Out There

One of my favorite bloggers is shutting down her blog for good. Good thing I know her in 'real life'!!

And this got me to thinking once again about web logs.

The other day I was helping a friend set up a blog. She chose a username and password, she chose a template and a title, and then I showed her how people could 'follow' her by clicking on the Follow icon. "See?", I said, as I clicked on my little picture/avatar, "And when you click THIS, you can find out who's following you." Up came my profile, listing this blog and... one that only I am supposed to be able to access! But there it was for her to read! Now, this one is where I've been writing some memories of growing up, etc.. to be used as part of my memoir writing (which I've been terrible at lately). And it was for my eyes only! Panic set in as I wondered how long it's been accessible. I really don't understand what happened there. Anyway, this led me to save the blog entries  in a personal file on my computer and then I promptly deleted the blog (despite how pretty it looked ;). I mean, if I'm THAT concerned about others reading it, well, then it probably shouldn't be on the internet at all.

This reminds me of a blog I  (saved and then) deleted a few years ago (Lifelines). One day I realized that  all the pictures I added to that blog were still on the 'net.  Not sure what photo sharing site that was, but they are there. To this day.

Wow, I sound paranoid (again).

Anyway, I've purged any extraneous blogs from my system. I will continue with my 'school' one and maybe the 'book' one (we'll see how that one goes).

Perhaps returning to the antiquated idea of journalling with a real pen and real paper makes good sense. Sure, you have the risk of losing it in a fire or someone reading it without your knowing. But I am now thinking the benefits may outweigh the risks.

I'll be thinking more about this, to be sure. Because there really are pros and cons to blogging.