Why Have A Privacy Policy On My Small Blog About Quilting

Seriously, I am NOT a lawyer though during disagreements with my husband he says, 

"You should have been an attorney!" Guess that means I'm good at arguing?

So...why have a privacy policy on my small blog about quilting?
Some say we don't need one and some say we do.

I have no idea, but this is what I read on one of the gazillion views about what

we may or may not need to be doing to be GDPR compliant.

Why have a privacy policy to be GDPR compliant?

A few reasons are because...

Our blog comments may include a name, email address, and/or IP address.

We may have 3rd party hosting like Bloglovin', etc.

We may have email signup forms like FeedBurner or Mailchimp.

We may have contact forms.

We may have plugins or tools for traffic stats like Google Analytics.

I am confident that Google will eventually get us BlogSpot users up to speed,

so I'll not be rushing or threatening to switch to another blog based site because they 

have their issues, too, and I'm not willing to exchange one problem for another.

Unless BlogSpot doesn't fix it and make my blog life easier.

Hang on for a while and it will be worked out.

It almost always is.

I like my blog how it is and I like the nice people who visit.

I want it back the way it was...easy.
Stay calm and keep blogging. I'd miss you if you go away.

UPDATE: Google announced that it is aware of the problems and is working
towards a solution that will hopefully arrive next week.  Yay!

Where Have All My Blog Comment Notifications Gone

That's the big question for Google bloggers these days, so... 

Where have all my blog comment notifications gone?

Those comments are now following the new GDPR (General Data Protection Rule)

 that says information about commenters are a no-no, like their avatar, email info, name...etc. 

Just Google GDPR and your computer screen will be filled with mind-boggling info.

I've been following the Google Support page and the questions are overflowing.

Google has told us that...

Yes, my settings have changed. I figured that out on my own, but thank you.

For the 10+ years I've been blogging I have received notifications in my email that someone 

has very kindly stopped by my blog and left a comment. Somewhere in time another rule/update

 made it so a few comments got lost between my blog and my inbox because their email was 

considered SPAM. Now ALL the comments stay on my blog and I don't know they are there 

until I check, which I do just so you know...thank you for the comments! Unfortunately, 

I don't always have an email address for the commenters, so replying isn't an option. I know

 some bloggers leave a reply to the comment in the reply section on the blog. Call me lazy,

 but I don't go back to check to see if someone replied to my comment. I just don't have 

the time, because I'm busy sewing or visiting other blogs.

One suggested fix is to leave a comment on your own post and check the box

"Email follow-up comments."

It's just a sticker over a sore, but it's a workaround until something better comes along.

The follow-up comments might go to SPAM, so you'll have to look there.

I have not lost hope that Google will make our life easy again with something

as simple as a box to check that says, "Yes, you can share my info with this blog friend."

The majority of us Blogger users don't have the luxury of having a blog guru
to help us with the new rules, nor do we have the money to hire an attorney
to write the correct wording on our blog so we are compliant. I hope this doesn't
make blogging a thing of the past. I'm not ready for that.

My blog friends make my world a happier place. xo

Update note:
To at least get the comments in your spam folder or somewhere in your email, as soon 
as you write a post go leave yourself a comment and check the follow-up box. 
That's working for me right now.

UPDATE: Google announced that it is aware of the problems and is working

towards a solution that will hopefully arrive next week.  Yay!

Just Let Me Quilt's Privacy Policy

Apparently it is possibly a requirement that we tell our bloggers that we have a 

PRIVACY POLICY. I take this new GDPR ruling seriously, but

since I am a little blogger and I don't have an attorney or IT guru on staff,

this is the best I can do to let you know I take your blog friendship seriously.

Why have a privacy policy?

A few reasons are because...

Our blog comments may include a name, email address, and/or IP address.

We may have plugins or tools for traffic stats like Google Analytics

We may have 3rd party hosting like Bloglovin', etc.

We may have email signup forms like FeedBurner or Mailchimp.

We may have contact forms.

To the best of my knowledge, I don't offer cookies on my blog.

You can stop cookies by turning them off in your own browser settings.

I don't knowingly or willingly share your information to third-parties,
though I do use Bloglovin and Feedburner...they might be third-party.

I have affiliate links on my blog, but I have no control over them storing your info or not

if you click on the link. I don't get rich on those affiliate links, so if you're worried about

them storing your info, please don't click on the links. Go directly to their website.

I don't store your information unless you willingly share it with me to contact you later.

The information may include your name, email address, and blog URL.

If you don't want me knowing who you are, please don't comment.

If you do comment, I won't track you down if you don't leave me a way to contact you.

You can always email me privately if you don't want your name in my comment section.
My computer is password protected to prevent someone sneaking into my house
 and taking your information should they steal my computer. 

I will link to your blog during blog hops. By sharing that information with me

in a request to join the hop, I take that as you giving me permission to share your link.

I may put a link to your blog in my post if you share something that makes me smile.

Please let me know if you don't like the traffic coming from my blog to your blog.

I'll quickly remove the link at your request.

I have no control over someone taking info from my blog for their own use,

or for publishing on other websites without my permission.

It's called stealing/infringing on copyrights in my world, unless they ask permission to use it.

I won't send you newsletters you haven't signed up for. 

I don't have a newsletter, anyway.

If you signed up for notifications of my blog posts, I take that as

agreeing to receive them since you signed up for them.

This privacy policy will probably change once I know what I really need to do.

For now, please hang on until this whole thing gets figured out.

I have faith that it will...hopefully.

Carol Swift

Just Let Me Quilt