+++WARNING+++TETCHY TECHIE POST+++
I had an email from Blogger last night. Ooh, I thought. They’re hand selecting me for a blogging award.
Yeah right.
It was to inform me that Blogger would no longer be supporting FTP publishing from the end of March 2010.
Hello? Are you still there? Basically this means that people like me who publish their blog to their own bought and paid for domain name would no longer be able to do so. We must switch to Blogger’s own domain name – blogspot.com – or, I surmised (though it wasn’t stated) go elsewhere for our blogging needs.
I was not amused.
Apparently only 5% of Blogger users publish via FTP and yet it is a huge draw on Blogger’s resources to continue to support it. Myself, I can’t quite accept the logic of that. All my pages, all the images are held on web space that I own. They are not using up web space on Blogger’s own servers which must surely be chock-a-block with the material supplied by the other 95% of Blogger users.
What resources am I hogging exactly?
Anyway, I kind of got the impression that resistance and complaint was futile. I’m in the minority here after all. The blogging world will hardly down tools in protest if I disappear from the electronic ether. My choice is simple – either switch to blogspot.com or go elsewhere. I’ve tried other Blog suppliers and I don’t really like ‘em so I guess I have little choice but to cooperate with the new Blogger dictat.
I’m going to jump before I’m pushed and I am therefore requesting that all you good people who visit and read my blog – maybe even Follow it in the Blogger sense – will be good enough to update all your links and swap to my new blog address which is as follows: http://bloggertropolis.blogspot.com
I shall set up an auto redirect myself for stragglers but as from today the old address is essentially defunct. There is a new blogging world order.
Apparently there are pros to this move. I will be able to utilize some of the new Blogger templates that us awkward FTP users have been technologically denied access to – so maybe there will be a change of décor as well. Ooh! I bet you can hardly wait.
Ahem.
I hope to see you all on the other side...
(Please leave any comments on the new blog.)
37 comments:
On the plus side, you will now show up in my blogger feed, on Google Reader, et al - without me having to create a separate section for you. ;-)
If it bothers you that much though, you could migrate to WP.
Rol: that's true. OK I'm sold. Plus I hate WP.
Oooh the cheek of it. Pushing you around like that. I would def have done a lot of foot stomping about that.
It was a bit weird though turning up here and finding it looks exactly the same. Well, I think it looks the same? I'm not good at spot the difference.
Anyway, is there going to be a blog-warming? With red wine and cheese? And cakes for those who like them? I think it's the least you could do.
Gina: I thought you were trying to cut down on the red wine? ;-) Actually I was thinking of having a party where all us bloggers could throw our blogging keys into a bowl and then we could each pick one out... no? Is that going too far, do you think? Maybe giving off the wrong vibe? Hmm. I'll think about it. Maybe I'll just stick to hiring a stripper. As for the decor... I haven't played with it yet I must admit but I'm reliably informed that I now have a lot more blog templates and widgets at my disposal... so next time you come here things may (or may not) look a little different.
Yes, I hate WP too. I've always found their blogs have quite a cold clinical look. I can't explain how, but to me that is what it seems to look like.
Anyway welcome to blogger, my newest bloggy friend.
(how is the halfway house nearby panning out? No weirdos hanging around? Yes, I have just done a Daily Mail stereotyping thing here, shame on me)
FF: yes, know what you mean about the clinical look. Their templates are just too cold and sparse for me. I can almost smell the disinfectant. As for the halfway house - did you mean the real one that is near where I live or alluding to a metaphorical one in Blog-land? The former has been rather quiet - probably because the cold weather has kept them indoors but they do persist in having the lights on upstairs in the evening while leaving the curtains undrawn. Haven't seen anything dodgy yet but I'll keep watching!
Well Finally! Now that I finally worked out how to follow your other, determinedly independent, blog address. Having assumed all along you were just doing it to show us that you had a better grasp of technology than we. Sorry you're feeling pushed around. Welcome to our gang.
English Rider: the sense of belonging I feel has warmed the cockles of my heart.
I know facetious when I see it. (That's part of why I enjoy your blog so much).
English Rider: you're a gem - and that's not facetiousness at all. ;-)
I don't mean to be rude and I feel your pain but it is rather a relief that you have a blogger address now so I can put it on my links - it didn't work before!
Emma: for that honour alone the move to Blogspot.com has been worth it. Thank you.
I hadn't realised that you were on an alternative planet, but have altered the details so I don't lose you. I am still waiting to hear if you solved the riddle of the missing water in the fountain.
Completely Alienne: nice to know you've attached a beacon to me, thank you. As for the water... did you see the Doctor Who "Waters of Mars" episode? I'll say no more...
Have 'saved you', so to speak!
Ooh I like the idea of a blog warming. No idea what all this means but I'm here!!
Ooh, hello, read you here, read you there, read you everywhere...
Loved the way you threw the punches around a bit and then, well, just gave in!
Am pleased to see comments here about WP. Various of my blog mates have recently switched to it and I felt rather left out - the uncool girl in the playground with the too long skirt - but I had this niggling feeling when I visited their sparkly new sites that somehow their blog had lost all its intimacy and personality. Though I didn't like to say so of course...
Mind you, that's what people used to think when Windows first came along after that extraordinary thing that was WordPerfect, so I may have to choke on my own words in due course. We'll see.
Hey, Steve! Welcome to the Blogger neighborhood.
You're right not to go to WP. I can't get comfortable with it, plus they don't block spammers like Blogger does. I'm going to close out my WP blog, and just be a bit more circumspect about what I post in the Blogger site.
Enjoyed your Mountaineering post. You're a good Papa!
i will pretend that i understand this techy stuff and say, 'great news' now that you're sold on it. either way, glad i made the transfer to the new site so effortlessly. i must be getting more techy.
yay me.
:-)
Suburbia: I doubt there's many people that can that say that about me!
MissBehaving: the invite is in the post!
Her On The Hill: sometimes standing alone is the most noble and truly cool thing you can do. Stick to Blogger and keep your skirts too long I say!
The Crow: WP just leaves me cold and, worse still, shrugging. It really does nothing for me at all. Seems I'm not the only one by far.
Clippy Mat: you're obviously a secret tech-head who reprograms NASA space shuttles in her spare times... you can't fool me!
Oh no! It's techie talk again. You know I don't get it !
Selina: ...but you managed to get to my new blog address OK! I think you're more techie than you think!
I for one am pleased you're now 'normal'!
Tenon_Saw: 'normal'? Ooh I wouldn't go that far...!
I meant the real one you blogged about ages ago. It baffles me why people leave lights on and curtains open. When I see it in films (the peeping tom appears suddenly in the creepy moment) I always say ' but nobody leaves lights on and curtains open', now I know they do.
FF: unfortunately nothing exciting ever occurs... I suspect they leave the curtains open tantalizingly upstairs to distract the busybody's attention from the bomb making factory downstairs... that's my theory anyway.
There's no room left in this world for the individual is there?
Welcome to the world of the common folk.
Yay, found my way here all by myself. I like what you've done to the place...
Kaz: as Jarvis Cocker said, I want to live like common people...
Amanda: thank you; I've done nothing. It's not much but it's what I call home. ;-)
I will follow you to "the other side." No worry there. But I think you should rethink the idea of a party. I participated in a great tea party online. (I served ice cream sandwiches!) Even the keys in a bowl, we could do an exchange of postcards if not anything else!!!
Femminismo: hmm... postcards... that's not a bad idea... I wonder if I can still those Carry On humour ones from the seaside...?
Bummer Steve. I may not be that techie, but I understand what you're saying.
And blogger are not the most responsive people in the world (ie when my friend had a cyber stalking starting blogs accusing him of heinous crimes against women etc - long story!) Took them six months to remove the offending and defamatory crap.
You should start an online petition or find out if any of your fellow sufferers are banding together. An alarming number of people seem to be moving to Wordpress, but every time I see a Wordpress blog I just don't like the look or feel of it. I think blogger have got it right, albeit for its functions beginning to lag behind, and obviously its services reducing as well.
Laura: the general concensus amongst bloggers regarding WP is that it's too cold and impersonal... so I shall not be going over to the true dark side anytime soon. I did think of starting a campaign but identifying other bloggers in the same boat is problematic - mind you, thinking about it, I should just do what every other person does when they want to find something out and Google it. The fact that Google own Blogger shouldn't in anyway influence the results, should it? ;-)
Been away from the computer (well, blogs really as I've been writing) a while so catching up on on older posts.
will check out link
Mark: thank you. Apparently if you update any links to me with the new address for my blog I will now show up in some Blogger widget or other... oooh!
This blog seems to recieve a good ammount of visitors. How do you get traffic to it? It gives a nice individual spin on things. I guess having something real or substantial to talk about is the most important factor.
Anonymous: are you being sarcastic?
Post a Comment