I am taking a break for the next four or five days.
This is partly due to technical difficulties, and partly due to me trying to figure out where I am going with this whole blog thing.
My family is concerned that I am giving away too many details and putting them at some kind of risk.
Obviously there is some truth to this. I have tried to explain that predators do not think this way. There are a million web sites in the world with inappropriate pictures of young girls. Predators know about these sites. They share them. They troll chat rooms looking for young victims who are lonely and vulnerable. The very worst of them prowl the streets looking for targets of opportunity, or become fixated on a family member or neighbor. They go to Thailand where children can be bought and sold. I suppose there is a one in a million chance that out of all the magazine and internet pictures of young girls, mine might somehow catch someone’s eye, and that they would go to all the trouble of finding out about us and traveling some distance just to target us.
And maybe one chance in a million is one too many.
Maybe I do need to just focus on my writing and art.
I just need to think this through.
See you soon.
Pouring My Art Out 
Thank you for stopping by 🙂
Thank you.
While I have been enjoying reading these latest posts, I must admit that they have made me a tad uncomfortable. As a rule of thumb, I personally feel that it is not a good idea to ever post pictures of people without obtaining their permission and approval in advance. And that includes Mothers and daughters and uncles and cousins and friends and……and…..and….. And that includes their homes and vehicles. It also is probably not a good idea to post personal information about an mere acquaintance when you also post a picture of their home, esp if it is an unusual and easily identified home. While things like Google maps have made real privacy an illusion, extending common courtesy like this (and that means not pressuring or belittling people to get their permission too) is only right. I had a feeling you were free wheeling a bit, kind of on a binge of sharing more and more and more. Jessica is right, period. And you know it even if you are pouting about it. Take em down. All of them that have people, besides you, and private personal places in them, unless you have permission. You have plenty of pictures of public places and flowers and animals and other thngs that you can share that we will enjoy. And you can write, and have, about many, many things that we will also enjoy, without drawing others unwillingly into your blog. And for those musings and ramblings and rantings and ravings about family, that’s what personal private journals are for you know. Spouse and children don’t feel exposed that way. It’s an easy fork in the road to meander off down without even realizing you’ve done it…I’m sure you meant no harm. But the best way to show that is by remedying the situation with all possible speed.
I have always gotten permossion to put the people in my posts. I just need to be a little more vauge about a fer things. This is all good advice, but thousands of strangers see me and my kids every day, and could follow us home, or move in next door. Famous people all over the world can be tracked down easily. It just pisses me off that a few creeps out there have us all running scared.
This will take some work, but it’s not too late. Make up nicknames for your kids, and then go through your posts and search-and-replace them all. Rename your wife “Wife” or “Honey” or some such. Remove all pictures of your family members, and any indication of your house location.
Then just go on from there. And in the future, when you post pictures of places you grew up, or visited, or whatever, make sure they’re not actually YOUR places. Then you’ll be able to blog with impunity. I fear all the time that I’ve given too much away, and I’ve done all of the above (except I did the nicknames and not posting house locations to start out with).
So all I have to do to share my life with people is be somebody else. I think other people have said sort of the same thing to me… many times…
No, be yourself with pseudonyms.
Only the names have been changed to protect the ignorant.
Just be smart about it. Someone isn’t going to read a blog then think “Hey, I should kill and stalk this person and their family.” If your blog hits suddenly skyrocket I might get nervous someone is stalking you. Focus on less on the life of Art and more on the art of Art if you remain concerned. It’s called the “Craigslist Killer” because only one bozo ever did it. And he would have done it with or without the Internet.
I had experiences with pedo creeps when I was younger and on the Internet. The only downside is I can never watch the movie Topgun because that was part of his screen name. Good riddens, right?
Thank you for the well thought-out comment. I feel bad that I bring out so many of your positive characteristics.People might get the wrong idea about you.
I have been called an asshole by more people than ever before this last week. I need to get some positivity somewhere, right?
You have to admit that sometimes you go out of your way to seem a little bit like a jerk on your blog. I have come to realize that this is just am exagerated character of yourself. I am not saying you have no jerk-like qualities. I do the same thing, making myself seem a little dumber than I really am… not a lot, but a little. We are all trying to be entertaining, and if you were just one more nice guy all the time, I don’t think you would be any where near as interesting. But if you were really the person you sometimes pretend to be inyour posts, I think maybe you would be a little scary. You can always just let the good guy part of you out in comments on my blog. I wont tell anybody.
I think this comment here counts as a blog post.
What makes me laugh most are people who are overly confident jerks. I wish I could be that all the time because I know I would always be laughing. I make sure even when I do say something like that I do eventually get whatever I have coming to me.
A bad guy is always defined how he falls. Nobody wants to see a bad guy actually win in the end.
You are just complex. Or you have a complex. One or the other.
Or are you saying I am an overly confident jerk?
You’re doubting yourself so clearly not the jerk thing. I don’t think you could hurt someone if you tried.
I could if I set my mind to it. But there are only a few situations where I would try to hurt someone, and I try to avoid those. And thanks.
Ha! I knew it. I got you to admit you are capable of hurting others. Reverse psychology is great.
But really, you’re a mellowed out guy who knows what’s important. It’s honorable.
I am an ex dead head. But you touch my family, you get hurt. Other than that… whatever dude.
Dislike!
What’s up lately, everyone is quitting blogging? Just re-evaluate what you want to write about, you still have so much to talk about apart from your family, if you don’t have an outlet I think your head will explode, I think it even did in one of your photoshop posts.
Direct any trolls or stalkers my way, tonight I’m gonna be in the Black Cap, Camden Town, London if anyone wants to perve me, I’m wearing a light blue tee shirt with a bear on it and am about a week unshaven.
I may have overstated my case. I am not going away. I was told by my oldest daughter that posting pictures of my mom’s hous and the places where I grew up was a bad idea. I am sulking. She said she would make me take out the pictures of her in the whole blog. I am pouting.
Then it seemed that this might be a good post to start some dialog on this subject. Get some perspective. But thanks for thinking of me. I hope you got perved at least once in your bear shirt and bristley chin.
That’s a relief, I had to cover up my friends photos I used in one pic as they may not want themselevs plastered over the web (even though they reveal a lot more on “dating” sites, I just cover their faces up with a Muppets character or something.
Oh… thank goodness… I thought your friends were real puppets. Like all my ninja friends.
Dear pmao,
I agree there’s no point taking even the slightest risk with your family and if they feel uncomfortable with the direction the blog has taken you should backtrack to the original reason you started it. It’s sad that the world holds these dangers, but it does, and you’re right, one chance in a million IS too many.
I, for one, will be very happy if you just blog about your art and your writing. Yes, it’s nice to read about all the different sides of your life but there are plenty of family blogs out there for people to read if they want to. What makes your blog unique is YOU. I’ve enjoyed the family posts but they’re not what keeps me coming back – your writing, your art and your nutty sense of humour is the reason I followed you in the first place and the reason I’ll never go away (that makes me sound creepy, but you know what I mean).
Love Dotty xxx
You really are a delightful, delicious little hermit, you know that? I hope I spelled those correctly. My spell checker is still not working. I feel sort of stupid because I am afraid to use my best words. Fear not, my English rose… I shall be anon, both hence and thusly, forsooth and verily shall I hie myself hither, yet shortly shall I tarry lest hurt shall befalleth you and returneth most jauntily shall I indeed.
I’m sorry to read this as I have just now found you. It is something I worry about from time to time…
I love being found. That is the irony, I suppose.
If I was as shallow as I sometimes pretend to be, I would suggest that this is the perfect chance to read all the posts from the very start so you know what led up to this… (Okay, I really have no shame at all, do I?)
None. None at all. But I am easily swayed. 🙂 Perhaps I shall give it a go.
You would join a small but select group of… now that I think about it, all women, who have delved into my past from the very start, and are now so captivated by my strange sense of humor and weird art and funny stories that I have to make these little announcements when I take a few days off or else they go into a panic. I am just that adorable.
Gah. Now I have to read. I never pass up a dare, either. Dangerous way to be but it serves me well.
Being manipulative and sneaky has worked for me now and then. Do not make me get into the whining and begging stage. Let me preserve the notion of self respect… please…
First, I think that you taking some time to consider how your family feels is a very noble and right thing to do. Second, you are one of the few friends I had before a few days ago who has stuck around, and I will miss you. Third, have fun with your art because I am sure that taking time away from blogging will give you extra time to create.
I will be back. And it isn’t the end of the world. And you just need to tell your favorite people individualy how you feel. You may have made statements in a general way that people thought was directed at them.
Worth the time it takes to think, especially if all of your girls are uncomfortable.
Can’t make them all mad at the same time, that’s for sure…
Yup, never fun to be without at least one comrade. There must be a way to protect their privacy and fulfill your creative aspirations. Compromise, thoughtful deliberations! Good idea!
I am working on it.
I agree… It is a concern and I too ponder and question just how much one should show and say….
I had some good pictures of the street and house where I grew up. And I am pouring my life story out with the art. This kind of sucks.
I can understand the concern. In this crazy whacked world, anything is possible.
You have always posted so many various aspects of who you are. Maybe you just swing back to some photo shop for a week until you decide. But honestly, I don’t know if you will. You are a man of many parts and they all rotate in an out each week. Which is what makes you fun to follow.
Just my two cents.
That is one of the nicest things anyone ever typed to me… sniffle…
😀
Thanks. I needed that.
Just know whatever you choose, I bet most of us stick around.. 😀
Whoa, I am not going to move to a hermit cave or jump off a cliff. I just need a few days. I still plan on being funny. And witty. And charming. No body needs to go anywhere. Are you trying to start a stampede?
yep, we are running fast for the hills, there is some new young gun we are chasing… LOLLLLLLLLL