Getting personal.

[HAWK]

This is a topic that is of special interest to me.

Just about every opinion I ever read about getting personal in blogs expressly condemns it as dangerous.

I can see that side of it, but I break the rules anyway. I bare it all. I have no secrets. I think that's what attracts people to my blog.

I'm not talking about exposing other people - I am careful to protect their privacy should I think it is required, but I do name my husband, bars I frequent, etc etc

What do you guys think?

[Dan Schulz]

You'd be surprised by how much someone can learn about you from what you post online, but as long as you take measures to protect yourself, do what you feel is best. I'd personally keep things on a first-name basis, don't post my picture online and don't name places I frequent; but I've had a LOT of bad things happen to me when I was younger, so I'm sure you can understand why I can be paranoid when it comes to security at times (true story - I used to carry a knife with me in public; I don't mean a Swiss army knife, I mean a KNIFE). I earned an unwanted reputation once for being "the crazy psychotic guy with the knife who'd kill you without even batting an eye if you so much as looked at [me] funny" (the truth was far more mundane, I used to live in a neighborhood controlled by a street gang and wanted to take whatever measures were necessary to protect myself without breaking the law in the process).

But like I said, whatever floats your boat, and whatever you're comfortable with sharing. Just make sure you take care of you and yours, and you should be fine. Of course, no promises are made that you will be.

[ses5909]

Getting personal.... I think people definitely need to be careful. One of the blogs I run is for my family and friends that are back in the states and want to stay up on what we are doing here in Belgium. I post names of my kids and pictures of everyone. I talk about where we live and places we've been, so yeah I think if someone really wanted to figure out exactly where I am, they probably could. I try not to be very
revealing I guess but when trying to let my mom in on my son's birthday; well they demand details!

And you're right, I think that you do bare it all and are very open about who you are is definitely an attraction to your blog. I've found though that by being open, people will make assumptions about you or your character because they feel they "know you."

I spoke to Chris Garrett on the phone yesterday for my podcast and we spoke about just this. Apparently recently, Darren Rowse (problogger.net) had an incident where someone came to his house. Chris relayed a personal story of his own where he had bought a certain newspaper one day and posted the cover of it on his web to show what was attached. Apparently he got a lot of upset emails saying they could not read his blog anymore because if he supported this newspaper he must have XY and Z political beliefs.


I think you can be open, you just need to be aware of what you are putting out there.

[Golgotha]

I agree with Sara, there is a balance to how personal you should get. I try to reveal character traits like I'm a geek, or a gamer, or a developer, or a soccer player, but I never tell people that I look like Brad Pitt. I keep that to myself.

[LiquidReflex]

I think there is a line you have to draw when posting personal information online. You'd be surprised how far someone can get with the smallest bit of information about you. Everyone concerns themselves about social security numbers, but even getting your full name, birthdate, home address, phone number, etc can be enough data to hurt you in some way.

I talk about my life and family, occassionally may put in a photo, but I don't give specifics. I just bought a new house and talk about that in my blog ... but I would never put the address. I talk about my girlfriend, but only refer to her by first name. I will always keep certain things to myself to protect me and those around me.

Now on a different tangent ... how much "personal" detail you give is also a factor. Being a business professional that deals with the internet, anything you put on your website as a "personal" post can (and will) reflect on you as a business as well. Anyone can Google your name and find out about you. When selling a client a 5-figure professional website for their business, you don't want them finding your personal blog of your drunk exploits last weekend or a rant about a previous client who dared ask you to change the colors of their website.

So I think there's a tough line to draw when having a personal blog, one that each person has to decide what they are willing to let the world see.

[ses5909]

Now on a different tangent ... how much "personal" detail you give is also a factor. Being a business professional that deals with the internet, anything you put on your website as a "personal" post can (and will) reflect on you as a business as well. Anyone can Google your name and find out about you. When selling a client a 5-figure professional website for their business, you don't want them finding your personal blog of your drunk exploits last weekend or a rant about a previous client who dared ask you to change the colors of their website.

So I think there's a tough line to draw when having a personal blog, one that each person has to decide what they are willing to let the world see.

Very good points Kevin. This is something I keep in mind on my personal blog. If you search for my name or my company name, my blog WILL come up and when you work online, you HAVE to be online and have an online reputation of some sorts.

[Golgotha]

Sara, we all know your reputation - how much worse can it get ;)

[BPartch]

I agree with Sara, there is a balance to how personal you should get. I try to reveal character traits like I'm a geek, or a gamer, or a developer, or a soccer player, but I never tell people that I look like Brad Pitt. I keep that to myself.Hahahahaha

I give out a bit of personal info, name, age, state and such, but I do not publish my phone number or address, I have blogged about some personal stuff but nothing that is what I would say real personal.

[ses5909]

Sara, we all know your reputation - how much worse can it get ;)

I work hard to maintain that!!

[HAWK]

I've found though that by being open, people will make assumptions about you or your character because they feel they "know you." I know. Isn't that weird? I get people that comment on my blog regularly in quite a judgemental way. It really pisses me off sometimes, but I leave it, because it in a way I suppose I ask for it by what I do. Live by the sword and all that.

And yeah - no last names, ever.

[Megan]

I think I am probably most likely to have the people that read my blog come after me, I post about my friends, give them nicknames, bitch when they do something wrong. I make politically incorrect statements all the time.....The kids these days haha.

I have thought about this issue ever since I had some insane guy comment some pretty weird stuff on my blog - ok, not weird, he out right attacked me, calling me stupid, racist.... a product of reverse Darwinism. Then I started to wonder who was actually reading my blog. Then I thought....I need to fix this. My solution? I made an entry dedicated to the person's childish comments and refuted everyone of them. Needless to say, he never returned. I know it was childish of me to do that, but I wouldn't be me if I didnt.

I don't know if SitePoint really cares about my blog. It doesn't have much traffic, just mainly a few friends to who read it when I post something new. I take care to only put in minor details about work.

Hawk, had a quick read of your blog - Loved it - It's what I hope my blog will become when it grows up :) - and once I get evil WordPress working.

[HAWK]

Hawk, had a quick read of your blog - Loved it - It's what I hope my blog will become when it grows up :) - and once I get evil WordPress working. Pft... you're too kind. (Thanks.)

There was one time when I was at my brothers bar and a guy came up to me and said that he reads my blog (where I name the bar on a regular basis). Neither my brother or I knew him. That was a bit scary. He seemed nice enough though and he has never bothered me again, so I guess he was just curious.

[Megan]

I would feel so famous if that happened to me - 'Do you want my Autograph?' would probably be my reply, followed by offering to pose for pictures etc...

They all would 'seem' curious - then you catch them stealing your clothes off the washing line :D

[shyflower]

Hawk, had a quick read of your blog - Loved it - It's what I hope my blog will become when it grows up :) - and once I get evil WordPress working.


I hear ya!

[HAWK]

They all would 'seem' curious - then you catch them stealing your clothes off the washing line :D I hear ya. I'm going to have to do a bit of exaggerating around my level of kickboxing expertise I think.

On a more serious note though, I guess I am really blase about it all. It's easy to make light of it until it blows up in your face. I have always had a naive trust in humanity, but that is more and more dangerous these days.

[Megan]

WordPress = True Evil. Did get it going though!

Continuing on your serious note though Hawk, its really easy to forget that those weirdo creeps you hear about online do exist (I am probably one of them ha!) and as long as you are being politically incorrect and controversial you are always going to be a target...

But lets face it - you have to always have a bit of controversy, don't you?

[LiquidReflex]

It's amazing how many people will actually blog your name when they meet you. I've talked to many people that have done it to me. Now obviously I told them I work in computers and said that I have a few websites, so they were probably looking for those, but a couple people just Googled my name while bored at work. Your online "image" is now an extension of who you are in today's society. With sites like myspace and facebook, there are more and more people with their information online. Originally you'd need to have your own website, or maybe you'd show up in the white pages, but with social networking sites booming there is usually something out there about everyone.

Whether that is a good thing or not ... hard to say. Thus why it's always a good idea to take an extra few moments before hitting that submit button ... is this something I'd want everyone to know / read about me? I know I've cancelled a few posts I've been close to posting because of that question.

[Megan]

I know exactly what you mean, Liquid Reflex.

In particular, one thing that always come to mind is how it will effect my work. Working at SitePoint, in my opinion meansI have to do my best to uphold a good image for the company. As I have an online identity through SitePoint, it opens me up to being critisized for unprofessional behaviour.

But at the same time I think - Should work be ruling my life? I enjoy blogging about my personal life, from my drunken stupors on the weekend to my friends current relationship problems. Am I going to stop because this could potentially make SitePoint look like they have employed an idiot? No. That is how I justify hitting the submit button.

I try to not mention the fact of where I work. Everyone knows I work in IT - If I do mention SP i mention them in a good sense - I don't whinge. But in my new blog I will be mentioning them a whole lot - just because it is going to be a work related blog.

I am so blogging about this now hehehe.

[t(-.-t)]

I have a few guidelines I stick to:

1. I'm insanely careful about not posting other people's personal details unless I asked them specifically first. I've never had a problem, but it's a lot easier if I refer to someone as "my neighbor" or "my little brother" rather than giving out names and addresses.

2. I'm a little more forthcoming with information about myself, but not that much. I'm listed in WHOIS and the phone book, if someone really wanted to find me they could. I'm not too into "liveblogging" or giving out too much personal info though; I don't want someone knowing I'm at an event and breaking into my house while I'm gone for example.

[ses5909]

... I'm listed in WHOIS...

I actually have made everyone of my registrations private. I used to get phone calls from people who looked me up on WHOIS. No thanks! :mad:

[Megan]

You guys are making me scared :(

[t(-.-t)]

You guys are making me scared :(
Just don't make it too easy for people to connect all the dots in your online trail and you'll be okay :)

[Megan]

I think i am wayyyy to forthcoming with information. Thank god I don't get that much traffic and its all friends that read it :)

I don't think anyone could find out where I live though. Thats the main thing :D My mum would probably invite them in for coffee though haha.

[doorlight]

I avoid talking about personal things on my entries, you know, there are lots of freaks out there, esp., on the net.

I don't post my birthday, location, etc.

You know, I'm afraid to be hacked by someone by using those personal details. You can crack passwords by knowing the birthday and location you know.

[t(-.-t)]

. You can crack passwords by knowing the birthday and location you know.

Only if you used one or the other as part of your password. If you don't base your password on any personal identifying info (or even any real words) your passwords are a lot harder to beat.

[doorlight]

Only if you used one or the other as part of your password. If you don't base your password on any personal identifying info (or even any real words) your passwords are a lot harder to beat.

I got your point but i was talking about, for instance, cracking up a yahoo! mail password. Yahoo! asks for the birthday and zip code to retrieve your password, right? But ofcourse, you have to answer the secret question, which sometimes, your pet's name, and scary that you have blogged about your pet's name already. hehehe.

Come to think of it.

[LiquidReflex]

I got your point but i was talking about, for instance, cracking up a yahoo! mail password. Yahoo! asks for the birthday and zip code to retrieve your password, right? But ofcourse, you have to answer the secret question, which sometimes, your pet's name, and scary that you have blogged about your pet's name already. hehehe.

Come to think of it.

Yes, there are some fairly common retrieval combinations that will let others gain access. I don't know about Yahoo! or anything as I refuse to use any sort of free mail service (I do have a gmail account, but don't use it). As you said, if someone really did their research, they probably could get into some people's accounts just by seeing what they talk about (pet names is a good example, favorite food can be another). It would take some time, but hackers usually have plenty of that anyway.

Personally those standard questions always bothered me. My bank now has a system that you answer 5-6 different questions and it will randomly ask you one of them when you log in (unless you set your computer to save a cookie). There are also others that let you create your own question and answer, which would seem much more secure than "where did you grow up". Of course this is on a whole different topic ... so I won't go into it all right now. ;)

[Megan]

I think I would be more worried if my blog had more traffic... And what could you possibly want to take of a 20 year old girl? My night club spam emails must be of real importance :D

But, now that I think of it, you guys are so right, especially with my hotmail address, everything in there is so generic (am going to change that)

And I thought bank details and that where all protected by the net banking web sites? I remember when I went overseas I couldn't even access it because I logged in from a non Aussie IP.

[Jelena]

And I thought bank details and that where all protected by the net banking web sites? I remember when I went overseas I couldn't even access it because I logged in from a non Aussie IP.

You could use proxy to access it?

[Megan]

Uhmm... What's a proxy? You are talking to the net naive here :)

[Jelena]

Uhmm... What's a proxy? You are talking to the net naive here :)

Take a look at it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server