I am very concerned right now. lately I have gotten a few notifications that people have added me as a "favorite" in Picassa. I have been very pleased with Picasa web albums thus far and have done all of my online storage of photos here. Recently they have added a feature called favorites and people who add you as a favorite are your "fans" This, I thought, was fine until I noticed that I have 56 favorite - most of whom I have no idea who they are. I see some familiar faces and internet friends there, which is what I expected. But many of these fans have never posted on my blog nor my web album. They do not have any public pictures of their own. Many of these are from foreign countries. The worst part it, I have NO WAY of blocking these FANS from viewing my photos or being notified anytime I post new photos in a public gallery! So, for now, I am locking all of my public galleries. Since I cannot select who can view or not view my photos, I am very uncomfortable about having any of my photos available. I already had some albums unlisted (locked) (like the lingerie photos) but not most. So, by having an unlisted album, you can view any photo I post on my blog or give a link to, but "browsers" cannot look at my photos. I have known all along that any "public" album can be viewed by anyone and this seems good. Lets say I want to see if anyone has a picture of Simplicity 2300, I can just search for that and all pictures of it would come up. I have no problem with this. But WHY would all of these people want to have updates of when I post photos (I'm no stellar photographer) and how did they run across my albums in the first place??
So, if you are a "fan" with Picassa and have never posted on my blog, please leave a note and just let me know who you are. I'm understanding that many users are upset about the not being able to block, so hopefully Google will change that soon. When they do, I certainly do not want to block any of my internet friends and sewing enthusiasts, but I do want to block any stalkers!! (some of the"fans" who do have public galleries are not the kind of pictures I want to be viewing!)
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Are you a "FAN"?
Posted by Nancy Winningham at 12:24 PM
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15 comments:
My photos are stored in Flickr and when I first realized that ANYONE could view my pictures I was a little troubled also. But at least Flickr offers you the opportunity to accept or reject friends/favorites. And if I go to your link and you have no photos to share, I can block your access to my photos.
The only photos that are public are sewing ones and even then I've gotten some "interesting" folks wanting to favorite me.
I have also learned not to make shoe photos public, nor rear end shots and I don't tag any of my photos. Makes it a little harder to search them...AND none of my family pictures are public!!!
I like the online community of sharing photos but can definitely see some issues and challenges with it because not everyone is a true admirer. Some people are stalkers or predators, so we have to be careful.
Hopefully Picassa is just working its way through the systems and will give you the same abilities that Flickr now has.
I have not marked you this way in Picasa, but I do follow you in blogger. Only 4 people are listed as fans of my Picasa pictures, and they are all family.
Hi Nancy,
I must confess I "favorited" you several months, maybe a year or more ago. You were sewing something and posting about it. I wanted to be able to go back and see the changes you had made. I just assumed that you were able to see who I was, and perhaps recognize me from PR.
austin
I too have the same reservations with blogger. I have someone, a man I do not know, as a follower of my blog. I have checked his out and cannot understand why he would follow me. I removed all photos of my kids that had face shots (I think) and substituted initials for names. Recently I blogged about our anniversary and covered the kids faces with bits of paper. Now I know on Facebook, I have it reserved for friends to view pictures. There I will show kids faces, since I can limit the photos. Everyone, please start watching what you post and how, you never know who is looking.
Unfortunately, such issues are part of the world we live in. I have a couple of followers also, taht are skeptical. We must be careful to not give out too much personal information.
I agree - that is unnerving. My kids don't want their faces on my blog, so we don't have pictures of their faces and we use initials. After a bad experience with my daufghter being in the NY times and some scary calls and comments after that, we are perhaps extra careful.
I read your blog regularly, but don't think that I am listed as a fan. I am a faithful artisan square reader-sometimes poster.
Dotty
I don't follow your photo site, but I follow your blog. I like to see what creative people are up to and I have never taken the time to learn how to post reviews at PR, much less blog. And if I can't get that word verification thing to work the first time, this comment won't be going up!
Connie (chacha45)
I read your blog but I have not marked you in Picasa. I am not even sure I know how to,but I sure am going to take a look and see how it is done just for curiosity sake.Yes,it can seem a little un nerving.....Thanks for the heads up.
I also read your blog but I don't think I've been to Picassa. You can find me on PatterReview.com as 4u2cme. I hope to have a sewing related blog in the near future.
You make me thinking on this subject. I too get these messages since a few months, and neither do I know who is behind the strange names.
Perhaps I must follow your strategy and make them to non-public folders.
Thanks for blogging about this.
I recently discovered your blog and, as a new sewer, love to visit it for inspiration. Your generosity in sharing your projects is much appreciated!
I read your blog daily but honestly have no idea what Picassa is...if there are pictures in your blog, or a link, I'm more than happy to view them. I don't blame you one bit for blocking personal pictures. But I will say I truly enjoy your blog and all pictures you do share...Tina in Va
Thanks for sharing your experience. It is unnerving.
Years ago at a PTA meeting someone from one of the law agencies did a demo for the parents using several innocent Internet searches. It spooked every parent there. I don't know about the other parents, but I talked to my kids as soon as I got home!
There is a plus side to the Internet and I have to remember that. It reunited me and a friend.
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