Private online journal?

  • I was looking through all of the options in WP and couldn’t find a way to enact what I’d like.

    Basically, I’d like one WP installation as my public blog, and another installation to be my private journal/diary of sorts. I’d like the second one (or at the minimum, all of the postings) to be viewable only by myself. The only way I can think of doing this is if there were some way to hide all posts from everybody else but myself (when logged in). Is such a thing possible with WP? I’d prefer this option as opposed to running my own webserver on my computer just to have a private journal in a WP format… ??

    Thanks!

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 15 total)

  • Well, you can – by combining removal of pinging (in the options sections) with passwording.

    Truthfully though, it’s way safer and far more private to run XAMPP/LAMP etc. on your local machine with wp installed there. Really. All it takes online is ONE LINK out to somewhere for your “privacy” to dissipate overnight as it were….

    Isn’t there a “private” tickbox to check in the Write somewhere?

    When you say a private journal, do you mean a private category or a completely different wordpress install? Either way, check at the codex for plugins on restriction.

    Yes, there is a “private” tickbox. However, my experience is that wp is NOT VERY PRIVATE once you upload online.

    If you want private, write it on paper and put it in a safe-deposit box. Nothing’s very private once online….

    Agreed there, no matter what the format, WP or not.

    WP is a publishing tool… let’s not forget it ??
    (as vkaryl said: paper and safe-box – that’s private)

    Thread Starter esoteric

    (@esoteric)

    Good point guys. It *is* a publishing tool .. ?? I checked out the local software available for journaling/etc, and it was sorely lacking, but I guess the best option is to set up some sort of local set-up on the machine I know I’ll have everywhere: my laptop.

    Excellent point about the whole lack of privacy online too… there’s always a hack…

    Thanks also for the tip about LAMP/XAMPP too. I’d never heard about XAMPP before and it looks like it might be the kind of installation that would be useful to me in more ways than just the one I’ve listed.

    Thanks again for your help!

    Thread Starter esoteric

    (@esoteric)

    I just wanted to add that XAMPP is PERFECT. Just what I’ve been looking for. I had it downloaded, installed, and wordpress up and running within literal minutes.

    Perfect! ??

    Yup. Love it now, have done so since it was WAMP years back. You’re entirely right: PERFECT.

    I use it for website design etc. mostly. Tweaking on local server is SO much faster and easier!

    Thread Starter esoteric

    (@esoteric)

    And using WordPress as a journal offers so much more flexability than any ($$$) software that I can think of that is out there. All my entries are catagorized in a database that I can manipulate and format in any way that I feel would be useful.

    Yay. ??

    I read this post yesterday and decided to take your advice. I downloaded and installed XAMPP. Unfortunately, the Apache server won’t run because it’s looking to use port 80 which WindowsXP has firewalled. According to what I read, I need to take down the firewall when I want to use Apache. Is that correct? What about security issues? Should I be concerned?
    Thanks, jim

    What other firewall stuff do you have installed? If you’re relying on XP’s inbuilt piece of crap, please don’t. Please go download Zone Alarm free version from https://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp?dc=12bms&ctry=US&lang=en&lid=staticcomp_za. Then deactivate the inbuilt XP firewall, set up ZA, and enjoy using XAMPP and having a REAL firewall (software sort of course) between you and the bad guys.

    While you’re at it, hike on over to Shields Up! at https://grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2 and wander through the tests to see how stealthed (or not) your pc is…. might surprise you….

    Thanks for the information. I will definitely check those references out. However, after I rebooted, everything worked fine (except for my permalinks problem on my local pc).

    Be careful with XAMPP as it does have NO security to speak of, by default. If your PC is connected to the internet, so is your “private” blog.

    I don’t think a web server is *that* much less secure than your PC. Your web server may be more vulnerable than mine, but I have a dedicated server that I control everything on, and no one else has root access.

    Here’s what I did for my private journal:
    1. Add Basic Auth security for apache to .htaccess:
    AuthName “journal”
    AuthType Basic
    AuthUserFile authusers
    require valid-user

    2. Create a password for authusers:
    htpasswd -c /etc/httpd/authusers myloginname

    3. Turned off pinging in WordPress

    4. Added a robots.txt to prevent accidental Google caching:
    User-agent: *
    Disallow: /

    5. Make sure phpMyAdmin or similar tools are also locked down (general security practice).

    Things I should also do:
    Add a cache expiry to WordPress so nothing gets cached locally (on my PC).

    Disclaimer: Your mileage may vary. I do not warrant these steps to secure your blog. If a divorce or other financial action is hanging on your thoughts, keep them in your head; don’t write them down. Everything you type is subject to disclosure. Everything you write is subject to disclosure. If you don’t want your grandma to read your words to the police (or vice versa), don’t write them down. Pretend I never wrote this. In fact, I wish I could unwrite it. Caveat emptor.

    I hope this is allowed to bring up, as it is relevant to this conversation but not WordPress related. There are online journals out there that were designed to actually be private (not a publishing tool, not just a private ‘checkbox’). They are hosted services on the internet, but encrypt the database entries during storage so the system admin can’t read them either. The one in particular I am thinking of is https://www.myejournal.com, which to disclose I am affiliated with. Hope that helps.

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 15 total)
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