I am an early adopter but I also tend to stick with things. This can be a poorish combination. I started this blog nearly 20 years ago (when blogging was new and exciting and I’m still going (even though it is definitely no longer new or at all exciting). When I started it was on the first blogging platform I came to on a list 20six (numbers tend to come before letters in these kind of lists).
When it folded, sometime in 2006, I think, I went on to WordPress. There are two types of WordPress blog – one that basically does all the work for you and one where you have to get your own domain name and which requires a bit of techy experticse to update. In retrospect, I cannot emphasise enough how much more suitable the former would have been for me but look, as the Irish politicians said after the banking crash, we are where we are. Over the years, I’ve paid for domain hosting (I know) and the odd tech person to do updates when it got beyond me and basically it’s been fine. I have enjoyed the WordPress experience.
The advent of the WordPress app was a boon allowing me to blog and note on the go (hold your uproarious laughter). It’s integrated with Jetpack which seems to be more statistical. I’ve never been super interested in my stats; I mean I would like to be an internet sensation but I’m ok with small numbers, it’s not like it’s a business or I’m trying to sell anything. So basically, Jetpack is not at all important to me. However, it seems to be a big part of the WordPress empire now. Since early November the app has been pretty glitchy – one of my most faithful readers cannot access my site at all. I am told to move to the Jetpack app which is even better (ahem) but if so I must get rid of the WordPress app as they don’t work together. Huh? And now when I publish my posts, I see that Jetpack is counting down the number of times I can share them (only 22 shares left!). I mean, I’m not hung up on stats but I would like to be in a position to let my 5 (or 6 on a good day) faithful readers know that there is deathless prose to be had. I see that if I “upgrade now” I can get more shares. If I click on the link I have to login to find out how much that service would be. Great. €25 a month apparently. I will not be paying that. I am filled with fury but it will pass. Sigh.
That is all.
