifying. As he gets older I know that's something that will have to change. And the reality is that if someone were a decent internet snoop they could probably figure out who we are. But we too love the connections we've made online and the valuable support and information we've found.
I once had a very very skinny friend who was confronted by her family for an eating disorder "intervention." She was confused as heck and when everyone calmed down, it turned out that someone had taken her pics from Myspace and used them as their own on a support site for people with anorexia. She was in fact NOT anorexic and a whole lot of drama happened because some creepy weirdo stole her pics.
I don't know WHAT possesses people to do weird crap like this but I can understand why you'd be upset and consider shutting down. Its wonderful to follow your blog, but if you took out pics/other identifying stuff, we'd certainly still enjoy the blog and support you!
Seriously disturbing. I'm sorry that happened. :(
I know some folks who watermark their pictures, or disallow saving/hotlinking (though I'm not sure that's possible on blogger). I'm way too lazy for any of that, so that's a big reason I moved to wordpress. Still not a huge fan, but the ability to keep the blog public, while locking down the pictures, is a HUGE bonus.
<3
Wow. That is simply scary and all kinds of wrong.
I was going to suggest what others already have, which is to switch to Wordpress so that you can openly publish anything you feel like sharing publicly and then password protect the more personal posts. I find it a great way to protect when I really want some security.
Wow, I don't know what else to say besides that is just fucked up... and creepy... and, well, I could go on.
I second the others on a more to wordpress. Your security is too important and people will still find you.
Weird! I would hate to lose your blog :(
i'm so sorry that happened. i'm not sure if i've ever commented, but i just wanted to let you know that i love your blog. i hope you somehow continue to blog (whether it's protected or not). you're style of writing is addicting, and i love to hear about all your adventures with your little guys! hope you figure out a happy medium! :)
That is creepy and frankly very sad. If you choose to go to wordpress, I wouldnt blame you. Thank God her friend had the decency to contact you and let you know what was going on. This blog has been very open about your life and lifee with twins. It's really ashame that there will be a possibility where alot of readers will be shut out.
But in order to protect everyone's identifies, measures must be taken. Ive been a long time reader and will continue to do so no matter what you decide :)
I'm so sorry... I stumbled on your blog while searching "sleep training twins". I stuck around, because I enjoy your posts. Also, your boys are about 5 months ahead of my twin boys, so I like the heads up on what's about to happen.
Also, congrats on dropping the last pumping. I just dropped my pre-bed pump and it feels liberating!
Oh. My. God. I don't blame you for considering shutting down, that is awful and, honestly, one of my biggest fears about posting pics of our kids. I'll echo the others, WP is nice because you can just pw-protect specific posts. I only share our pw with bloggers I have a regular commenting relationship - for me, that was the line I needed to feel safe. You can import all of your blogger posts very easily, so you won't lose the history of this blog. Good luck!
Holy crap. There are some insane people in this world and sometimes I do get freaked out by people's ability to search. Tiff's ex-aunt (whom she hasn't seen in 25years and whom I didn't know existed!) found our blog and now follows. Still not sure how this happens and it is crazy that a random would use your pictures and that another random could hunt you down to tell you! Whoa. (btw, Kimberly the first commenter is a good friend of mine and I told her about your blog when she got preggers with twin boys!) So, I have been contemplating the same thing and will probably switch when starting ttc2.0.
I love your blog and as a straight mum of four from inland Australia I'm pretty sure we would never have met IRL. I enjoy reading about your life, your relationship, your city and your adventures with your lovely boys. Our lives are so different I find it an amazing insight into a world I wouldn't otherwise know. I don't feel that I'm a voyeur and I have posted when I feel I have something useful to add. My understanding and awareness of so many issues has been enhanced through your postings. I don't bring much to the party but I'd sure miss you if you had to lock things down because of this whack job.
Wow, that's horrible...really a violation. So sorry you have to deal with that.
I've been reading your blog for a long time, I found it when we were both TTC and my daughter is the same age as your boys. I enjoy reading about your family and like others have said, I would hate to lose your blog but your family's privacy is the most important thing. Good luck!
It would be a shame to lose you. I am not a blogger, am not techno savvy, and always comment anonymously on blogs because I am not set up to do otherwise I guess. Whenever blogs I follow go private, I am so sad. I totally understand though if that is best for your family. I would be soooo creeped out by what happened.
I love your blog! I have 11 month old twins and always tell my husband about the antics you and your babies are up to so he doesn't feel like we are the only crazy ones =)
Good luck with your decision!!
wow! i would be freaked a bit too! your blog is fantastic and i have gone back to it so many times to see how you have done something with the boys or just because your words are comforting. not sure what the best option is for you and your family but i hope to keep reading for a long time to come!
I would have stolen your photos too but everybody knows that I don't look that good.
Seriously.
I think when you log on and post pictures you just assume that someone could take a picture of you and post it. You can watermark them...to make it harder. but I've just come to accept it and think to myself. so what ? so what if someone takes a picture of my cute kids and posts it up on some billboard because they are the cutest kids in the world. SO WHAT. :)
No really. I don't post anything that I would worry about being posted someplace else. I don't think you do either.
Continue blogging because that's what you should do. :)
Yuck! I agree... WP might be the way to go. I am taking a page from Nutella & Strawberry and no longer referring to the boy and anything but The Boy because of this. And maybe I will use the last week of my mat leave to figure out how to make the move to WP, since once I am back to work I imagine I will have more time to do two-handed postings...
Anyway xoxox to you. Hope to see you soon!
Seriously weird thing to do. I'm not surprised you're creeped out!
OMG - that is SO creepy.
So, so creepy. What the hell is wrong with people?
Hi, I've never commented before (mainly because I am reading on my phone while chasing around my own set of twins), but I'm a fan of your blog (and one of your military spouse readers!). I read somewhere (but now of course can't find it) that you can disable the photos on your blog. I think it is possible through blogger. It would be a shame to lose you, but you are very right to be freaked out by this incident.
Wow. Creepy. This post makes me wonder if I should put passwords on all my anonymous belly shots. I'm so glad I switched to WP!
This is weird, but not threatening to you in any way, it sounds like. But please don't shut down, ok?
If you WERE to re-route your writing energy, I'd say you had a book in you, and one you could sell on this here blog. I'm just saying.
This is weird, but not threatening to you in any way, it sounds like. But please don't shut down, ok?
If you WERE to re-route your writing energy, I'd say you had a book in you, and one you could sell on this here blog. I'm just saying.
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