Hey everyone, a blog housekeeping post from me this time. Depending on what platform you’re reading from, you may have noticed some changes:
After years and years I decided to move my blog from it’s humble blogspot roots to it’s very own space. It was an idea I had occasionally thought about over the years but never acted on, because the blogger platform served my modest needs as a casual blogger, leisurely blogging about my makes, fairly well. There where some hiccups at times but nothing that I couldn’t live with. In time, it’s clunky orange system became steeped in nostalgia. Blogger has been with me for over ten years! I definitely look at it with a bit of rose tinted glasses. I guess a bit like what livejournal is for many others, blogger is for me.
And yet, the thought kept coming back. With the changes in social media over the years and things like algorithms, shadowbanning etc that shape that experience more and more, the importance of self hosting became clearer and clearer to me. Especially in the past year when I saw how online friends where silenced when speaking out, and experiencing that on my own account as well. Additionally there where some other things like when I couldn’t get this or that widget to work, and I read again how much more customisable wordpress was. When I had to repeat the full-length URL three times to share my blog with a friend, that was when I started wondering about WP hosting. While I realise that to some it might be odd to jump ship now cause blogs are more or less the dinosaurs of the internet, but it turns out I just really like dinosaurs? They are my favourite things to read from other makers and they are also my favourite thing to come and post on. So there is that too.
So, I jumped. I spend the past few weeks building a new website behind the scenes. This also gave me an opportunity to think about the name of my blog. I choose my old one years ago back when a situation forced me to hastily leave the blog I was using then and start a new one. I just kept using it. While it never felt completely right, it didn’t felt wrong either so I was fine with using it. At the time it was important for me to have the blog quite anonymous and while many of you now know my name, I still like that it isn’t super tied to my blog. With the new website I decided to do a slight name change, that reflects what I post on here more but keeps the feel of the old one and harks back to the old name enough for you to possible not even notice and also for me to keep my other online personas the same.
So from henceforward you will find my adventures in textile crafts, makes and reflections of my thoughts and life on: http://treehousemakes.com/
What this means for you
So, despite piecing together this blog over the past few weeks, I’m actually not the greatest technology and code-witch on earth. I think I managed to “forward” the “RSS feed”. In theory that should mean that if you read my blog via a blog reader and want to keep on reading my new posts, you should be ok and should automatically receive my new posts in your reader. You might want to check whether it’s worked for you though, and to be sure, I’ve just posted a post on my new platform which you ought to be able to see. If it doesn’t show up, and you still want to read my posts, add the new website url to you reader to be on the safe side. I imported all my blog content to the new website so my blog archive is there as well, but I will keep the old one up for now as well. I just won’t be updating it any more.
Other than the name change and updated layout, I don’t have grand plans for big changes. So if all goes well, it should be more impactful for me behind the scenes, with getting used to a new dashboard and the like, than for you readers. One thing I did add is an option for readers to subscribe/get notifications of new blog posts via email. This is one of the things that I wanted to add because I thought it was useful, but couldn’t get to work on blogspot.
Finally I want to say something about the current situation. It feels weird to launch a new website and post it now in these times and I have wondered whether to do it at all. But starting something new and making plans and just simply wanting to do things is also an act of radical hope and that is maybe a good thing to send into the ether. If you want to read more about how these days have found me you can do so, in this new blog post I’ve written about that.
That’s it from me here. Hope to welcome you in my new online treehouse often.
xxx
I like the new blog. Your thoughts help to cope with these dystopian times. And you are a technical expert. I’m happy to read about your activities and ideas.
Thank you! I think just reading how everyone is coping helps tons. That feeling of online community. All the best Beate ❤
Just popping in to say the RSS feed was forwarded fine – I got the new post with no issues. (I also got a series of older ones, because the feed transfer seems to act like a new feed, and my reader by default shows the most recent 10 posts or something.) But in any case, it worked!
I’ll actually be migrating to WordPress myself in the next month or two, since my old host is closing up shop. I am more fond of blogs than ever these days, because all the social media algorithms make me feel really weary. Plus, there are typically fewer eyes on my blog than on my Instagram feed, which helps.
Thanks Dianna, that’s a relief and helps a lot to know that!
I fully agree, just having that little bit of “independent” online space that exists feels like a sanctuary from all the hustle of the social media haste. Not just for writing, but also as a reader. It gives me the peace to read what someone else thinks and feels without feeling the pressure to immediately react to it. Especially instagram comes with a lot of expectations to meet, amd I agree that is more absent when you’re on your own blog.
Best of luck with your own blog migration! Let me know if you need sub-par tips from a blogger who’s just gone through one while mostly not having a clue about anything!