I was wrong. This was not the first time and it certainly will not be the last.
Last night, as I was getting ready to publish the latest Baby Waldow blog post, Kristina stopped me. She was starting to question all of the Baby Waldow pictures I was posting online. Between her twitter account, her blog & mine, and my Facebook posts, there is a lot of information about Baby Waldow for public consumption. Not only content, but pictures too.
I’ve mentioned this before, but while Kristina is very outgoing, she is also very private. For as private as she is, I’m 180 degrees the opposite. I tend to put it all out there publicly. Kristina will tell you that I crave/seek attention. I usually debate her on this, but she’s probably correct on that point too. But that’s another story; this post is about Baby Waldow.
Baby Waldow is Now Private
Effective immediately, Baby Waldow’s twitter account is set to private. I removed over 200 people last night – most of whom I casually know, but have never met face to face. I pared her follower count down to 64. Of those 64, I’ve met 90%+ in person. I consider them my friends. I trust them. There are a handful of folks whom I’ve never met, but still “made the cut” for a variety of reasons – none of which are really all that important. It’s nothing personal if you were one of the 200+ that didn’t stick around. I just need to protect my 4-month old daughter.
I’m currently looking for a WordPress plugin that will make her blog private (password protected). Per WordPress.org, there is no way to make an entire blog private. If anyone can recommend a good plugin, I’m all ears.
The Power of Twitter: Quick, Honest Feedback
Around 8:30PM MT, I posted the following Tweet:
Long talk w/ K-Dawg re: @babywaldow account, EvaWaldow.com, etc. May be deleting all. Too many sickos out there. Thoughts?
Within minutes, the good people of Twitter replied. A handful of DMs (private tweets) and dozens of replies confirmed that we were making the correct decision. Of the nearly 30 tweets, almost all suggested making her twitter account and blog private. A handful suggested deleting altogether. One woman, Meg Fowler, whom I’ve never met face to face yet trust and have a ton of respect for (we have several friends in common), even replied with this tweet:
@djwaldow I’ll wait to follow @babywaldow until I meet you and K. Much respect.
Wow, right? The people have spoken. Aside: It is interesting to me that nobody gave me this advice until I asked – strong opinions kept to themselves.
Why Did We Choose To “Go Private”?
There were many reasons we chose to take Baby Waldow’s online profiles private. First, when I started this whole thing, “public” fit better with my personality. Heck, if Baby Waldow was going to play such a huge part in my life, she was going to be public too! How could I be public yet be private about her? Also, I thought how cool would it be to chronicle a life of an in utero baby (she started tweeting a few months after conception) via Twitter and a blog? Fun, right? What a great way for our family and friends to keep up with all of the milestones in her life. Even better, it would serve as a living (public) life account.
But here is the rub – a point that Kristina reminds me of often: It’s not about me. I can choose how public I want my life to be, but I can’t choose it for an infant…even if she is my daughter. Let me be clear, the decision to make Baby Waldow’s life public was a joint one by Kristina and me. The decision to “go private”, while initiated by Kristina, is also a joint decision.
The main reason we chose to set her Twitter account to private and password protect her blog (coming soon) was because of all the sickos out there. It actually really makes me sad to think about it. The fact that a picture of an infant could be used for anything other than ooing and ahhing about how cute she is really really bothers me. What a shame, right? Also, with minimal effort, someone could put together a few pieces of online content and know quite a bit about Baby Waldow. Both scenarios absolutely suck, but … they are the reality of the world we live in. Again, how sad, right?
What’s Next?
First, I need to make a decision on Facebook. I tend to post a bunch of Baby Waldow pics there. I have 687 “friends” which means that several hundred are folks I don’t really know all that well. Is it “safe” to continue posting pictures there? I just changed my privacy settings to for “My status, photos, and posts” to Friends Only. Still, could some of those “friends” have bad intentions? Man. I hope not.
What about all of the pictures and posts that are currently public? Do I remove all? Delete? Somehow password protect?
I know all too well the famous Joe Rogan quote as I’ve used it in many presentations:
You can’t take something off the Internet. It’s like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool. Once it’s in there, it’s in there.
So, what to do…?
Finally, Thank You.
Thanks to all who have come along for the Baby Waldow (public) ride. It’s been real. It’s been fun. Thanks also to those who have helped in making the “go private” decision. Finally, thanks for your understanding that I needed to blog about this. This post is really more for me (and Kristina and Baby Waldow) then it is for you. I appreciate you allowing me that.
I’d love to hear your thoughts below.
DJ Waldow
@djwaldow
