bloggers - how identifiable is your house?

[sepviva]

I'm thinking of starting a blog for the house renovation, and am wondering how closely to identify the house. How have you handled this?

[Daniel Meyer]

I'm thinking of starting a blog for the house renovation, and am wondering how closely to identify the house. How have you handled this?

I haven't worried about it. My name and address is publicly available so it wouldn't take somebody 2 minutes to locate my exact location if they wanted, no matter how obtuse I was on my blog.

I mention the city, and the house numbers are in the pics...(shrugs)....

If any unwelcome visitors show up (or welcome ones for that matter), I'll simply put 'em to work.

[CS in Low Hud]

Yeah... while my site isn't a blog, as such (it's a website about the house, which I don't really update unless there's a major change), I don't really worry too much about hiding my identity there. As Daniel points out, with a modicum of effort, anyone could find out everything they wanted to know in short order via google.

Chris

[Texas_Ranger]

I try to avoid specifics. My location is only given as a 10-mile radius (rough guess) on Blogger and I don't include my real name or a house number anywhere. So I guess unless someone were willing to take a slow trip through several villages, it'd be impossible to find our house.

[christiner (WavyGlass)]

if i take a picture of the exterior of my home i obscure or change the address number. I also don't use my (unique) last name anywhere on my blog. if you have my name, i'm pretty easy to find.

[mattswabb]

I don't have a blog but when I post on the Internet I post with the assumption that people aren't out there planning on robbing my home or stalking me. Anyone could find me in minutes and as posted above if they visit they risk the chance of being put to work.

Just use common sense and don't post things about going on vacation and leaving the house vacant. Or don't post showing how you put in a hidden safe where you plan on keeping your jewels or house
rehab money.

[mjt]

My blog is under my real name - even if it weren't, friends post comments and would quickly give it away. The wife and kid's names aren't mentioned anywhere. Like Matt I don't say when I'm home or not, but because my wife's company offices out of the carriage house someone is always here...

I've never had any internet related problems (OK, other than the lady who thinks I'm a rude a-hole towards the POs on my blog ). Candidly, I've had more problems with goofy folks that just wander around the neighborhood - maybe I should start a thread on that...

[sepviva]

Thanks, that's what I was leaning towards but it's always good to hear I'm not crazy. I'll post a link once I get some actual content up.

[historicalwork]

I usually don't bother venturing to the off topic part of the site... I'll guess I'll have to start doing so! I have that same worry. I know that if you don't want any chance of problems it's best not to post anything anywhere. Meaning, I don't kid myself into thinking there isn't some level of exposure by posting things, no matter how careful. Just talking about when you purchase, the type of house, etc would give clues to the wrong person. So I view it as a calculated risk. But I also feel there is no reason to make it obvious - for what that's worth.

I started a blog for our house when we moved in about a year ago. I did so for family and friends. Everyone would ask about how things were going, what we've done, etc. So I set up a wordpress blog and used a simple (probably not that secure) password plugin. I also used a siimple plugin that emails evveryone when I post something. I actually send the password out in the blog posting so they have it in email when I first post (as simple as it is, nobody remembers) and then update the posting to remove it. And I often pull out the data in the pictures to get rid of GPS location information if I think about it.

At the same time, I so much enjoy reading the blogs of others. I love seeing their progress and often times I am happy to see such openness. So then I feel guilty I am not as open and sharing my information. It is a tough thing to noodle through - how much to worry versus how open to be. I didn't think about those with particularly beautiful historic houses. I guess if I saw your blog and your were close I might be tempted to drive by as well!

[SouthernLady]

I use my mother's maiden name for my internet postings. My father is German/Austrian, and with a name like mine it's too obvious. My mother's maiden name happens to be a good, old-fashioned name, which is harder to track. My old house is in a very small country town (makes Mayberry look like a metropolis), and due to some of my antique collections (especially my antique silver), I do not have anything whatsoever out on the web about my address. If someone broke in, I might be inclined to use my target-practice skills, and might break one of my wavy glass panes, and that would ruin my day.