In terms of vacation, I did still check in in the evenings for about a half hour to post some of the artictles. However with the future time stamp technique I was able to get a few days totally blog free.

I think if I were more organized, I could possibly get enough guest posts to fill the pipe before the vacation started, and publish them in advance.

But you are right – I might just have to let go at some point – surely the next vacation :)

There is something about giving up control of your blog. I struggled with this for months while considering this anniversary option.

But while I was at WordCamp, meeting some of the folks I finally invited to guest blog, I realized that it wasn’t them I wasn’t trusting, but me. I needed to let go. The best things I’ve ever done in my life are when I gave up and let them happen rather than strangling them into action.

It was a fast decision, and not the one I had already decided to do for the anniversary, but I thought, “What the hell!”

If you planned on having a vacation, then had to be tied to the computer to check comments and post their posts for them, where’s the vacation?

And I think she asked me to remove her because she thought she might not need the account anymore. But since I loved her straight-forward posts, I might invite her over again in the future, if I happened to blog about another cause or campaign :)

For those who guest blog on your blog, you can choose either the Contributor or Author user level. It doesn’t not allow them access to anything that can “hurt” your blog. They can only look at a few things but not touch – well, only write and publish posts and check and edit comments and mark comment spam.

I believe that the Contributor does not allow adding categories, but the Author level might. Editor and Administrator can definitely dig into your Administration Panel and have fun, so don’t give those out without trust.

As for deleting her account, the questions I have are “why” and “why bother”? If you don’t like what she posted, then get rid of her posts. Or is she asking to be removed from the author/contributor list? Her posts will still stay, she just won’t have access anymore.

So I’m not sure what the answer is because there are too many questions.

You are right on track, pelf. Hosting guest bloggers as well as being a guest blogger is scary. It’s a lot of responsibility and can make or break a blogger if it goes totally snafu.

That’s why I decided to share my thoughts and lessons on the issue during the next two months as I naively go forth into the world of guest bloggers.

She logged in, typed a couple of posts, and logged out. And then she asked me to delete her account, which I haven’t done (should I delete her account immediately? Why, or why not?).

But other that this, I haven’t had any experience hosting guest bloggers, and I’m looking forward to the articles in this series because I’m planning to look for guest bloggers on my turtle-blog :)