Ok, scratch that.
It was a big, flaming disaster. Children ran screaming through the streets, poets composed tragic death sonnets, and the sky bled the tears of a thousand angels.
Also, stress makes me a little melodramatic.
So, we're back on Blogger. And yes, a part of me is kind of happy about that. The other part - the part that spent weeks and months and lots of moolah and sleepless nights preparing for the move - is all, "C'mon!! Really?!?"
And, since I know you tech geniuses out there are probably thinking we're incompetent buffoons because a move like this isn't THAT hard, allow me to say that the actual blog moved fine. The comments, however, did not. And that's a deal-breaker.
We've talked to some of the highest higher-ups at both Blogger and WordPress, plus plenty of scary-smart gurus, but apparently all the things that are *supposed* to work just plain *don't* when you're dealing with 80,000+ comments. To give you an idea: It took 4 hours just to transfer the 6,000 comments that did come over. So I guess any program that sees 80 THOUSAND decides that now is an excellent time for a break.
Granted, we have had offers by programmers to whip up a custom doo-dad to scrape and gather and match up and progmaticize...ate... and such, but at the end of the day, when we saw how WP had messed up the formatting on all of our nearly 900 posts, plus was giving me grief to write in, plus costs a lot of money to host on a private server, plus would cost that much more to have someone write that program to retrieve the comments...well, we did the math, and then tucked tail and went crying back to Blogger.
Blogger, for its part, has welcomed us back with open arms, a loving smile, and broken comment moderation. (Well played, Blogger. Well played.) Even so, I think we can all agree it's never looked more beautiful.
I recently made my "big leap" (for me anyway...) and purchased the domain name for my site. Unfortunately, I lost all of my comments... Don't get me wrong - I had NO WHERE NEAR the number of comments that Cakewrecks can pull in, but it was still a major bummer...
ReplyDeleteAhhh Blogger free and worth every peny
ReplyDeleteThis is hilarious. You get an "A" for "Effort" (however that is supposed to work out. :) meh, sounds like a cw in the works...) Also, melodramatic kitty is epic. FTW!
ReplyDeleteugh - my sympathies. I work at a computer company and I always tell everyone that my favorite button is the "off" button. Computers can be wonderful and horrible all at the same time.
ReplyDeleteHoping the tech gurus can help you figure it all out - maybe all the publicity on your blog will make them sit up and pay attention.
Okay.
ReplyDeleteNormie
Yes. Don't you love irony. The day you come back the very thing happens for why you were leaving the first place. Frickin' blogger.
ReplyDeleteAh, blogger! You old rascal, you! We can't resist your shenanigans!
ReplyDeleteSnerkity snerk!
ReplyDeleteEveryone's going to WordPress these days. I tried, honest I did, and I couldn't stand the interface. It's like its written by linux or unix people. gah.
-Rufus
Chin up Jen - Now you can hold this over dear hubby's head as another instance of "see, I told you so" ;)
ReplyDeleteHave you looked into transitioning over to Squarespace? Everyone on Revision3 says it's awesome for importing all of your old blog settings, comments, and all the rest.
ReplyDeleteSorry for your trouble! Have a cupcake ;)
ReplyDelete3 ideas:
ReplyDelete1) Disquus.com
2) Leave the archives behind on blogger.
3) Pay to have the program made to move the comments but pay more and grab a share of the licensing rights because you cannot be the only ones with this issue. There'smoney to be made and if you are causing a program to be written take a cut.
good luck! I really don't want you to have anymore issues because this is not at all entertaining *hides the popcorn*.
Wait. You mean you can't just, you know, go in there and retype all the original comments?!?
ReplyDeleteRunning. Running away. Running away very, very, very FAST......
Seriously, I'm another who is just super-mega-grateful that you do this at all, kid. There are days when all that stands between me and banging my head bloody on the desktop is the LOLs of Cakewrecks and now Epbot. Bless you for all the joy you bring. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Jen!!! {{{hugs}}}
here's your consolation Jen,.. even though people are still using it,.. ie6 is so out the door it's almost not worth worrying about. you'll get a new crop of the younger generation who have new computers every year or so with the latest version of windows and whatnot to make up for those still using ie6 so it'll still work out.
ReplyDeleteI greatly appreciate both your sites everyday. IE causes everyone headaches. I have faith your followers will find a way to find you with a better browser!
ReplyDeleteSo I'm wondering if we can just ban anything related to IE... Just a thought... :)
ReplyDeleteWV: subjec
I am sure the subjec of private servers is off limits between Jen and John and Aric for a while....
As a non-technical person living in the IT industry, I have found that any specs you are given about an application or hardware - you should halve it. At that point you have high but more or less realistic expectations for it.
ReplyDeleteI hope that you find another solution that works (much) better then WordPress. I love both blogs.
I second the vote for Squarespace. It's cheap, it claims to have nearly continuous up-time, and it claims to import pretty much anything. It's what I use, though I have hardly any readers. Also there are a bunch of codes that you can use to get money off your monthly bill for the life of your account, and you can test-drive it for free for a month.
ReplyDeleteI'd be happy to help get over any quirks in the system if you decide to try them out.
I know just about nothing about nothing when it comes to servers etc but is it actually necessary to move over the old site to the new server? I mean, like, if you wanted to set up "cakewrecks.com" on a new server with new posts and just older posts link back to "cakewrecks.blogspot.com"? Like I said, I know nothing, but I love cakewrecks and I want it to be as trouble-free for you to maintain as possible, and it seems like blogspot has been... less than accommodating in that regard.
ReplyDeleteOn a completely unrelated note, I was admiring your steam-punk dining room and it's gorgeous, but I think it would benefit from some Dalek decorations. I think they would fit right in =D
Oh, Jen, I don't understad a single word of your last 2 posts but whatever makes you happy makes me happy. I heart CakeWrecks. I heart Epbot.
ReplyDeletewv: ockol - don't try to move your blog, the result is ockol
Crazy! I'm watching all your insanity and banking it so I know to upgrade my blog before hitting 80,000 comments, apparently, before 5,000 would be best! Still, sounds like it's currently working out, more or less.
ReplyDeleteRosalind
Girls Are Geeks
welcome back!!!
ReplyDeleteWow 80,000 comments. The evil server probably decided no one ever needs to comment again and died. Yay to coming back to blogger. At least it seems to like comments. :)
ReplyDeleteCompletely off-topic, but might make you smile. If you ever get the chance to see "Wicked" (Broadway musical), DO IT! Has some steampunk inspiration on the set design, and I think you'd *love* it. (I did!)
ReplyDeletewhatever you've done - both blogs seem to be loading faster. unfortunately for me, i have to use ie6 at work, and your blogs are even working better there. if that means anything...
ReplyDeleteAddie
Bummer, I was hoping you'd come over to the dark side.
ReplyDeleteBlogger never had to deal with anyone quite as famous as you before leaving them, and either you have so many comments (because you're so famous) that it just wouldn't work, or you're so famous, they purposely made your comments disappear to try to keep you. At the website dinner parties they brag about their CW blog like a trophy wife or over-achieving kids. So, good job!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I moved from Blogger to Wordpress a few years ago. I (obviously) don't have the following you do, so I didn't have those troubles. And I will totally admit to missing Blogger. As many problems as I had with Blogger, I miss being able to customize it to fit ME. You can't do that with the free Wordpress stuff, and I just don't have that kind of money to spend on a little ol' Mommy blog. :P I thought about going back to Blogger, but can't figure out how to import everything from Wordpress to Blogger (comments and all) and I'm just not even going to try. Blech.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I'm glad you're back to where you're comfortable. For me, that's the most important part.
And this comment got really long. Sorry!!!
Hey don't insult us UNIX people (although the insults tend to be deserved). Any how, I guess this whole issue is part of the price of FAME. That headache? That is the smell of success! The alternative: If you only had 4 or 5 comments, the move would have been easy. :)
ReplyDeleteI was reading, but, look at the kitty! He's holding a big ol' gun an he's so mad, yes he is. Ehm, sorry.
ReplyDeleteOh the joys of the internet! And I get melodramatic when I'm stressed, too. You are not alone in your use of overdramatization.
ReplyDeleteYou weren't moving to Blogetry by any chance, were you?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.product-reviews.net/2010/07/20/73000-blogs-shut-down-critical-matter-affects-wordpress-blogetery/
Consorting with terrorists? Albeit only virtually?
I'm just glad your blogs are still around. Good, good stuff!
ReplyDeleteOkay, so only to be fair, you have to show a "John cat" to display his mood (love combat kitty!!!). Hang in there, you won't lose us, we love you!!!
ReplyDeleteI'll be honest: I haven't had the faintest idea what you're talking about with these last two posts. I read CW daily, and I haunt Epbot until something new shows up. I love both of your sites. As far as I was concerned, though, your wonderful work just . . . appeared. Sort of like the Tooth Fairy or Easter Bunny. I wasn't aware of all the technical issues you've been dealing with. Even if one of them DIDN'T show up, I would have been convinced it was my fault anyway. So all I can say is, please hang in there! Your hard work is appreciated--no, LOVED--by many people, so thanks for sticking to it, making needed changes (bleah) when you have to, and enjoying the fact that you make us smile every day. *Big hug!*
ReplyDeleteDontcha just love technology? I'm facinated by it and have in my day been "a technician". However, in my experience the possibility of any IT project succeeding is inversely proportional to my dependency on it working and things break just because I thought about them, never mind needed them. I'm not a technician any more. Can you guess why? You have my sincere sympathies. :o)
ReplyDeleteo_O
ReplyDeleteWow...my friend and I had been considering recently to move our blog to a different server as well. (I was pretty reluctant with the idea).
We didn't, and after reading your post, boy, am I *GLAD* we didn't!
-French Bean
to sum up...YOU WERE RIGHT from the beginning and he was... I'll leave it at that. ;-)
ReplyDelete