When I started writing my blog my intention was for my family to read it. My mum and sister live 1000kms in one direction, and my extended family - aunts, uncles, cousins, grandmother - live 2000kms in the other direction. I was still fairly new to using the internet (although I was an
early majority user of facebook, signing up in 2007), and loved chatting in forums, but wanted to share my stories and scrapbooking in one place.
I use my real name, and the real names of my husband and children. I have shared that I live in Brisbane, Australia, and even just last week shared that it was
my birthday (and I constantly rant at the bank/electric company/phone company about how knowledge of my birth date isn't enough security, but it's like talking to monkeys sometimes). See, if someone wants to find you bad enough, they can do it without a blog.
A couple of my friends have connected with their facebook doppelganger - people with the same first and last name as them. Among the
500+ million users on facebook, I am the only one of me. There's a handful of people with the same surname (which I don't think I have ever shared here), but most of them are on the other side of the world (except my brother and sister, and a few unrelated people in Australia)
I don't give away identifying details if I can help it - I don't share first day of school photos if I can avoid it, because the school name is plastered across the back of the uniform. I haven't shared a photograph of our street name, because it's fairly unique in a big city. But, see that door up there? It lets me down.
When I initially changed my blog URL and started using the door motif, it was with an eye to building a small crafty business. Something that I may still do, but have put on hold for the moment. But I like my purple door. While painted doors seem to be a common thing in Europe and America, it isn't common in Australia, at least not that I've seen (at least the boldly coloured doors don't seem to be common) We often say to people coming to visit "look for the purple door, that's us"
So I guess I am public enough to not mask the photos on my layouts, but private enough that you don't know about my terrible habits. Public enough that you've seen photos of my grey hair, but private enough that my children won't cringe {too much} when they get older.
Here are some other blog posts to read with some different thoughts on public vs private blogging.
