Privacy Settings

*Sigh*

If you are currently reading this post, it is because you got an invitation to read my blog, which is now private. I wasn't sending out invitations just to invite you to read something I told you about many moons ago... I invited you because, without it, you'd currently not be able to look at it again. And, even if you're not a regular reader, I at least wanted you to have the option of viewing it (if for no other reason than for the beautiful Julia photos :-)

I actually really liked having a public blog because I loved that anyone could stumble upon it. I can't see who reads my blog, but I can see what search terms end up allowing people to find it. For instance, people have searched for "cactus cupcakes," "pretzel paintbrushes," and "Brown Bear, Brown Bear birthday" and found my site. Fun! The exchange of creative ideas makes me happy.

And, more so than that, I would love for my blog to be a tool for reaching people for God. I liked thinking that maybe people stumbled upon it and got some encouragement in their vocation or in their walk with Christ. Sometimes being a Catholic, medical school mom is a little bit lonely, since I don't know many others in my somewhat unique situation, and I liked to think that maybe another Jesus-loving mom in school or work somewhere might find my blog and feel solidarity and community, knowing she wasn't alone. 

And then, I made a fatal mistake, friends.

Tonight, I noticed that I had hundreds of page views. Just today. I get a few hundred in a month. Not hundreds in a day. I knew something was up. I looked up the Traffic Source....Facebook. Confound it! Then, I noticed there was only one post that was getting all the Traffic: My last post, regarding our vacation, which I mindlessly had called by its proper name (which I have since removed).

The pieces of the puzzle began clicking. I searched for the name of the vacation spot on facebook, and came to the lodge's official site and saw the following:

That vacation locale has feelers out, I guess, for good PR for their business. Can't blame them for that. I'm sure, too, they thought they were doing me a favor posting that on their site. Probably just thought I'd be flattered.

But, honestly, I was just plain creeped out by it. I didn't like having hundreds of views from people I didn't know, only connected to me by a vacation spot. I certainly didn't get into blogging to give anyone free advertising, and I don't like to be publicly linked without permission. So, I asked them to remove the post and I made my blog private.

If they remove it, I may make my blog public again in a week or two and just be more careful in the future, because I really hate that only people I thought to add can now look at it. And that they'd all need a gmail account :-( And that I'm sure I accidentally left plenty of people off. And that it's now impossible for anyone to stumble upon this blog for a good reason.

Anyhow, regardless of what I decide to do, I apologize for the inconvenience, and promise to be more careful with my rantings and ravings about proper nouns. From now on, for instance, maybe I will blog in code words about topics such as Julia's love of Gloomio's cereal, Goodbye Doggy, and Poppy Avenue characters, like Little Fish and Vegetable Fairy. Or maybe I will just have to get extra descriptive, talking about such things as her love of small, wheat, O-shaped cereal; an Asian cartoon cat with a pink bow; and puppets from a popular television series, like a tall, yellow avian creature, and a blue, sweet-craving, furry creature.

;-)

I better say it once more... sorry!