My annual subscription for web hosting will come due after the start of the year, and the fact is I’m not sure I want to continue this weblog. It’s been fifteen years since I started using WordPress, and I’m feeling ready to stop using it. Technical problems, some of which remain unresolved, no longer feel like challenges. They’ve become merely annoying. Google has once again stopped indexing the site. This problem first appeared after Bluehost temporarily hosted my domain within another domain. Did they do it again? It’s not worth the bother checking.
All of the big events associated with this site happened within its first few years, and since then it’s just been me sharing and spouting. How many people are still looking at “Prattling Before the Pratfall” anyway? Perhaps as few as half a dozen, whose interest I sincerely appreciate. The cost ($300+/year) isn’t an issue, but I don’t like paying for aggravation. It would be a lot cheaper to cut back to having just the domain and the e-mail addresses in it.
The WordPress update broke the Recent Comments plugin, but easily fixed by inserting a Widget. Also, existing media links to larger images are all broken. Not a critical issue, as only selected images need to be enlarged. I’ve fixed a few of them.
Sorry to hear about The (ongoing) Troubles. It was a happier time on the web when a small number of mega-sites didn’t control access to most of the content, especially small publishers. I remember fondly the days of following a small number of “big” blogs, and another handful of friends. Sometimes, one of those would link to something interesting someone else had written on their blog, and you’d maybe find another kindred spirit to follow. I feel like I was just getting into RSS feeds, when the big shift occurred, and much content moved onto those big sites.
I never look at anything on FB, and these days only occasionally glance at Twitter. I still look at IG with some regularity, but that by its nature is mostly pictures and not much reading. I feel like the time that I used to spend following blogs and such has shifted to listening to podcasts and YT subscriptions. Truly, access is still controlled by a small number of big tech co’s, but with podcasts, you don’t have random other content being inserted into your feed. Ads on YT have become more annoying, but still somewhat less than ads on TV.
I can’t give advice on the blog. If you are trying to get exposure for your content (and you *do* provide interesting content!), I have nothing to offer. On mine, I write mostly for myself, and I’m pretty sure that I’m the only one who ever reads it. I wonder if you would find making a podcast to be a more fun challenge. Anyway, thanks for all the good reading over this past decade and a half. I look forward to your content, in whatever form it takes (unless it’s on FB… 😉 )