About blogging

In case, you are wondering why there are so many posts in 1 night? Sometimes I don't even write 1 post in 1 month. Lol.

The trigger in a way is because I found out I have ex colleagues still reading my blog. I have lost touch with most of them since I stopped full time work for 4 years plus. So I am surprised some of them are still reading my blog. The fact that her colleague can tell me about the school bag I bought for RA means that she is quite current at reading my blog. (That particular post has 101 hits by the way. Shows that many people do care a hoot for ergonomics school bags. Recently, the ear piercing and the Ballet post broke the record with more than 150 hits. Most of my posts have only about 30 hits. Lol.)

So, while I know nothing about what happened to my ex colleague for the last 4 years, she probably knows every little thing about me, my hb and my kids. But maybe it means that my blog is still worth reading even though we have lost touch with one another. Haha. The problem of a blog is that you really don't know who is reading. Unlike FB, there is not easy for them to leave comments as well. I tried adding a notice board widget but people abuse it. Even with an additional email address filter, people can write rubbish on it. And I have not been able to erase that off. Zzz...

Hb has been asking me to be a full time blog writer. Learn how to make $ from my blog, get sponsorship etc. Learn from Xiaxue, Grace Tan etc. And I know there are a few successful family blogs out there. Cheekiemonkies, the daddy blogger, even went to LEGOLAND and even Australia for free cos they were sponsored. It is tempting, I admit. Having someone else pay for my holidays sounds wonderful esp since I really love to travel.

But now I know for sure that I will not go down that route. No. 1 is because I value the privacy of my family too much. I need to protect my kids as well. Imagine a stranger can walk up to RA and call out their name, and say "I know your name is RA. You study at this school. And your mummy bought a school bag for you last week right? " Even when it happened to me, I felt a bit uneasy. Let alone my gals. Having extra money is good but just not worth it for me. Worse, what if the reader is not my friend, family or ex colleague. What if it is a stranger with ill intents? With details from my blog, he can stalk RA. RA may trust him since he seems to know everything about her and our family.

Yes, I can omit all personal details about my family but it is too tiring to write like that. My gal xxx studies at school xxx and we stay at xxx estate. I probably need to blank off details even from photos I posted. I know I will lose the zeal to write. As it is, I am getting lazy to blog when I get bogged down by work or family commitments. So, I am not going to make it even harder for myself.

Second important reason why I do not want my blog to 发扬光大, is about freedom of expression. Why did that guy got sued by PM for writing libellous things on his blog? I mean your blog should be about your personal thoughts and views right?

If he had said the same things at the coffee shop, he would have been safe unless someone recorded it and put it up at Stomp. But because he wrote about it in his blog, think he even publicised his blog, he got into deep trouble. Not sure if he was looking for fame or notoriety. But he is now offering to compensate PM $5k and that has already been rejected. I really don't know how he is going to get out of this mess.

My take on this is that the more popular your blog is, the more you have to be careful not to write the wrong things, step on other people's toes especially important people or companies with a reputation.

Mine is only a simple family blog. I never intended to make $ from it. That's why I don't even look for sponsorship. I know so stupid.... If I have to think long and hard to filter off all the negative stuff, write like a PR professional (reminds me too much of work, haha), it defeats the purpose of even having a blog. My blog is just an outlet for me to express my thoughts and views be it positive or negative ones. A place to log my kids' growing milestones. Should they be interested to read it one day. Maybe even a resource library for them to refer to when they become parents themselves and need help with parenting in case I am not around to offer advice in person anymore.

My blog is one with simple intentions and so it shall remain as that.