For Strangers Only

According to the Waterlily weblog front page ,

After being public for five years, THIS BLOG IS NOW MEMBERS-ONLY.

Why? Because I wanted to know who was reading.

Can I get access? More than likely… unless you’re one of the following:

1. You’re a family member.
2. You’re a co-worker.
3. You’re a former co-worker.
4. You’re an ex-friend. (Yeah, right.)
5. You’re a friend IRL and I didn’t personally tell you about my blog.

Register here. Fill out everything, if possible. Use a real e-mail address, too. I will not spam you. You will receive an e-mail only if you are approved.

Now I’ve written about Kathy Ratliff’s weblog before (she’s a Houston blogger), and I guess I can understand why people after a time decide to make their posts private, but this particular instance is particularly puzzling. The implication seems to be that only people who don’t know her have the best chance of getting access. Is this what we’ve become: a society where we feel more comfortable being read by complete strangers than people who know you in some way?

I filled out her registration form and then never heard from her. I guess it means I wasn’t approved. Oh, well. For the 3 or 4 people who actually follow my own blog, let me express my gratitude for your attention.

Perhaps the solution is pseudonyms (like Ms. Iverson or Being Insane ). Still, I think the main reason people blog is to provide a central googlable point of news and updates and photos. (Interestingly though, almost none of the people who know me personally ever follow the blog; we web-obsessed bloggers don’t realize how irrelevant personal websites seem to non-bloggers). If ever a boss read my blog and found some reason for firing in it, I guess I’d be flattered that he actually read it.