MBSM-ers: I've changed a lot of my Flickr photos from Public to Private, in response to what seems to be an overwhelming number of posts about pictures being stolen and re-purposed. I'm still not happy about having to do that, for a few reasons:
1) My blog gets very little traffic, and this may be a huge overreaction on my part ... to which I respond to myself, well, 'if you can't be overprotective of the children in your life, who are you going to be overprotective of?' Plus, Flickr is a lot more public than my blog, so that's where I've made the changes.
2)Sharing my photos - here and on Flickr - & sharing in other people's photos, has really been inspiring to me. It helps me feel creative and gives me joy, and I think it's really horrible that something like this would interfere with that.
3)It feels sort of like giving into bullying, even when I know it's more just being proactive. I just hate that I have to take this step because a bunch of people are ridiculous and don't understand boundaries. At which point myself responds with 'but you know there are some sickos out there, which is part of why this blog is anonymous in the first place, so just shut up and do it anyways.'
Well, I obviously listened to the little voice, but am still feeling petulant about it. Petulant is better than regretful or frightened though - which is what I would be if any of my pictures of the kiddos wound up somewhere else (even if that place were 'harmless.'
So, the point of all that is - If you have Flickr, please click through my sidebar shots, and add me, so that we can be friends! Or leave your Flickr URL and I'll add you as my contact... I definitely want to be able to share photos with all of you.
Even though I've taken those steps, I still am going to post pictures of the kiddos here. That feels like a pretty reasonable thing to do, since I am not willing to just stop doing something I love. I'm interested in hearing what reactions you all - all my creative, photography minded friends - have had to this, and what, if any, steps have you taken...
Now let's get to the program here and I'll show you My Best Shot Monday.
I wasn't quite feeling up to a practice run this weekend, so I decided to watch Youngest Nephew and Lil Girl while everybody else went out and partied. We had a sleepover! Which was exhausting! But, also, these kids are amazingly awesome. Youngest Nephew added "Drive Auntie NTE nuts" to his checklist and then put three empty squares next to it, so he would "remember to do it a bunch of times." Lil Girl sang the Blue's Clues song when it came on the radio (I didn't know she watched Blue's Clues!) and has decided that my name is either 'bay' or 'me' - At least 'me' makes sense, since when she points to a picture with me in it, I say, "Yup, that's Auntie NTE, that's me." But 'bay'??? Trust me when I say that is nowhere near my name. And they got along, mostly. And behaved, mostly. And slept till almost 8 in the morning, which, their parents assure me, is a kind of a miracle.
Also, it gave me something to do all night long, such as take a million pictures and try to figure out F-stops. (Which I still have not).
14 comments:
I'm thinking about doing this same thing with my Flickr account. I hate that we have to worry about all this stuff.
Love the sleeping shots! I'm still trying to figure out F stops as well!
You know, I don't use flikr for photos, just for that reason. I just post on here. I don't get a huge amount of traffic and most of the people who visit are fellow parents or family and friends. I agree with you protecting your little ones! :)
AND I love the shots of them sleeping!!! SO CUTE!
I love sleeping kids...they always look so calm and peaceful!
I justed used the large size from flickr to get it that big...usually I use the medium or the small, but for some reason they looked weird with this shot. Now I'm off to figure out how to add you as a contact so that I can still see your pictures! I guess I should probably think about making mine private too...
I am also thinking about deleting my Flickr account. I had a post up on Saturday about putting watermarks on your photos as added protection (just annoying to grab those that you cannot instantly claim as your own!).
Great pictures and keep on working on those f-stops! Once the lightbulbs clicks on it is much easier. :)
I have been thinking about the whole photo stealing/there are sickos out there thing, too...I haven't decided yet what I'll do. It's sad we even have to think about such things. But I'll probably we folloing your example and going F&F on Flickr.
I adore sleeping baby/children pictures and these are wonderful!
They look like angels to me. Sweet shots.
yes, the privacy/safety issue has been on my mind for the past several weeks, and i've changed most of my family shots on flickr to f/f only. i agree with all of your reasoning on the subject and find it all just so irritating. that it's even an issue at all. i will go to your flickr and add you as a friend and you're welcome to do the same with me!
i liked your pictures too!
adorable shots! so peaceful!
these photos are really nice. i am with you on the flickr question. i don't use tags, that is one of the things people have said to make it more secure...who knows these days.
Surely those sleeping angels didn't drive you nuts!
I don't have a flickr account, so I have no advice...I hate that we even live in a world where we must consider these things. Last night on 60 minutes, there was an interview with some employees at INTERPOL...one of them said "The internet is just a reflection of society." Wow...that really hit home.
Better to be overprotective. Good for you, listening to your inner wisdom and taking care of yourself and your littles.
Great pictures today.
Very sweet little sleepers.
Much better to be safe. I clicked your sleeping shot to see what would happen. It's something I do on my own site to check I haven't given away any info I shouldn't. The pic didn't come up large, but it did show the name of the file. Just to let you know
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