Should I Stay or Should I Go?
May 5th, 2008 by mr lady
So, let’s say that someone we know has a blog. She has recently broke up with her old blogging platform for a new one. A complicated one. One that has made her cry a few times. But an awesome one, none-the-less.
She quietly, secretly has been cheating on new her platform with another one, an easy one, one that gives her just about every option she has now, but she doesn’t have to turn herself gray trying to work with a Plugin or an FTP file. She has actually paid rent at the new platform’s place for a month or so, and would really like to just bring her toothbrush and tampons over and settle down already.
She loves the new platform. She’s totally girled it up; hung some pictures, rearranged the furniture, you know, stuff? She wants to move in with it and make little babies. NOW. There’s just one little catch:
The old platform refused to share anything that it’s got of hers. Something about Possession Being 9/10th’s of the Law or something. If she goes, she can’t just have the movers come in and haul all 946 posts over. She’ll have to carry each and every one over by herself, and she’ll probably drop a bunch of the comments in the gutter along the way.
Also, she may or may not be able to forward her address.
Also also, in a desperate attempt to trick the old platform into giving her the damn archives already, she just about demolished her blog and then had to upgrade her Wordpress Platform in order to almost, kind of save it. And you know what? Upgraded Wordpress is awfully cool. Damn that evil old platform for reeling her back in a little.
What should she do? Should she follow her heart to the new platform (Squarespace, for those of you wondering) or tough it out with the old platform (Wordpress, already covered that)? Are 3 1/2 years worth of archives really THAT important?
Do vote. It helps when people tell me what to do.
Oh, in case you were wondering, it’ll look a little something like this:
In answer to your questions, it is SO not black on white. I hate that, too. Also, WP will import from any platform but will only EXPORT to WP. I have tried every plugin known to man to fix this, and not only didn’t it work, but it ate a bunch of my post to punish me for trying. Grrrr.
56 Responses to “Should I Stay or Should I Go?”
So, who IS this person?
(LOL)
I am abstaining from the vote because I don’t like either option.
Hmmph.
To be honest, you need to do whatever works for you! I mean, if you are going grey from FTP and plugins then move! (Doesn’t it have an import button like WP?).
That said, reading white writing on a black background makes my eyes twist and it hurts.
I will read no matter where you are.
The new look is very very cool. Tough choices though….I just met you recently, so this would be my first “move”. I’d still read!
You know I love you. And would like have your babies (don’t tell Jenny though!) if I could. But please please please don’t go black.
I adore me some dark chocolate and *swoon* that awesomely sweet fireman down the road and some of my fav shoes are black, but blogs? Not so much. They make my eyes go all silly and then I am blinded by the white of other blogs…
So my lovely, move if you must. I will have a housewarming drinkie with you, but stick with the text on white.
For me????
I’m abstaining since I don’t like either option. I choose (c) find a platform that WILL let you import your archives and use that. (Is this a Squarespace or a Wordpress problem? Cause I’m thinking of switching to Wordpress. Is this thought of mine a disaster waiting to happen??)
Also, I agree with Kelley that reading white on black is very hard on the eyes. I won’t stop reading (try to make me!), but I do think it’s less reader friendly.
I was thinking about switching too. But I do not like to cry. Will it make me cry?
I like MommyTime’s ideas.
And you could srsly just leave your back posts? Really? See for me that would be like cutting off my arm.
seems suspect that you would have to give up the ghost on your content. Shouldn’t you be able to export your data and then import it in some fashion. Never dealt with squarespace so I don’t know, but they might even offer a conversion service.
You know that I will follow you wherever you go!
I use squarespace for MommyCosm and LOVE it. Very easy to use. I do need to jazz my site up a bit, but it’s not from lack of options…I’m just busy/lazy.
Wondering why you think you would lose your domain? I use my own with squarespace and so does BusyDad.
Tell me where to go….I’ll be there….I’m faithful that way.
Holy cow!!! I JUST began my own transformation over to squarespace this weekend from WP…this shit is tough!!! Are you sure we aren’t sisters separated at birth??? The new site looks groovy - mine won’t be transferred until the 19th!
Personally I really dig the new wordpress… but that’s just me.
I’m sure anyone who loves to read your blog will follow you wherever you go.:)
I would follow you to the ends of the earth. But I do need archives, as evidenced by last week.
I’ll follow but ARGH! How can you just abandon the archives? They’ll be so lonely
The grass is not greener.
I think the whole archive thing sucks. And if you have to move them one at a time, then maybe instead of moving them to a new platform, you should move them to something that would print them in a book.
Either way, I’ll be here.
YOU CAN’T lose your archives. Someday all of the 3 will want to discover the wit that is their mom. I know there is wit and wonder being produced daily, but to have previous wit vanish would be a crime.
Go!
You are so talented that you don’t need to cling to your old stuff. It’s good old stuff, fer sure, but it’s just chum compared to what you will write.
Give it to the universe, don’t be attached!
(Sorry for the flaky bullshit, I’m a yoga teacher….)
christy’s last blog post..We’re not the Von Trapps…..more like the shut your traps
I’m a grass is always greener kinda girl…
HRH’s last blog post..Potluck: It’s new. It’s media. It’s new media…
well, you know i’m a follower. my suggestion? at the risk of wasting a wack of time, try setting it all up including the imports, etc. and then decide. it’s what i’d do. and you know me, i like to waste time, instead of cooking or doing laundry or child-rearing.
zoeyjane’s last blog post..The Opposite of Gloat
Shit. Now I feel like I have to change my template since everyone seems to hate black on white. Oh, wait, this isn’t about me?
I think you absolutely have to know for sure that you at least have the archives somewhere safe before you make the switch. That’s just not worth losing.
April’s last blog post..Root and Sprout
tough choice. just be sure to tell us if you move.
The new one is pretty but if it were me, I’d hate to lose all my old posts. I’m sure you’ll find a way to move it over. Seems strange that you wouldn’t be able to?
SherE1’s last blog post..Not so fit this Friday
Personally, I think any blog is nothing without it’s archives.
That’s why it is a blog.
Xbox4NappyRash’s last blog post..Forgetting
I will follow you regardless, but I am a big fan of Wordpress
I’m confused about the address part though. Why can’t you keep the domain you already have? Do they not allow self-hosted accounts?
Natalie’s last blog post..Huh?
I can barely change the colors on mine, so I commend you for even thinking about moving everything pver to somewhere else. Don’t lose the archives, though. We people will follow, but aren’t they like people to you as well?
Kori’s last blog post..Monday Again!
As a charter member of the Cult of Squarespace I cannot lose you as a recruit. I will volunteer “cut n paste” time if you need it. Yes, I like you (and Squarespace) that much.
BusyDad’s last blog post..Reason #34 Why You Don’t Want to Meet Me in Person
As long as you are there, it don’t matter to me.
*trembling*
You mean….there’s now something better than Wordpress?!?!
Say it ain’t so!
I voted. I’m all for following your intuition. I have a feeling it will be harder to take the dive after 1500 posts…
Sandy (Momisodes)’s last blog post..Birthday Karma
Squarespace rocks it out.. it is what I use..
I will follow you all over this internet.
Kim’s last blog post..Sunday Snap Shots
I’ll follow anyway.
But what you’re saying is a HUGE concern for me. I was thinking about moving from WP, and now you’re saying I can’t move my posts! Oh NO!!
jenty’s last blog post..Ooops
incidentally I voted against moving but I wouldn’t actually unsubscribe, I’d just sulk a little bit
Xbox4NappyRash’s last blog post..Unlucky for some
I’ll follow you. I have no help for you, sorry.
Looks gorgeous though.
rachel’s last blog post..Mommy’s Graduation Day
I am way out of my league on any advice re: wordpress/squarespace. I would follow you. I gotta agree though that I like reading black type on white background. Stigmatism or something, but it makes my eyes wonky when people do it the other way.
anne nahm’s last blog post..Making the 70 Year Old Turtle Cry
I did this a few weeks back, I switched to wordpress from blogger and then after being on wordpress for a while I hated it. Everything was more complicated and I really missed blogger’s compatibility, so I went back. I lost my few weeks worth of comments because you can’t import from wordpress but that didn’t matter, I just wanted things to be easier for me again. So my advice would be to post for awhile on it and see how you like it. Do a post on here with your other address and we’ll follow you and then ask us again how we feel after a week or 2.
Allie Bear’s last blog post..Eternal Damnation
FTP? With WordPress? Huh?
Other than that, I’m not happy with where WordPress is going, so I’m not upgrading to version 2.5. Don’t know if I’ll just keep on trucking with it or not. But, being a database geek, converting is something I can just do without not too much heartburn.
Changing your stylesheet to get away from the black-on-white thing is trivial, so if that’s a major factor in your decision, and would make a difference, just ask for help there.
WordPress is such a major blogging platform, that I think it’s stupid of SquareSpace to not have an import capability. There is the issue of connecting up their machine with your database, which is probably not possible, at least not directly. But exporting your database to a dump file, and then importing it over on SquareSpace should be something that isn’t impossible.
If you should decide to move, get an export of your database anyway. Not sure what tools your current bloghost [*COUGH* Andy? *COUGH*] has available there. Depending on the answer to that question, getting a database export is either pretty easy, or doable with the right incantation.
As to switching, your call, girl.
jed’s last blog post..Infringing on the Monopoly
Welllll….Does the new one mean that when I go to leave a reply, it’ll learn my name, email, and site so I don’t have to fill that out everytime, or no? lol.
Go wherever. I’ll follow
Ashley’s last blog post..Several things?all rolled into one lumpy post!
Someone may already have said this (I haven’t read all of the comments - bad, bad, bad), but can’t you just set up shop at the new place and then link back to older content here? People do this all the time; I’m sure of it.
If the domain name is an issue, keep this one here and come up with a very similar one for the new place (like “betterwhiskeyinmysippycup”), and have something directing folks to the new one if they visit the old one.
Cake. And eat it. Because I like cake. And whiskey. Possibly even better whiskey. Oh, hell, yes.
(Unless I missed something as to why that totally won’t work. If so, you can slap me gently.)
maggies mind’s last blog post..The A Part of the Q & A Part Two - Maggie Goes to Japan Edition
Me again. Whatever you do? No, don’t let the archives ever actually go away. One way or another, either keeping it as just “the early days archives” still on WordPress or copying every scrap into a Word document or some other method, your words are meant to be safely kept, possibly forever. Blogging is sort of like a public Dear Diary, and someday I bet you’ll want to go back and read what you wrote. If not, you can chuck them then. But not now. Wasn’t sure that was part of the question, but just in case you wanted to hear more of my opinion and blather
maggies mind’s last blog post..The A Part of the Q & A Part Two - Maggie Goes to Japan Edition
Oh my God, my head is spinning. I am so damn low tech that I am not qualified to vote. Please just let us know where you end up and I’ll follow you, although I would hate it if your archives were lost, since you inspire me. I do know something about eyestrain, though, and I give white on black two huge thumbs down.
Betsy Bird’s last blog post..Showing Chicken Who’s in Charge
Hello! It’s my first time here - I poppe dover from Redefining Perfect. I have been a blog jumper for about a year now and I guess my only advice would be make sure you love the squarespace interface. I tried it and had to bail…the people who have done blog design for me in the past all said it was trickier to work in that WP or MT….but if you like it enough - screw the archives…or you could spend days goign through the archives and copying and pasting the important entries into Squarespace or a Word Doc….
Michelle’s last blog post..This is Not a Door
I’m with Molly on this one. You can’t flick a match on your autobiography-in-progress.
I know that you can save your entire WP (comments and all) to an XML file. Squarespace should be supportive of importing a simple XML file, shouldn’t they?
Good luck!
Not sure why you might lose your domain. You should be able to point that anywhere. I am all for nostalgia and keeping old posts and socks with holes in them but I am all about moving the furniture too and dying my hair and giving up shaving so I say rock on and go for it.
janethesane’s last blog post..Monday Monday - Weekend Recap
Lots of advice already. Do what you gotta do. Loyal fans will follow you anywhere . . .
LaskiGal’s last blog post..You’re The Inspiration
I didn’t vote. Neither were good options for me. I like the history of archives. We write posts and it turns into archives, but we don’t always remember what we wrote and we did it.
If your new to reading someone’s blog, archives is a good place to start. You can get a feel for a person, their sense of humor, etc.
You reminded me why I probably will never leave blogger. I can’t imagine creating more work for myself.
All that being said, I will follow you where ever you go.
Diane’s last blog post..New House
I’ve been thinking about this topic lately too. Not sure what I’m going to do yet. I really like this blog you have here, and I would have a hard time giving up my archives too. Good luck!
Jeremy (Discovering Dad)’s last blog post..Spotlight On Dads Series Summary
I didn’t vote….I’m one of those “follow your heart” kind of gals so…..Follow your heart honey, do what you want to do and what’s the best fit for you…I send you warm and fuzzies while you figure it out!
Qweenie’s last blog post..Wait, What’s going on today??
yep, follow your heart and your groupies will follow…that’s me, in case you were wondering…
tiff’s last blog post..Ivy update - playing with fire?
The other blog is looking pretty snazzy. I say go for it.
Ricardo’s last blog post..Part II: Giving the Gift of Boob
My most recent P365 quote applies:
“Be soft in your practice. Think of the method as a fine silvery stream, not a raging waterfall. Follow the stream, have faith in its course. It will go its own way, meandering here, trickling there. It will find the grooves, the cracks, the crevices. Just follow it. Never let it out of your sight. It will take you…”
—Sheng-yen.
I’m all about archives. To loose those is like losing all your photo albums in a fire! Find a way. No matter what. You’ll be sorry (well, feel bad) later when you realize you don’t have all those witty and wonderful posts to read and remember things by.
Yea, I’ve been there. Can you tell?
Robina’s last blog post..Working for the weekend
I didnt’ like either of your voting choices, so I’m not voting. I’m going through a similar choice, but for different reasons, and can’t decide what to do. You’ll be my test dummy. If every one follows you, then maybe I can make the switch myself.
Will you leave this up or delete it entirely? And if I have 20 posts from you in my reader, shall I assume you’re “hand-moving”?
Candy’s last blog post..This City Never Sleeps
It’s interesting reading all these comments
Anyway, I’m in love with the new design. Why don’t you just throw it onto Wordpress and forget about Square Space altogether. It’s totally not worth losing your archives over.
Huckdoll’s last blog post..Seven Deadly Sins
Ohhh… I flirted with SquareSpace briefly, then opted to let my trial membership run out, because I was afraid of this very thing. More important to you, I have to catch up on your archives, so whatever you do, DO NOT GET RID OF THAT WORDPRESS THING!!!
Deb (Missives From Suburbia)’s last blog post..Behavior Only a Mother Can Love
Well…I do think your archives are important. However, ease of use is important sooooo…
I dunno.
Seriously girl, I’ll follow you to the ends of the earth.
LunaNik’s last blog post..Terrible Tuesday - Gluttony