I've noticed quite a lot of blogs going PWP also.

It's sad, because if you are only new to this journey/blogging, you may want to read blogs from others like yourself. If these blogs are PWP, then you can't.

I've heard of a few blogs, that are suppose to be very good, but as I don't have the magic password, I can not read them.

Maybe there could be a registry, where you register your blog & your interest to read other blogs. If the author accepts, they may let you read certain aspects of their blog, until they either accept or deny your membership to the blog.

We can't lose these fantastic blogs all together, just because a few bad comments.

I had a look at it too, and I think it's a great idea. I just have to work out how to do it.... ;)

Meri-Ann - Jenny set it up for me. If you want to know how, contact her (details are at her site).

Bea

I'm sorry, I'm with Jules guys...I know why PW protect exists but still, it takes away from the conversation in the greater internet about IF. Part of the reason the Film Festival was started, right? Because we're tired of being misrepresented in the media?
So if they never hear the "real us" because we are behind PW protect, then we'll still be inaccurately portrayed.
Just my opinion...

Aurelia: You're absolutely right, of course, but at the same time there's such a thing as self-protection. Like I said, PWP isn't a good solution for everyone, neither is this registration a good compromise for everyone, but I'm really glad to see an option in between having a completely private and a completely public blog.

I guess personally I'm thinking of protecting things like identifying details more than my opinion, as well. I'm currently pretty ok with my opinion being out there but not, for example, my photograph.

Bea

Bea,

Have I told you how cool you are? Not only do I agree with most everything you write, but you give me useful little resources.

Sorry I don't comment more, but you always get me thinking about something and I have to take time to phrase my response (I am not as quick as you :-)). Then I come back to post a long thought out response and you posted again to distract me. Damn - that is good.

Regardless, I will make an effort to increase my witty response rate and dear lord I will add you to my currently outdated and incredibly embarassing blogs I read list.

Hi,
I popped over here from Baby Blues and thought I'd leave a note. I just pass protected for my blog Life is Beautiful because a coworker "stumbled" upon it. If you'd like to visit email me at knox1908 AT hotmail DOT com. I like Jules' idea about registering and being able to read each other's blogs. The only downfall to going PWP is not being able to get new readers. I'm starting cycling again next month after almost a year break.

I'm with Jules and Aurelia on that one.
I thought that blogging was about sharing your views with the greater public. Especially with something such as IF when the information out there is seldom and where we are too often mispresented, there is a need to be open.

The whole PWP thing gives it a veil of secrecy which in my opinion will reflect negatively on the IF community.

PWP blogs just reinforces the element of shame unfortunately already present with IF issues.

The other thing being that policing such a site is impossible, on what criteria would someone be able to access a PWP blog ?
On the internet you can be anyone you want to be, I could pass myself as a woman and go to a woman restricted blog tomorrow if I wanted to !

And as far as protecting your personal details, PWP might give you a superficial sense of protection perhaps but in reality someone only need to hack into Blogger to retrieve such information and site hacking is not such an uncommon thing these days.

I'm with Bea, sometimes you have to withdraw for self-preservation.

Being able to withdraw only just as far as you need to sounds like a great idea.

Fostering more awareness about infertility is not the reason I blog.
I blog to help me get through it.

If the existence of IF blogs in general results in more awareness as a side-effect, that's fabulous. But I don't consider this my mission, or my individual responsibility.
To put it bluntly, I don't owe the world* my blog.

*The miniscule fraction that visits it, that is.

Bea, as you know I have a PWP blog that only you & 1 single other person have access to. I am horrible, mean & honest on that blog & personal. I feel able to bitch about things I'd never feel safe to make public.
However, since the BFP I have that other one. It isn't PWP but I've disabled the search function - I think it just won't come up on google or any other types of internet search. I've only given the address out to a small handfull of people so it probably may as well be PWP I suppose. BTW, I've decided against giving the address out to family now!!

But, you're rather private on your blog. I don't think anyone could track you down from the details you have on it. Whereas, from our daughters site someone could find us if they were nuts enough.

I think different people have different reasons for blogging. Some reasons are best suited to PWP and some are best suited to being totally public.

I think what Lut said rings very true - I don't think anyone owes the world their blog. Having said that, I do applaud those who are willing to put themselves out there for the edification of the general public, should they happen to stop by, and I hope bloggers can continue to do so as much as they feel is possible.

And if anything, I thought this solution would allow people to be more open than they are with a fully public blog. And let's not forget, everyone restricts some details about themselves. (Except, perhaps, Tertia. But she's special.)

As far as hacking goes, I guess I just don't expect anyone to bother. Fair point, though - care is still warranted.

The setting up of false identities and gaining access to a blog that way - well, that's the biggest problem I can see. You can downgrade a user's security, but that won't stop them setting up another pseudonym. Also your RL friend/coworker/etc may already have had a chance to read all the stuff you don't want them to read. At the end of the day, you just have to decide who to trust, and how much, which is tricky.

I still think it's good to have this solution out there.

Bea

I think the idea of levels is so interesting. But I also like Jules idea about a registry. I think too many times, someone comes on the scene late and then misses out and it feels like it's just one more place in life where you don't have the information.

Sure I can understand that some people may wish to go completely private, but I don't see this as a positive thing in the long run.

My blog is not out there for the "edification of the general public", although the definition of a blog as per se is " a journal (or newsletter) that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption".

Those of you who have followed my blog for a while,would only know too well that I have coped with more than my fair share of abusive comments and the likes in the past, but I have no intention of letting a handful of people bullying me and dictating the manner in which I write.

I'm not asking for everyone to like my blog or my ideas and sometimes one can learn from different views as long as they are put out in a respectful way. The bottom line is that if you don't like it, don't read it.

As for security purposes, well the internet is probably the least secure place to be posting your personal details.

Two of the site of which I am a member of have already been hacked into, one of them where I do my photoshop comps ( Worth1000 ) only just last week.

Hackers go into sites to steal your passwords...(many people use the same password to access different sites ) .it's all about identity theft and it is one of the biggest threat these days. Hacking is not personal, it's big business for some people.

Personally I will not PWP my blog, I don't like the idea of restricting entry to some people based on hearsay.

I think it is a personal choice, and I hope I'm never faced with the decision to go pwp or not. Either way, thank you for sharing the information.

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