My sister-in-law called today. "Hi Sue, I read your blog. Good job.” Of course I smiled at her sweet comment until she said, “But. . . ”
Those three little word can act like a pin deflating a balloon, or a knife stabbing the ego. So I clutched the phone as she continued.
“Did you know there is a button up on the top of your page?”
“There is?”
“I pushed it and was taken to a porn site!”
Danger signs flashed across my mind. Has someone linked my brand new blog to a porn site?
The thought enraged me because I hate porn. I despise what it can do to families, to children, to innocence and purity and to God’s beautiful perfect design for human sexuality.
I lost no time. Rushing into my son’s room I woke him by shouting, “I need your help immediately!” No matter that he is recovering from surgery and that he was fast asleep.
He squinted at me.
I franticly explained the conspiracy, concluding with, “I’m going to have to close down my blog!”
“No Mom,” he corrected sleepily. “Hitting the ‘next blog’ button simply takes you to a random site. The great majority are not offensive. No one did that on purpose.”
“Isn’t there a way to block such sites, or at least report them?”
He rolled over. “I’m sure there is. Did you read the instructions?”
My eyes grew wide with guilt, his had closed again, so he didn’t notice. Tip toeing away, I closed his door quietly.
There’s a reason I don’t read instructions. I don’t want to. The print is usually dense with no color pictures. But today I was motivated by a desire to keep blogging. So I read some information under “Blogger Help” and learned about the FLAG button located beside the ‘Next Blog’ button. This is very helpful information. I copied it here, in case you’re like me and don’t like to read instructions.
Here's How It Works
When a person visiting a blog clicks the "Flag?" button in the Blogger Navbar, it means they believe the content of the blog may be potentially offensive or illegal. We track the number of times a blog has been flagged as objectionable and use this information to determine what action is needed. This feature allows the blogging community as a whole to identify content they deem objectionable. Have you read The Wisdom of Crowds? It's sort of like that.
