I'm departing a little from posting about our summer of family happenings just because other things have popped up in my brain.
I've been preoccupied with making an almost 100 page photobook for our granddaughter of their five week stay with us as well as our trip to Hokkaido, Japan for Mom. It's consumed so much (if not all) of my computer time.
I did want to share something I've learned and done to the Settings of my Blogspot (Blogger?) blog though.
A certain family member let me know that even though I purposely do not put our last name or pinpoint location to our home on my blog, when his name was googled, photos from my blog popped up... including baby photos I'd posted. That was rather startling.
Blogger is Google. Google has very strong web crawlers that search the web for information. It's good in many ways, but if it's privacy you want... well...
So I searched my settings and went to Search preferences. Then I disabled the robots. There is a warning that doing this would cause search engines to ignore me.
Sure enough. It's done that. When my techie son-in-law, Ed was here, he was surprised that I actually managed to do this on my own.
Blogger friends can still find me on their side bars. However, if someone in cyberspace were looking for a topic I may have written about... say melons... my blog won't pop up anymore. And that's OK with me because it's connections with actual friends or potential friends I care more about.
Web crawler is also leaving my baby pictures alone.
The side benefit to all this for me is that I'm not getting spammed. It's the strangest thing. Spammers are also not able to find me.... for now.
Yes, I'm rather sorry that people can no longer see what I may have written about a topic they're interested in, but privacy for those I write about are more important and that's the main thing.
I don't advocate everybody doing this. I'm just saying it's something I've discovered and for now, it's working for me.
POSTSCRIPT: Doggone! Wouldn't you know it? As soon as I wrote this post I did get a couple more spam messages anyway. Still... it's only two... so far, in several months which amazes me.
I've been preoccupied with making an almost 100 page photobook for our granddaughter of their five week stay with us as well as our trip to Hokkaido, Japan for Mom. It's consumed so much (if not all) of my computer time.
I did want to share something I've learned and done to the Settings of my Blogspot (Blogger?) blog though.
A certain family member let me know that even though I purposely do not put our last name or pinpoint location to our home on my blog, when his name was googled, photos from my blog popped up... including baby photos I'd posted. That was rather startling.
Blogger is Google. Google has very strong web crawlers that search the web for information. It's good in many ways, but if it's privacy you want... well...
So I searched my settings and went to Search preferences. Then I disabled the robots. There is a warning that doing this would cause search engines to ignore me.
Sure enough. It's done that. When my techie son-in-law, Ed was here, he was surprised that I actually managed to do this on my own.
Blogger friends can still find me on their side bars. However, if someone in cyberspace were looking for a topic I may have written about... say melons... my blog won't pop up anymore. And that's OK with me because it's connections with actual friends or potential friends I care more about.
Web crawler is also leaving my baby pictures alone.
The side benefit to all this for me is that I'm not getting spammed. It's the strangest thing. Spammers are also not able to find me.... for now.
Yes, I'm rather sorry that people can no longer see what I may have written about a topic they're interested in, but privacy for those I write about are more important and that's the main thing.
I don't advocate everybody doing this. I'm just saying it's something I've discovered and for now, it's working for me.
POSTSCRIPT: Doggone! Wouldn't you know it? As soon as I wrote this post I did get a couple more spam messages anyway. Still... it's only two... so far, in several months which amazes me.
I need to do this as well, I've put it off for too long. Beate was telling me once that Google stores all sorts of info/pictures from it's users. Kinda scary!
ReplyDeleteMy nephew told me that Facebook does the same thing.
DeleteThere is so little privacy today. It is scary.
ReplyDeleteI'll give it a try too. That targeted spam really bothers me. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteIts a great idea, I did this as well, its for the good I think. You are so organized Kay, I love the way you document everything, such a great memory keeper you are,
ReplyDeleteI really need a memory keeper because I forget things constantly.
Deletethe whole internet cyberspace thing scares me!
ReplyDeleteI was always very cautious about the internet so I turned off all those functions of blogger from the beginning. I guess that's why I never gained many followers in the first 3 years of blogging, but I never felt good about anybody being able to find me on Google searches. Thank you for the tutorial on how to do it, I'm sure it'll help other bloggers and make them aware how much we actually put ourselves out there. Those spammers are a different story. I got one really bad one so far and it made me turn of the anonymous comments :(
ReplyDeleteI wasn't getting any spam once I disabled the web crawlers, but now I find some leaking through again. It leaks through to my email notification, but so far hasn't gotten as far as my blog. We'll see...
Deletethanks for this great tip Kay!
ReplyDeleteI wish I had your desire and dedication to journal more....I know one day I will regret it as lots of memories are now lost forever. You are certainly rich with an abundance of fond memories, and your children and grandchildren will know and remember their parents intimately. That is the making of strong family bonds I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteL...w
It really is a journal and I love being able to look back and find something I forgot, which is more frequent as I get older.
DeleteHi Kay, I know that my blog is PUBLIC (as opposed to Facebook which I can control easier)---and that is okay with me. I am glad to share topics with people who are searching for certain things. I seldom get spam ---so right now, I'm happy the way my settings are. BUT--if I ever started having lots of trouble, I'm sure I would feel differently... Good Luck to you and your situation.
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Betsy
I noticed that you don't 'approve' your posts BEFORE they are printed... IF I were having trouble with spams, I would definitely want to approve all of my posts before they went onto Blogger..... You can just delete those spams BEFORE they are published.
DeleteI did do the approval thing a while ago, but gave it up because sometimes (like now), I don't get to my computer to blog for days on end. I'm working on some other projects and it's taking all my time.
DeleteIt's always good to get information on how to do things, so thanks for the tips.
ReplyDeleteI'm not very concerned about privacy. Maybe it depends on one's time of life and circumstances. As for me, I'd rather connect with people because I live alone. The connections I can achieve through Facebook far surpass the old pre-internet days. Old friends continually surface. Some of my friends are against Facebook, and they always cite "privacy." I think they're being a bit precious. I explain they can look at my Facebook WITHOUT being a friend, as I am on public settings on purpose. It falls on deaf ears. I'm all over Google because I've done some interesting things. Why should I worry that the review of "Death of a Salesman," our greatest American play, can be read by people? I want them to read it, for cryin' out loud. It was a peak achievement of my life. There are many other examples. I don't want to be anonymous and forgotten. The obituaries of my wife and son, which I wrote and are literary masterpieces of feeling and interesting detail the world knows nothing about, are on line. I've already had two friends of my son surface and connect. I tried to tell my sister and brother they could read my Facebook without joining Facebook, but they can't manage it. I hate to tell you the adjective that pops into my mind. And then they get cranky about it. If I invited them to a party, would they not come? Actually, the evidence is that they WOULD skip the invitation. The result is they are not up to speed on what's happening in my life. Maybe I decided that when I moved 5,000 miles away to Hawaii. But the internet is a way to overcome that distance, if you CARE.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right about the "time of life" thing. I have a young granddaughter involved and young kids who are wanting more caution. I have to respect that.
DeleteI once posted a newborn picture of my great niece Courtney R. Once for the heck of it I Googled her name and sure enough her image came up right beside a picture of an exotic dancer with the same name--I am being polite here about her profession. I now use aliases anymore for any friends or family I post about. May try that robot thing. Thanks for letting us know about it.
ReplyDeleteI also am not concerned with privacy and am very careful about what I post. Although there are pictures of friends with first names only, I don't think they could be found by a web crawler. Since I turned off anonymous comments, my spam has dropped to virtually nothing. Before it was a real nuisance, even with the filter. But it's good to know that those settings do exist. Thanks, Kay. :-)
ReplyDeleteI know lots of people have turned off Anonymous, but I just can't. I have too many wonderful commenters who are able to add comments only by using Anonymous.
DeleteI am not very concerned about privacy either, and I often tell people they can find my blog by Googling Linda Letters, so I guess I'll just leave things as they are for now.
ReplyDeleteIt's true that you could at one time click on Musings, Kay and find me too. However, my kids were a bit leery of it. They were especially nervous that Google web crawler was able to make the connections and put my photos into their Images when their names were googled. This is EVEN though I don't use our last names. Technology and security is something I just don't perfectly understand yet, but want to be cautious.
DeleteYou've given me something to check. I worry about how much stuff is out there.
ReplyDeleteYou are a Techie Nerd, you! Cool info, Kay. Thanks
ReplyDeleteALOHA from Honolulu
ComfortSpiral
=^..^= . <3
you are so smart...lol!
ReplyDeleteThis is tempting to try. Think I will let you use it for a while and then you can notify all of us. I have never used full names on my blog or posted my town name on my blog.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, something to think about. Thanks Kay!
ReplyDeleteI agree better to set it this way unless one is blogging for money.
ReplyDelete