Today

Today, the painter man came and filled holes in the walls and then painted our bedroom walls. Once he was gone, I hoovered up the debris he created and cleaned the windows, now dotted with paint.
Today, JP and I put our bedroom furniture back in place and agreed to a moratorium on hanging his choice of pictures for the bedroom wall.
Today, I received a ‘Happy Anniversary!’ notification from WordPress. I’ve had this blog for two years. How time flies!
Today, Big Sis is travelling south from beyond up north to visit for ten days.
Today, I am doing lots of furniture moving so I won’t feel guilty if I don’t go to today’s keep-fit session.
Today, I will make a start on Sachiko Morimoto’s Lavender.

why privacy matters

When I read a news item the other day about how WordPress bloggers could enable friends to find our blogs through Facebook or Twitter or Google Contacts, I have to admit that I was horrified at the thought that I could be ‘outed’ so easily. One of the major plus points of starting a blog for me was that I could retain my anonymity if I wished.

 
I have not posted photographs of me or my friends or family on this blog and that’s how it will remain unless they allow otherwise. Even my avatar image is not of me. By remaining anonymous, I can let off steam about the things that bug or interest me without fear of recrimination. I mistakenly told a few family members and a couple of friends about the blog in the early days and then realised that it would be best if I never referred to anyone I wrote about by name on the basis that we’re all entitled to remain anonymous. On the other hand, none of my work colleagues know that I blog and if I ever post about them (which I am bound to do at some point) and they were to find my blog through a Facebook or Google Contacts search, (I don’t do Twitter), they might put two and two together and recognise themselves and I’m not sure that I want that because very little of what I would ever write about work and my colleagues would be positive.

 
I don’t regard my desire for anonymity as cowardly or devious. You may not agree with that and that’s fine by me but I have to prove my identity so many times in the week by way of logons and passwords, personal identity numbers, wearing an office ID card, proving my address is actually mine and so on, that I like being able to write anonymously in a blog simply because I have the choice to do so.

 
Yes, I know I can make my blog private but it’s fun to check the stats regularly and possibly discover a new follower (whose numbers, in case you were interested, have now reached the dizzy height of ten, thank you one and all).  When I started this blog and was still playing around with all the settings that WordPress offered me, I connected to Facebook but had not fully understood the ramifications of doing so and hours later was horrified to find my latest post in all its naked glory for all to see on my Facebook wall. I swiftly disconnected the link and cannot imagine a day when I would ever want to re-connect. I will not be connecting to Google Contacts either. I don’t want to have to take my blog elsewhere but if there’s no alternative, that’s what I’ll do to preserve my true identity. Unfortunately, if I do, you won’t then be able to find me again because I obviously won’t say where I’m going because that would defeat the purpose of moving elsewhere. The words ‘catch’ and ‘twenty two’ suddenly spring to mind…

spam

Spam. Not the kind that comes in a tin but the kind that arrives alongside that newsy email from a friend or into your blog.

 

The spam that my WordPress blog receives is hived off and I can then decide whether it’s spam or not but therein lies my problem. How do I decide what might be a genuine comment or question which then deserves a reply? By hovering my mouse over a spam address, I can get a preview screenshot of a website. This action confirms that most of the spam I’ve received so far is just advertising for things I would never want to buy but what of the others? How can I spot the genuine? Are any of them genuine? By accepting all as spam, have I missed out on possible followers?

 
I admit that I haven’t received a vast amount of blogger spam. In the month or so that I’ve been blogging I’ve only received fourteen to date but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. If I open the ones that I think might be genuine, will I then receive a future deluge of spam from even more sources? Askimet is doing a great job so far (thank you!) and I haven’t been brave enough to change anything to ‘not spam’ even just out of curiosity, but I admit that I am tempted at times.

 
How do you deal with blogger spam?