Will I regret having an expletive in the title of my blog?

[ShiDoe]

Nothing else captured my attitude so succinctly - but pootling around on related blogs and Twitter accounts I'm starting to wonder if I'm going to regret gratuitously alienating many people who might otherwise connect with what I have to say.

Could any more experienced bloggers advise: speak with my own cranky voice, or sanitise for wider appeal?

shitidoformykids.wordpress.com

[OreosOreosOreos]

It wouldn't offend me at all, but would you get blocked by some internet filters?

[ShiDoe]

I mash the words into Shitido . Presumed that not having the expletive as a stand-alone word would leave me fine with the filters?

[ShiDoe]

Bump

[olderthanyouthink]

Filters would likely let its slide if "mashed", because analysis, essex etc

filter lets your url through fine but if you put shit-idoformykids, it changes it to poop-idoformykids

[olderthanyouthink]

Better link

[HuguenotJo]

"Crap" is slightly less strong than "shit" - would that do? MN use tends to reduce awareness of how many people are offended by very mild swearing.

[ShiDoe]

I guess ... It's just not my vocabulary.

Am I right to think that Americans as a rule are far more outraged by swearing than the Brits?

[michelle303]

Maybe soften the expletives to be on the safe side? I think it is important to maintain your voice and personality

[BertrandRussell]

I am not at all offended by swearing in an adult context. But I would avoid your blog- I don't like words like shit or crap being used around or about children.

But in losing me you might gain a lot of others!

[gleam]

I don't like it and I swear a lot. It just seems so much harsher written down.

Also, perhaps harder for some people to verbally recommend your blog to others?

[EssieTregowan]

The title doesn't really go with the contents of the blog. I would have expected something more along the lines of Hurrah For Gin and the like.

Yours seems (I've only skimmed, sorry!) to be mainly about language and speech delay and product reviews.

I would either rethink the title or the content.

[BertrandRussell]

I would probably also think that it was some martial art I haven't previously heard of!

[Catherinebee85]

It's a fine title but doesn't seem to match the content. I was expecting something akin to hurrah for gin or the unmumsy mum.

I would worry that people who actually wanted to read your blog about speech delay etc wouldn't find it because of the misleading title.

[OvariesBeforeBrovaries]

It depends on what you want out of your blog. If you wanted to start work with PRs later down the line on reviews etc you may find that they're apprehensive about working with you because of the expletive, especially children's brands. However some brands are fine, I think it's often down to the individual PR.

I've just seen I'm in your "blogs I follow" sidebar thank you, I've just followed yours :)

[ShiDoe]

Wow - so many new comments - thank you guys - I appreciate the insights.

Funnily enough I am not a sweary person/writer - but that title kind of stuck in my head in a gallows humour kind of a way - like "I can't believe how much shit I've done". I have a mountain of self-designed therapeutic activities in my garage. At the school gate some people flagged me as a performance parenting super-mum - not really understanding how much desperation underlies a person that finds motivation to make a model school bus (complete with moving wheels, clipping seat belts, teacher and six pupils, pack lunches and a stowed mini green playmat to represent the school trip location).

The blog is intended to be almost entirely about speech delay (with the remainder being about other topics of interest to parents of kids with SN). My background is not healthcare - and I wanted a different tone to the breezy American and clinical 'speech therapists' blogs' I see a lot of.

I basically realised very early that this was going to be a really stressful road - and I needed to find a way to make it fun and fresh and light if we weren't both going to lose our minds and/or our motivation. That is, a clinical perspective (what you do for thirty structured artificial minutes ) is different to the parental sneaky approach of shoe-horning therapy-lite into your kids' current craze - to get them to stay on task. And to not make the time you're spending together feel like punishment. And to not let yourself get overwhelmed by the responsibility and worry and isolation of it all.

The long game is that I've got a background in software development - and I wanted to build some of the sht I've done into therapeutic apps. I think there is massive potential in well-designed software supporting SN kids in a way that is accessible and practical for all families - we've used some amazing apps on our journey and some really lazily built ones. I thought a blog would give me a personality in the wider world, and access to a community to bounce my ideas off. Hence, it does matter to me to not alienate people on purpose - but I'm not necessarily looking for sponsors. More friends and advisors. And while I don't swear IRL - I am blunt, sardonic and single-minded - so a too-cute or too-professional name wouldn't fit.

I feel like I need to find time to think this whole direction through more pragmatically - beyond my enthusiasm to just put this stuff out there - but ironically it's so hard to find the time to think big picture - because I've got so much kid sht to keep on top of constantly!

[HuguenotJo]

Your writing style is great and I do like your blogposts - your software expertise shows.

If I were writing your blog, I would change the name to StuffIdo - unless you can find a better synonym for shit/stuff/things. But it really is up to you and what you feel comfortable with.

Could you do a blogpost asking your followers what they think? Would they prefer a less sweary blogname? You could probably set up a mini-survey.

[ShiDoe]

It isn't helping me muchly - but look at this fun tool for creating new words that evoke a real word

wordoid.com

[ShiDoe]

I've taken the comments on board - and I think I have to agree that it's smart to go for something more descriptive and ,was polarising.

My best effort is

Supporting Speech (Staying Sane)

which would URL as

supporting-speech-staying-sane.wordpress.com

Better? Or too far the other way into blands-ville?

[HuguenotJo]

Do you ever go on the SN topic of Mumsnet, OP? You could ask the people there to brainstorm for you...my own thought if you are moving away from "whatido" is to pun on SALT (Speech and Language Therapy). There must be innumerable quotable quotes with "salt" in..."SALTofthe earthmother.wordpress.com"....something like that?

[olderthanyouthink]

I like the idea of just tweaking to stuffido.

Supporting Speech (Staying Sane) sounds a bit like a support group/ charity to me.

(I'm not your target nor a blogger, I have an SN brother so I seen a lot of stuff around this topic this over the years)

[ShiDoe]

Or how about

Speaking with Snoopy or Snoopy's speech or Snoopy speaks

To reflect that Snoopy is full of character and verve but doesn't speak. (Would the copyright infingement prove a pain?)

[olderthanyouthink]

It's generally recommended that you don't use trademarks as it can be considered misleading that you have a relationship with the trademark owner and they can sue you.

[ShiDoe]

hugenot that's a clever play on words. I'm going to mull it over to think of funky & effective combinations (my concern would be to not misrepresent myself as having any qualification in the area iyswim).

How about -->

speech therapy sucks

[ShiDoe]

SALTandPippa.wordpress.com
(I can honorary re-name my daughter Pippa for the purpose of the blog!)'

speech-delay-sucks.wordpress.com

And subtitle it so that the site header reads:

Speech Delay Sucks
(but life doesn't have to)

Sorry to repeatedly post - just want to bounce the ideas as they come

[HuguenotJo]

SALTandPippa is really good! I wouldn't say speech therapy sucks, or speech delay - some people might be offended.