1 hour ago
Edit: Good news! I was just testing the technique that I originally thought would allow anyone to find the sign-in e-mail for any blog, and I realized that when I originally tested this it sent it to the account e-mail that I was signed into because it was the same e-mail I had listed as my contact e-mail in my profile - so people actually can not find your e-mail sign-in this way.
However, in the past Blogger has reset my settings (without my permission - so annoying) to the default settings which did make my private e-mail visible for a short period of time, before I discovered it and hid it again. I've wanted to change my e-mail sign-in ever since this happened so that I'd have the peace of mind of knowing that if Blogger "reset" my settings again, it would be my blog e-mail (instead of my private e-mail) that showed up anyway. The instructions below are still the only way I've found to change your sign-in e-mail, but I will let you know if I ever find an easier way!
I had a few requests for me to post the "how-to" on switching your blogging account from one e-mail address to another - this is handy if you created your blog with a personal e-mail address before you were aware of blog security (like I did). If you are concerned about making sure your private e-mail stays hidden, it may be a good idea to switch your blog to a different account.
1. So the first thing to do is to create another e-mail address that you want to be associated with your blog. This can be with whatever service you want, but I think you'll have to set up a Blogger account with this e-mail if it's not a Gmail account.
Update: Jessica told me of an easier way to change your e-mail, but this will only work if the e-mail you used to set up your Blogger account is not a Gmail address.
If it is with another service, you can go to your Google homepage, click on your username in the upper right-hand corner, click on "Account Settings". Under the "Security" section, you can select to "Change Your E-mail" - then change it to your new blog e-mail address. You'll also want to update your contact e-mail in your Blogger profile if you have it set to your old e-mail. Then you are done.
If, however, your sign-in e-mail is a Gmail account, you'll have to go through the below steps.
2. After you create that e-mail, go to your Blogger account and click on the "Settings" tab. From there, click on "Permissions".
3. Click the "Add Authors" button, and enter your new blog e-mail. Click "Invite".
4. Open your new blog e-mail account and accept the invitation.
5. Go back to the permissions page signed in with your original e-mail. It should show your original e-mail as the administrator, and your new e-mail as a contributor. Click on the link to make your blog e-mail an "administrator" too.
6. Once you have both of your e-mails set up as administrators, sign in with your new blog e-mail. You should have access to all aspects of your blog from that e-mail now.
7. Once signed in with the new e-mail, go to "Permissions", and remove the other e-mail. That e-mail address will no longer be associated with your Blogger account. Don't delete the old Blogger account though, because it will delete your entire Google account associated with that e-mail, and any pictures you uploaded previously to your blog will be deleted too, unless you use an outside service.
8. Make your new Blogger profile look all pretty.
If all you want to do is switch to another e-mail, then you are done! However, if you are like me, you were following all of your blogs with your original e-mail. This is a problem because if you use Google Reader, you want to be able to read in Google Reader and comment on blogs with the same account, so you don't have to keep signing out and signing in with the new account every time you want to comment. There are two ways to handle this problem.
1. Just keep your original profile up and running, list your blog as your "website" in that profile, and read and comment with that account. I don't know of a way to find out the e-mail address associated with a Blogger profile, but I'm not certain - there could be a way to find the e-mail associated with your profile that I don't know about.
2. Or, if you're like me and get a little OCD about this stuff, you can re-follow all of your blogs with your new account and then un-follow with your old account. Unfortunately, there just isn't an easy way to do this - you have to re-follow individually. Yes, it takes forever, but it was worth it to me to just have everything transferred to one new account, and for my peace of mind. One advantage of this is you show up at the top of the follower list in the little "followers" gadgets, so you might get more new traffic that way - I consider that a little bonus for all my hard work.
And that's it! I hope this is helpful, and let me know if you have any questions - I'll do my best to find the answers for you!
However, in the past Blogger has reset my settings (without my permission - so annoying) to the default settings which did make my private e-mail visible for a short period of time, before I discovered it and hid it again. I've wanted to change my e-mail sign-in ever since this happened so that I'd have the peace of mind of knowing that if Blogger "reset" my settings again, it would be my blog e-mail (instead of my private e-mail) that showed up anyway. The instructions below are still the only way I've found to change your sign-in e-mail, but I will let you know if I ever find an easier way!
I had a few requests for me to post the "how-to" on switching your blogging account from one e-mail address to another - this is handy if you created your blog with a personal e-mail address before you were aware of blog security (like I did). If you are concerned about making sure your private e-mail stays hidden, it may be a good idea to switch your blog to a different account.
1. So the first thing to do is to create another e-mail address that you want to be associated with your blog. This can be with whatever service you want, but I think you'll have to set up a Blogger account with this e-mail if it's not a Gmail account.
Update: Jessica told me of an easier way to change your e-mail, but this will only work if the e-mail you used to set up your Blogger account is not a Gmail address.
If it is with another service, you can go to your Google homepage, click on your username in the upper right-hand corner, click on "Account Settings". Under the "Security" section, you can select to "Change Your E-mail" - then change it to your new blog e-mail address. You'll also want to update your contact e-mail in your Blogger profile if you have it set to your old e-mail. Then you are done.
If, however, your sign-in e-mail is a Gmail account, you'll have to go through the below steps.
2. After you create that e-mail, go to your Blogger account and click on the "Settings" tab. From there, click on "Permissions".
3. Click the "Add Authors" button, and enter your new blog e-mail. Click "Invite".
4. Open your new blog e-mail account and accept the invitation.
5. Go back to the permissions page signed in with your original e-mail. It should show your original e-mail as the administrator, and your new e-mail as a contributor. Click on the link to make your blog e-mail an "administrator" too.
6. Once you have both of your e-mails set up as administrators, sign in with your new blog e-mail. You should have access to all aspects of your blog from that e-mail now.
7. Once signed in with the new e-mail, go to "Permissions", and remove the other e-mail. That e-mail address will no longer be associated with your Blogger account. Don't delete the old Blogger account though, because it will delete your entire Google account associated with that e-mail, and any pictures you uploaded previously to your blog will be deleted too, unless you use an outside service.
8. Make your new Blogger profile look all pretty.
If all you want to do is switch to another e-mail, then you are done! However, if you are like me, you were following all of your blogs with your original e-mail. This is a problem because if you use Google Reader, you want to be able to read in Google Reader and comment on blogs with the same account, so you don't have to keep signing out and signing in with the new account every time you want to comment. There are two ways to handle this problem.
1. Just keep your original profile up and running, list your blog as your "website" in that profile, and read and comment with that account. I don't know of a way to find out the e-mail address associated with a Blogger profile, but I'm not certain - there could be a way to find the e-mail associated with your profile that I don't know about.
2. Or, if you're like me and get a little OCD about this stuff, you can re-follow all of your blogs with your new account and then un-follow with your old account. Unfortunately, there just isn't an easy way to do this - you have to re-follow individually. Yes, it takes forever, but it was worth it to me to just have everything transferred to one new account, and for my peace of mind. One advantage of this is you show up at the top of the follower list in the little "followers" gadgets, so you might get more new traffic that way - I consider that a little bonus for all my hard work.
And that's it! I hope this is helpful, and let me know if you have any questions - I'll do my best to find the answers for you!
I live in a small town with a tiny library. For most of my book reading needs, I go to a larger library in a neighboring city. But recently I discovered that our tiny little library that’s just a few minutes from my house actually has a pretty good movie selection.
I made a trip to library recently to get a couple movies, and as I was waiting for the librarian to check them out for me, I saw written on a board behind her that September was Banned Book Month. The library is encouraging people to read books that have been banned.
I’m not exactly sure what I think of this, because a lot of those banned books are banned because they are inappropriate. But as I thought about what books they are encouraging people to read, I began to wonder about the greatest book that has ever made a “banned books” list – a book that is banned in 52 countries today, because it tells the Truth.
I wonder if the Public Library system included the Bible on their list of recommended banned books?
I guess I inadvertently may have participated in Banned Book Month in September.
How about you?
I made a trip to library recently to get a couple movies, and as I was waiting for the librarian to check them out for me, I saw written on a board behind her that September was Banned Book Month. The library is encouraging people to read books that have been banned.
I’m not exactly sure what I think of this, because a lot of those banned books are banned because they are inappropriate. But as I thought about what books they are encouraging people to read, I began to wonder about the greatest book that has ever made a “banned books” list – a book that is banned in 52 countries today, because it tells the Truth.
I wonder if the Public Library system included the Bible on their list of recommended banned books?
I guess I inadvertently may have participated in Banned Book Month in September.
How about you?
I am just overwhelmed at God's goodness as I write this!
I can't go into details, but Derek has been going through a situation at work. Basically, if things went one way, it could make his job for the next year alot more stressful. From all appearances, it looked like this change was going to be inevitable, and we were both kind of resigned to it, though we did pray that things would just stay the same if at all possible.
Well, Derek recently had the meeting that would decide whether this thing at work was going to change or not, and I was praying for the meeting, that if at all possible the Lord would work it out for things to stay the way they are.
But with the Lord, nothing is impossible! It was decided that the changes were not going to happen after all! When I heard, I just wanted to cry, because I know it was wearing on Derek, but the Lord worked it all out for us!
I'm just amazed at how the Lord cares about the little details about our lives. This wasn't anything too drastic or earth-shattering - it just would have caused a bit more work and stress. But the Lord heard our prayers, and showed His love to us this way.
This reminder that the Lord cares and wants to hear about even the little things we have to deal with in this life came at such a perfect time for me. I know the Lord not only did this for Derek, but He did it at this precise moment in time to remind me that He's got this - He's got everything under control. He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7), He loves us (1 John 3:1), and He works out everything for our good (Romans 8:28), even when it is in a less obvious way than in this instance.
What an awesome God we have!
I can't go into details, but Derek has been going through a situation at work. Basically, if things went one way, it could make his job for the next year alot more stressful. From all appearances, it looked like this change was going to be inevitable, and we were both kind of resigned to it, though we did pray that things would just stay the same if at all possible.
Well, Derek recently had the meeting that would decide whether this thing at work was going to change or not, and I was praying for the meeting, that if at all possible the Lord would work it out for things to stay the way they are.
But with the Lord, nothing is impossible! It was decided that the changes were not going to happen after all! When I heard, I just wanted to cry, because I know it was wearing on Derek, but the Lord worked it all out for us!
I'm just amazed at how the Lord cares about the little details about our lives. This wasn't anything too drastic or earth-shattering - it just would have caused a bit more work and stress. But the Lord heard our prayers, and showed His love to us this way.
This reminder that the Lord cares and wants to hear about even the little things we have to deal with in this life came at such a perfect time for me. I know the Lord not only did this for Derek, but He did it at this precise moment in time to remind me that He's got this - He's got everything under control. He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7), He loves us (1 John 3:1), and He works out everything for our good (Romans 8:28), even when it is in a less obvious way than in this instance.
What an awesome God we have!
Forgiveness is sometimes a hard thing for me.
I have no difficulty whatsoever forgiving someone who asks me for forgiveness. They are obviously sorry and know that they hurt me if they ask for forgiveness, so it's easy for me to forgive them then.
But it's really hard for me to forgive someone who hurts me and never expresses the slightest bit of remorse about it.
In these situations, each time I think of the offense, I get more and more frustrated. After all, I was clearly right, and that other person (whoever they may be), was clearly wrong, and don't they see how they've hurt me?
This frustration just festers, like an infected sore on my heart. Then the bitterness takes root.
Once the bitterness starts, it spreads like a cancer. It seems to me that at this point it is not just my relationship with the offender that is hurt - my whole outlook suffers.
Little annoyances or inconveniences that I would normally brush off with a smile suddenly irritate me to no end. Every little rude remark from a stranger sets me off, and I find myself complaining about all the rude people in the world, without realizing that when I snapped back I became one of the rude people.
I become a complainer, because when all the little irritations build up, I've got to get my frustration out somehow.
My relationship with the Lord suffers, because when I try to pray, I either can't focus or I find myself complaining to the Lord about so-and-so (I don't think He appreciates that).
What I've described above sounds a bit extreme when I read it back to myself. You must realize that this doesn't happen overnight. It doesn't happen every day. It's just an ever-so-gradual shift in my way of thinking, and after several months in this downward spiral, I realize where I've fallen. I realize what a crabby person I've become. And I realize this is not who I want to be.
How does this all come about from one little offense that should have been no big deal? It all comes back to selfishness. I get absorbed in my own hurt, I feel a little self-righteous, I take things into my own hands and refuse to forgive because it makes me feel better - not realizing that this self-absorbed, self-righteous attitude will gradually extend to every other situation I find myself in.
Not realizing that in the end, it's a poison to me.
Not realizing that of course that Lord would want to deal with that poison in my system before He takes care of the situation.
Bottom line: I've yet to find a verse that says you only have to forgive someone if they apologize first. In fact, I can think of plenty of examples in the Bible where the offended party forgives the offender before they ever ask for forgiveness. They are some of the most beautiful stories in the Bible, and some of my personal favorites. The story of Esau and Jacob, the Prodigal son, and Jesus and Peter come to mind.
I think if I really realized the weight of all that I've been forgiven, I wouldn't have a problem forgiving someone else - even if they never apologize at all.
Instead I become like that despised servant who was forgiven so great a debt by his master, and then had a fellow servant thrown in jail over a few pennies (Matthew 18).
It pains me to even write that sentence, because I don't want to be like that. And when I come to a point when I realize that I have been like that, there is only one thing to do.
Let go of those silly pennies. Ask the Lord to forgive me (again) for allowing that bitterness to take root in my heart, for not extending the grace that has been extended to me, for being self-righteous and selfish. And then change my attitude toward those who hurt me, and toward those innocent bystanders who have felt my anger without doing anything to deserve it.
When will I learn this lesson for good? When will I not have to go through this over every little offense that is not accompanied by an apology? I feel ridiculous to still be struggling with something like this. I'm so glad the Lord forgives me - if only I could more readily extend that forgiveness to others, instead of taking so long to realize what is happening.
Unforgiveness is such a sneaky sin. It sneaks into your heart when you aren't paying attention, and you barely realize it's there until it has grown out of control. And then it's painful to cut it out, but once it's out, things begin to heal.
I confess my sin to the Lord, and He helps me root it out. I take steps to change my attitude. I offer a token of renewed friendship; I practiced giving grace to an innocent bystander.
Little by little, I get back on the right track.
It feels so trite to say it now, but it is so true. Refusing to forgive someone really hurts them much less than it hurts you.
I have no difficulty whatsoever forgiving someone who asks me for forgiveness. They are obviously sorry and know that they hurt me if they ask for forgiveness, so it's easy for me to forgive them then.
But it's really hard for me to forgive someone who hurts me and never expresses the slightest bit of remorse about it.
In these situations, each time I think of the offense, I get more and more frustrated. After all, I was clearly right, and that other person (whoever they may be), was clearly wrong, and don't they see how they've hurt me?
This frustration just festers, like an infected sore on my heart. Then the bitterness takes root.
Once the bitterness starts, it spreads like a cancer. It seems to me that at this point it is not just my relationship with the offender that is hurt - my whole outlook suffers.
Little annoyances or inconveniences that I would normally brush off with a smile suddenly irritate me to no end. Every little rude remark from a stranger sets me off, and I find myself complaining about all the rude people in the world, without realizing that when I snapped back I became one of the rude people.
I become a complainer, because when all the little irritations build up, I've got to get my frustration out somehow.
My relationship with the Lord suffers, because when I try to pray, I either can't focus or I find myself complaining to the Lord about so-and-so (I don't think He appreciates that).
What I've described above sounds a bit extreme when I read it back to myself. You must realize that this doesn't happen overnight. It doesn't happen every day. It's just an ever-so-gradual shift in my way of thinking, and after several months in this downward spiral, I realize where I've fallen. I realize what a crabby person I've become. And I realize this is not who I want to be.
How does this all come about from one little offense that should have been no big deal? It all comes back to selfishness. I get absorbed in my own hurt, I feel a little self-righteous, I take things into my own hands and refuse to forgive because it makes me feel better - not realizing that this self-absorbed, self-righteous attitude will gradually extend to every other situation I find myself in.
Not realizing that in the end, it's a poison to me.
Not realizing that of course that Lord would want to deal with that poison in my system before He takes care of the situation.
Bottom line: I've yet to find a verse that says you only have to forgive someone if they apologize first. In fact, I can think of plenty of examples in the Bible where the offended party forgives the offender before they ever ask for forgiveness. They are some of the most beautiful stories in the Bible, and some of my personal favorites. The story of Esau and Jacob, the Prodigal son, and Jesus and Peter come to mind.
I think if I really realized the weight of all that I've been forgiven, I wouldn't have a problem forgiving someone else - even if they never apologize at all.
Instead I become like that despised servant who was forgiven so great a debt by his master, and then had a fellow servant thrown in jail over a few pennies (Matthew 18).
It pains me to even write that sentence, because I don't want to be like that. And when I come to a point when I realize that I have been like that, there is only one thing to do.
Let go of those silly pennies. Ask the Lord to forgive me (again) for allowing that bitterness to take root in my heart, for not extending the grace that has been extended to me, for being self-righteous and selfish. And then change my attitude toward those who hurt me, and toward those innocent bystanders who have felt my anger without doing anything to deserve it.
When will I learn this lesson for good? When will I not have to go through this over every little offense that is not accompanied by an apology? I feel ridiculous to still be struggling with something like this. I'm so glad the Lord forgives me - if only I could more readily extend that forgiveness to others, instead of taking so long to realize what is happening.
Unforgiveness is such a sneaky sin. It sneaks into your heart when you aren't paying attention, and you barely realize it's there until it has grown out of control. And then it's painful to cut it out, but once it's out, things begin to heal.
I confess my sin to the Lord, and He helps me root it out. I take steps to change my attitude. I offer a token of renewed friendship; I practiced giving grace to an innocent bystander.
Little by little, I get back on the right track.
It feels so trite to say it now, but it is so true. Refusing to forgive someone really hurts them much less than it hurts you.
Do you ever read a story in the Bible and just wonder if you've ever even read it before?
I'm not lazy in my Bible reading. I've read through the entire Bible several times. So I know, no matter what story it is, I've read it before.
But it's amazing to me how different stories and different verses stand out to me each time I read it. I think it has alot to do with my life situation - I pay attention to certain stories more depending on where I am in life.
This is why it says that God's word is "living and active". The Bible will never become obsolete, and there will always be something new you can take away from it! I love that.
Oh, yes, but back to the story I'm sure I've never read before (that's not true, I vaguely recall it, but it never stood out before).
You know in the Old Testament, when the Hebrew people are in Egypt, and they become a great nation, and the new Pharaoh, who did not know Joseph, enslaved them? Then he decided he needed to start getting rid of the Hebrew boys that were born?
Well, his first plan to get rid of the baby boys was to tell two of the Hebrew midwives (whose names were Shiphrah and Puah) to go ahead and help the Hebrew women deliver, and then kill the new babies if they were boys, but to let the girls live.
I don't know what made him think they would actually obey those orders. I wonder if Shiphrah and Puah were Egyptian or Hebrew themselves? Anyway, the Bible says they feared God and did not do what Pharaoh ordered. (Can you imagine actually obeying an order like that? It makes me shudder.)
So Pharaoh called them and asked them why they didn't obey his orders (that would be so scary - after all, he could order that they be killed).
And they said something along the lines of "Oh, Hebrew women aren't like Egyptian women - they have really fast labors, and we don't get there in time to kill the babies."
Sounds a bit like a lie to me. But the Bible doesn't specify, so maybe that was actually true. Regardless though, Shiphrah and Puah didn't obey Pharoah's orders because they knew it was more important to obey God's orders.
Amazingly Pharaoh did not kill the midwives, the Hebrews continued to multiply, and God was pleased with the midwives because they feared Him and chose to obey Him over Pharaoh.
In fact, God rewards the midwives by giving them families of their own.
Now, isn't that a happy story?
I know the rest of the story goes on and horrible things happen before God delivers the Hebrews out of Egypt. But I like that in this facet of the tale, we have a happy ending on our hands. It's comforting to me to hear another example of God rewarding those who fear Him.
And He does reward us when we choose to obey Him - sometimes we can see those rewards here on earth, and sometimes our rewards don't become evident until eternity, but they are there nonetheless.
Are there any stories or verses that you've read lately that you had forgotten about?
P.S. The above is just a paraphrase of the story in Exodus 1. You should go read it yourself if you're interested.
I'm not lazy in my Bible reading. I've read through the entire Bible several times. So I know, no matter what story it is, I've read it before.
But it's amazing to me how different stories and different verses stand out to me each time I read it. I think it has alot to do with my life situation - I pay attention to certain stories more depending on where I am in life.
This is why it says that God's word is "living and active". The Bible will never become obsolete, and there will always be something new you can take away from it! I love that.
Oh, yes, but back to the story I'm sure I've never read before (that's not true, I vaguely recall it, but it never stood out before).
You know in the Old Testament, when the Hebrew people are in Egypt, and they become a great nation, and the new Pharaoh, who did not know Joseph, enslaved them? Then he decided he needed to start getting rid of the Hebrew boys that were born?
Well, his first plan to get rid of the baby boys was to tell two of the Hebrew midwives (whose names were Shiphrah and Puah) to go ahead and help the Hebrew women deliver, and then kill the new babies if they were boys, but to let the girls live.
I don't know what made him think they would actually obey those orders. I wonder if Shiphrah and Puah were Egyptian or Hebrew themselves? Anyway, the Bible says they feared God and did not do what Pharaoh ordered. (Can you imagine actually obeying an order like that? It makes me shudder.)
So Pharaoh called them and asked them why they didn't obey his orders (that would be so scary - after all, he could order that they be killed).
And they said something along the lines of "Oh, Hebrew women aren't like Egyptian women - they have really fast labors, and we don't get there in time to kill the babies."
Sounds a bit like a lie to me. But the Bible doesn't specify, so maybe that was actually true. Regardless though, Shiphrah and Puah didn't obey Pharoah's orders because they knew it was more important to obey God's orders.
Amazingly Pharaoh did not kill the midwives, the Hebrews continued to multiply, and God was pleased with the midwives because they feared Him and chose to obey Him over Pharaoh.
In fact, God rewards the midwives by giving them families of their own.
Now, isn't that a happy story?
I know the rest of the story goes on and horrible things happen before God delivers the Hebrews out of Egypt. But I like that in this facet of the tale, we have a happy ending on our hands. It's comforting to me to hear another example of God rewarding those who fear Him.
And He does reward us when we choose to obey Him - sometimes we can see those rewards here on earth, and sometimes our rewards don't become evident until eternity, but they are there nonetheless.
Are there any stories or verses that you've read lately that you had forgotten about?
P.S. The above is just a paraphrase of the story in Exodus 1. You should go read it yourself if you're interested.
Well, it's been a while since I posted a review for the Blogging for Books program! The last couple of months have been so busy that I just never got around to requesting my next book, so a few weeks ago I logged back on and picked my next book.
When I was looking for my next book to read, "To Be Perfectly Honest" by Phil Callaway caught my eye. The description sounded very interesting to me - a guy decides to tell the honest truth for an entire year. As one of Callaway's friends says in the opening chapter, for a Christian "Isn't that a bit like giving up arson for Lent?"
His friend makes a point, since we should all work to live honestly anyway - but as Callaway began his "truth vow", it's apparent that there are many small ways where we may not be acting in an honest way without really realizing it.
The book is written in a journal format, with Callaway telling relevant stories from each day of his truth vow (sometimes he succeeds in being honest, and sometimes he doesn't). Callaway is a "humorist" and the stories are told in a funny (and honest) way. He pokes fun at different people he encounters in day-to-day life throughout the year - not in a mean way, but you should be aware that no one is safe.
There were a couple points where I wasn't sure I agreed with something Callaway said, but I could appreciate the humor in his observations. It takes alot for me to laugh out loud at something I read, and I found myself chuckling many times while reading this book.
The value in the book lies mostly in entertainment, but there were many lessons woven into his stories as well. I was especially struck by some of the creative ways he found to witness to others.
I also really appreciated how honest he was in writing about his thought life - those secret sins that aren't really put on display, such as pride, envy, critical thoughts, being judgemental, etc. I saw my own struggles in alot of the situations he described. He sums up the lessons he learned personally in the epilogue, and extends the truth vow deadline for another fifty years.
Overall, I enjoyed this book. It was humorous and light-hearted, even while dealing with some heavy subjects. I came away from the book feeling cheerful, and that's always a bonus to me!
Note: I was given a copy of this book for free by Waterbrook Multonomah Publishing Group for this review. This is my honest opinion of the book.
By the way, you should all go over and rank my review on the Blogging For Books website - mostly so they can see I'm doing my job and give me more options for books to review. And if you blog and want to recieve free books, take a look around their site while you're there!
So for some reason I decided to google my blog name under Google Images.
Probably not a good idea, unless you want to totally freak yourself out.
A bunch of pictures from my blog showed up on Google Images. Now, I've never been overly concerned with this before, but it concerned me that pictures of my baby also showed up on Google.
So, being the obsessive rational person that I am, I decided to do what I can to protect my pictures.
Now, for me, this does not mean that I'm no longer going to post photos on here. I like posting photos - I think they make the blog more interesting, and part of the reason I blog is for my own documentation, which includes pictures.
There are a few things I've decided to do though. . .
1. Watermark my pictures.
I use Photoshop Elements to watermark my pictures, using a custom watermark brush that I created using this tutorial.
If you want to adjust the opacity of your watermark while editing in Photoshop, just click SHIFT-CNTRL-N (or SHIFT-CMMD-N on a Mac) to create a new layer, and then apply the brush to that layer. Then you can adjust the opacity using the slider, or select a different style from the dropdown menu (I like to use "Overlay").
If you don't have Photoshop, PicMonkey.com is a great (free) photo editing site, and you can add a watermark using the text tool.
I used to transfer the images to Photobucket and copy the html code to put them in my posts. I liked using Photobucket, because you can make the pictures whatever size you want in your posts, and you don't have the data storage limits that Blogger has.
Then I started using Windows Live Writer (and later MarsEdit when I switched to a Mac), and I love it - these programs make it very easy to adjust the size of your pictures and move them around in your post, and then you can upload them all in one batch. Though it uploads to Picasa, which may be a problem if I ever run out of photo storage, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
Sidenote: If you are not familiar with html, and you compose your posts with the "compose" tab in Blogger, I highly recommend that you start practicing using the html tab. You can do so much with html once you figure it out, and the only way to do that is to practice! If you have any questions, please e-mail me, and I'll do my best to help (though I'm not an expert)!
2. Set all my albums in Photobucket and Picasa to private.
I just feel safer this way, and it shouldn't affect the pictures from showing up in your posts (though use caution, because I had trouble switching the privacy settings on one album and had to re-add all my photos to my posts after I had set it to private in order for it to work- yuck). By the way, Photobucket allows others to copy your photos to their albums unless you adjust your privacy settings so they can't.
3. Disable right click on the blog.
I read a post on Kelly's Korner, and she gave a link to disable right-click. Can people still save my images to their computer if they want to? Yes, but I feel like it helps discourage that. Plus my pictures have the watermark, so people would still know they are mine.
Here is the link to the code for disabling right click - but don't go edit the html for your whole blog like the site says. Not only is it scary if you don't know html code that well (you could mess up your whole blog!), but it doesn't work that way - I tried it. Just add a gadget under "Design->Page Elements" in Blogger, select an html gadget, and add the code into that and save. It'll do the same thing.
4. Disable left-click on my pictures.
I never realized it before, but Blogger and Photobucket add a link to your pictures when you upload them so that people can click on them and open them in a different window or see your Photobucket album when they click. I hate that.
To remove the part of the image code that makes it a link, you have to delete a section of the code. It's not as complicated as it sounds. I found a great tutorial on how to disable left-click on pictures in Blogger - check it out. You can always preview your post to make sure you did it right.
I so wish I had known that you can do this when I first started blogging, because of all the time involved in de-linking every picture on the blog. So if you're just starting out, I'd suggest doing this now if you're concerned with protecting your pictures.
5. Finally, you can edit your robot.txt file to tell Google not to file your images.
This is easier than it sounds. Take the following bit of code . . .
User-agent: Googlebot-ImageDisallow: /
And then go to "Settings" on your Dashboard:
Then "Search Preferences":
Then click the "edit" button next to the words Custom robot.txt, select "Enable", and then paste the code into the box. Don't forget to save your changes!
And wolla! Your images won't show up in Google searches anymore (though a couple might sneak through here and there). I decided to go this route because while I love sharing pictures of my family on my blog, I don't love it when my family pictures show up in image searches. Now they won't! You can read more about how to block specific images from searches here.
And that's what I've got! Any other things you all do to protect your pictures?
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