Changes Coming to Debbiethisandthat

Nothing Ever Stays The Same

Hello Dear Readers:

I am writing this post to explain to you the changes that will be happening on my blog. First, let me say that I value each and every one of my readers and I do hope that you will stick with me in these changes. 

It has come to my attention that there is a new privacy law taking place on May 25, 2018 in the European Union. Because of this new law, how data is handled for readers in the European Union is changing. Folks must have opt out options for allowing their data to be collected and or used. I will be honest in saying that I am not a tech guru and I am having some difficulty figuring out, as a humble hobby blogger, what, if anything, I should do about this. Most of my readers are in the United States but I do have a few readers in EU countries. I keep researching and reading what the Blogger platform has to say about how to handle this and I am basically more confused than when I started. So, here's the bottom line. I do not collect people's data period. I do not manually add anyone's email to lists. If you sign up to subscribe to my posts by email, I never see your email addresses. If you leave a comment on my blog, it appears on my debbiethisandthat email as a "no reply blogger" comment. In other words, I can't reply to you directly. I can moderate/publish your comment on my blog and I can go back on my blog and leave a comment to you there, but I don't have one of those email services that emails directly to you. I guess all of us, when we go on the web and visit sites, have data that is collected by the sites we visit. Everything I do with blogging is on the free Blogger platform which is owned by Google. So, cookies are a part of my blog in that sense. But, any data would be collected by Google, I guess,  not by me personally.  I began blogging as a lark 2 1/2 years ago and it has become a HUGE and enjoyable part of my life. I want to continue. But, I also want to protect myself. With that in mind, I am making the following changes within the next week.

• I will be deleting my subscribe by email option. That means if you want to read my blog, you will need to type in my blog address. I am sorry for this inconvenience. For future reference, in a typical week I usually post about 3 times, but the days can vary.
• I am going to revert back to a blogspot address. This is how I started and I am hoping by doing this, I will be more protected under the Blogger/Google banner. That means my address will be  debbiethisandthat.blogspot.com. I do hope I can make this change without issues happening. If you are looking for my blog and can't find it, you can always email me at debbiethisandthat@gmail.com and I will let you know what is happening with the blog.
• My blog is only going to be a hobby blog. I will not accept gifted items or be paid for any endorsements. I have never allowed ads on my blog and won't be doing so. My blog is for sharing my thoughts and inspiring others. 
• Because I do enjoy sharing fashion with you, there will be links to other sites for sharing purposes, not for selling. For instance, if I am wearing something that I purchased from a store I may link to that site to share that with you as information. Any links I share, for clothing or other other items, are for sharing purposes only. I have deleted posts on my blog which featured gifted items to me. 
• If you have concerns about cookies or data collected by Blogger/Google, please do not read my blog. Again, I personally am not collecting any data on you. 

I'm sorry for the length of this post and that I am having to make changes which may inconvenience you. I realize that to savvy bloggers this new info may be just something to be dealt with. Perhaps it is my generation, or possibly just me, but it seems like things can never be simple. Or stay simple. Life...including blogs...always bring change. 

Sincerely,

Debbie