I was back in Singapore last night from my company's 2-day team building event in Desaru, Malaysia and it feels really good to be home. I had fun but it was physically exhausting and mentally draining. I'm still trying to work my body and mind back to normal and I will get back to all of your comments, emails and blogs slowly.
Bumping this portion up from my previous post...
I’m quite sure that many people who previously didn't know about the existence of my blog have stumbled onto my blog recently. As mentioned before and for those of you who have been following me for at least a year, you would have known that I deliberated for a long time to decide whether to close down my blog, move away or to continue blogging ever since it has become uncovered by so many strangers and 3rd degree friends alike throughout the years. For the more complete story, click "the author's journey" pink tab at the top of this page.
I’ve since decided on the 3rd choice as I realised that blogging has become a huge part of me and I’ve made many cherished friends from forums and all over the world. Moreover, I’ve got nothing to hide. Whatever that I dare display and write on FB and my blog are things which I don’t mind people knowing, except for maybe my students. Only when my students start stumbling onto my blog would I reconsider doing something about it. Recently my 14-year-old students started stalking me on FB even though my settings were private. I think FB had some problem and apparently, they could see my general info and friend list and started clicking on all my friends one by one. It doesn’t help that my hubby’s profile is super public and the damage had been done even though I unchecked and checked all the settings over again to double confirm. I was mad at the hubby for a while but it really isn't his fault.
If you happen to know me and have read up till this point, instead of reading me silently, why don’t you break the silence and drop me a note of hi? It might be a lot easier when we talk face to face knowing that you know rather than to pretend you are not reading me.
PS: Does anyone know how to disable search engine from finding your blog? I've already clicked on the option not to have my blog displayed in search engine for the longest time ever but I still see people getting to my blog from various keyword searches in the likes of google, yahoo and bing.
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I know what you mean abt FB!!! it's so annoying cuz I've been trying to make my account more private, and even if I saved my settings over and over again my account is still not as private as I'd like \__/
ReplyDeleteAnyway, HI!!!! =D lololol. Hope you recover from your trip soon ^__^
Well if that is the case then, HI! Just Kidding, Jo. That's a bit awkward if your students are doing such things. It's fine to really just 'reveal' who they are, as you mentioned, the stuff you put on the social media websites have nothing to hide. You wouldnt have posted it otherwise. Same thing happened to me too. I never link my blog to my fb page just because I dont want it to seem like an 'advertising' method. But since I have talked to a lot of bloggers on twitter, I would post the link whenever I update my blog on twitter for the sake of being in the bloggers world. But what it comes down to is that I have nothing to hide. I know people (friends or strangers) have slowly discovered the appearance of my blog, and some of them even came up to me to say things to make fun of me. Others just remain silence. So unnecessary. I blog because I love to. I am the one who decide what to put on it, there is nothing to hide or to be ashamed of my hobbies. So much unnecessary comments can be left unsaid. I hope the people who know the existence of your blog dont need to "hide" anymore. If they come, just feel free to say hi. It's not a big deal :P
ReplyDeletehellowello,
ReplyDeletemy email is brutalturtle@gmail.com (haha.)
I'm glad you decided to keep going with your blog--since we wouldn't have met otherwise.
ReplyDeleteExcept for clicking on that one option, I don't know any other way to disable being searchable.
Awww Jo. I think you can make your blog private. Only your present readers and the ones you invite in your blog will be able to read your entries but I'm not sure how you can take off your blog from Google if you don't make it private.
ReplyDeleteI hope someone with lots of technical knowledge can help you.
I can relate to a lot of what you said Jo. Not wanting to be found by coworkers and 3rd degree friends is one of the main reasons why I choose to remain anonymous on my blog. Other than my bff whom I told, none of my real life friends even know I have a blog...and I think I would prefer to keep it that way. I don't publish anything online that I don't feel comfortable having people see, but it feels a bit different when there are strangers I've never met before looking at my blog compared to my personal friends and coworkers looking at it.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to a lot of what you said Jo. Not wanting to be found by coworkers and 3rd degree friends is one of the main reasons why I choose to remain anonymous on my blog. Other than my bff whom I told, none of my real life friends even know I have a blog...and I think I would prefer to keep it that way. I don't publish anything online that I don't feel comfortable having people see, but it feels a bit different when there are strangers I've never met before looking at my blog compared to my personal friends and coworkers looking at it.
ReplyDeleteFrances,
ReplyDeleteYes. FB always screws up. I heard once this wife posted nude pictures of herself in an album with settings such that only her hubby could see but FB screwed up one fine day and all on her friend list could see the album. For a few days, nobody dared to tell her. In the end, one guy told her about the FB booboo and she was so embarrassed about it.
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Winnie,
Haha... Thank you so much for taking the time to share with me what you feel. I identify with many of the points you brought up. I’m hoping to see more personal posts from you coz I really enjoy reading such posts a lot more and your life is so interesting as well.
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Rick,
It’s because of so many nice blogger friends I’ve made here like you which kept me going and knowing it’s cool to be more public.
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sugar sugar,
Oh you changed your profile pic! It’s nice. I can’t make my blog completely private due to some reasons which I shan’t elaborate here. Thanx for the tip btw.
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Rinny,
You’ve got mail! A long one at that.
hey jo! you are such a sweet heart for leaving such a kind comment! :)
ReplyDeleteyears ago in highschool, i remember a friend who found a new and young teacher's blog on blogspot. i would occasionally read his blog because it was interesting to see teachers were human too lol. i have to admit thinking back, it was kind of creepy. it somehow seemed kind of wrong, crossing that line between student and teacher. he had never posted anything awful, so i suppose there was nothing wrong or anything to hide. but i believe he eventually shut it down. i hope you keep on blogging!
a week ago, two old friends found my blog. i'm a very reserved person in real life, so i felt really...awkward and embarassed about it. :(
I am glad to hear that you decided to continue blogging. I am still new to blog and have enjoyed reading every post (even though I may not comment on every single one).
ReplyDeleteI think we bloggers question ourselves at some point as to why we blog and what we blog for. At the end of the day, I realize that this is my new found hobby which I absolutely love. However, there is fine line and limit that I can only expose myself/personal informaiton to a certain level. Like you said, it is differnt when total strangers read my blog compared to personal friends/people I know look at it.
Happy blogging :)
i think the privacy is a big issue especially on facebook,ive disabled both mine and the hubby's facebook to private mainly because well i just dont feel comfortable knowing random ppl are gonna look at our stuff
ReplyDeletemy blog on the other hand are stuff that i put out there for ppl to see, so i actually dont mind as much, cuz they see only wt im permitting
btw im doing a giveaway soon, and is taking early entries if you answer a question, see if you wanna drop by and tyr your luck~~~
jessy
threenothing.blogspot.com
a,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing with me about how you were reading your teacher’s blog and how you felt. I think I would eventually have to move somewhere if I continue in the teaching line and if my blog has been uncovered.
So how did you feel about your old friends finding your blog now since some time has passed?
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Nelah,
Thank you for sharing with me your thoughts. I totally share the same sentiments. I’ve come to love blogging a lot too and I figured it must have become a hobby since I spend quite some time on it and feel constipated whenever I’m held back from blogging by other more important issues in life. Happy blogging to you too!
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Jessy,
My FB and blog have got overlaps here and there. I may post the same thoughts, feelings and photos on both sides yet I must say people only on my FB and people only on my blog do know only certain aspects of me. My FB is more localised. Of course for my FB settings, everything is set to friends only but as for blog, I can’t really control so I’ve to exercise some caution.
I’ll drop your blog to check out the giveaway soon! =)
thx for your comment on my post btw, that meant alot.
ReplyDeleteas for FB and blogger, i thought about share my blog on facebook so my friends can see(currently i only have my actualy frds on facebook, idont like the idea of adding co-workers and stuff, cuz i say some crazy stuff on my facebook, and i feel more secure knowing that only my friends can see them) but ya, im too shy to even let them know, so far only my bestie and the hubby knows...lol but maybe if one day one of my frd accidently stumble upon it and saw my blog i think id feel little embaressed.
“You’re friggin cute!”
ReplyDeleteAhahaha!!! Of course I just came from Kym's page. So sorry my friend, but I had to. =)
Jessy,
ReplyDeleteI think by then you would have gotten accustomed to it and there won’t be embarrassment? Some discomfort probably.
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Rick,
You’re so evil! I should have known! LoLz
HI JO!!! :P I've seen many other bloggers who were in the same situation - trying to decide whether or not to close down their blog because of how public it is. I'm not sure how to disable search engines from finding you but i've seen many bloggers just make their blog private or by invitation only. Hopefully it doesn't have to get to that point for you!
ReplyDeletecute outfit :D
ReplyDeleteKym,
ReplyDeleteThanx for your input. I really appreciate it. I also don’t wish to resort to being a by-invitation only private blog for now. =)
Denissa Hady,
Erm... wrong comment for the wrong post?