Caveat Blogger
Howdy folks! I think we almost have this Honors English class up and running. Your first blog and discussion posts were officially due Monday morning, and it looks like most of you have figured out how to do both of these things. The title on this blog means "Let the blogger beware," and I titled it that because I've looked at most of the blogs that have been sent to me so far, and I have a couple suggestions.
Some of you may have noticed that you have received comments to your blog from people you don't know and these comments seem to look like sales pitches. That's just what they are. Such comments are a new form of Internet "spam." They are generated by computers that comb the Internet looking for places to post their advertising. Spam is evil, and there are some things you can do to avoid it. First, go to the "Settings" of your blog and look around at the many options you have for how your blog is presented to the world. Make sure that you do not allow anonymous comments. You always want to be able to trace comments back to the original writer. Also, there are some built in spam controls that you can turn on, which should solve most of the problem. Make sure you set your blog to automatically e-mail you any comment that is posted to your blog; this way you will know who is commenting and when. You can also delete any unwanted comments by clicking on the garbage can icon next to them and entering your user name and password. (You control what your blog looks like and who can or cannot post comments to it.) Delete spam and turn on the "verification" feature that will make it impossible for computers to automatically post comments on your blog.
Another suggestion I might make is that if you have any "suggestive" words in the title of your blog (e.g., hot, babe, chick, etc.), change them now. Why? Well, like I told you at the meeting: anyone in the world can see your blog, and sadly there are some freaky folks out there who search the web looking for "hot babes and chicks." These freaky folks have no business scouring the work of a junior high school English class, and they aren't the type you want posting comments on your writing.
As a follow up to that last suggestion, I must insist that your full name not appear anywhere on your blog. The discussion board is a private area of the Internet, but blogs are not. First names are fine, as are nicknames, but I don't want the rest of the world to know anything more than that about you. For this reason, I'd prefer it if you did not post a "Blogger Profile." Don't publicize your e-mail address, your interests, or anything else of a private nature.
As many of you have already discovered, you can post pictures to your blog and change the template whenever you like, but if you post recent pictures, be sure not to identify anyone in them. Privacy first! That is our policy.
Now that you have read this, go explore your blogger "dashboard" a little. Customize your blog as you would a notebook or your locker, but keep in mind that you have a potential audience of millions. Be safe about what you share and with whom.
If you learn anything interesting or helpful in your explorations, post it to your blog so that we can all benefit from your experience. And, as always, keep watching the Honors Web Site for details about the class.
Glad to have you here!
Some of you may have noticed that you have received comments to your blog from people you don't know and these comments seem to look like sales pitches. That's just what they are. Such comments are a new form of Internet "spam." They are generated by computers that comb the Internet looking for places to post their advertising. Spam is evil, and there are some things you can do to avoid it. First, go to the "Settings" of your blog and look around at the many options you have for how your blog is presented to the world. Make sure that you do not allow anonymous comments. You always want to be able to trace comments back to the original writer. Also, there are some built in spam controls that you can turn on, which should solve most of the problem. Make sure you set your blog to automatically e-mail you any comment that is posted to your blog; this way you will know who is commenting and when. You can also delete any unwanted comments by clicking on the garbage can icon next to them and entering your user name and password. (You control what your blog looks like and who can or cannot post comments to it.) Delete spam and turn on the "verification" feature that will make it impossible for computers to automatically post comments on your blog.
Another suggestion I might make is that if you have any "suggestive" words in the title of your blog (e.g., hot, babe, chick, etc.), change them now. Why? Well, like I told you at the meeting: anyone in the world can see your blog, and sadly there are some freaky folks out there who search the web looking for "hot babes and chicks." These freaky folks have no business scouring the work of a junior high school English class, and they aren't the type you want posting comments on your writing.
As a follow up to that last suggestion, I must insist that your full name not appear anywhere on your blog. The discussion board is a private area of the Internet, but blogs are not. First names are fine, as are nicknames, but I don't want the rest of the world to know anything more than that about you. For this reason, I'd prefer it if you did not post a "Blogger Profile." Don't publicize your e-mail address, your interests, or anything else of a private nature.
As many of you have already discovered, you can post pictures to your blog and change the template whenever you like, but if you post recent pictures, be sure not to identify anyone in them. Privacy first! That is our policy.
Now that you have read this, go explore your blogger "dashboard" a little. Customize your blog as you would a notebook or your locker, but keep in mind that you have a potential audience of millions. Be safe about what you share and with whom.
If you learn anything interesting or helpful in your explorations, post it to your blog so that we can all benefit from your experience. And, as always, keep watching the Honors Web Site for details about the class.
Glad to have you here!
posted by MRT at 7:47 PM
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