The Return of Blogger !!!

Blogger is back! YAY! And believe me when I say this, I am just as enthused as I sound. Not a fraction less! I unfortunately have been one of those hapless victims of Blogger’s back end issues which for a moment there seemed un resolvable (if there exists such a word). Dragging on for more than a month, the problems with blogger’s hind parts (lol) seemed to be interminable and there came a time when I felt a mixture of frustration and resignation at the same time. That’s when I realized how addicted I had become to blogging...and not just blogging on any portal...blogging on BLOGGER.

After trying no end to post images and videos and edit in the rich text format, I initially thought there was some problem with my computer (naivety!) But then when the problem persisted for over two weeks and I was beginning to feel the publisher’s itch, I decided that something else had to be at the root of this. So I went looking for traces of similar complaints...and boy! Did I find a treasure trove or what! There was this one thread in the help section, which had comments from the moderators. Apparently the widespread agitation of bloggers worldwide, at not being able to post, edit, publish and archive, had resulted in an outpouring of angry outcries and the moderators had to post a message saying, “Please do not post any more queries on this thread or start new threads with the same queries-we are working on the current issues.” And Twinky heaved a sigh of relief. There were other victims after all. I wasn’t the only suffering soul. And so I left it to our good Blogger moderators and techies and of course to Providence and patiently began waiting for the day when Blogger would resurface-back to its long lost glory. It happened once or twice, only to disappear again, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this time it’s for real. Permanence is of the essence to bloggers.

I seem to have become an ardent and loyal devotee of Blogger even though there are other blogging websites, which to some critical eyes, may have better features than Blogger. It may be because the first blog I made-The Circumambient Cetacean-my exclusively “animal” blog and the memories it entailed. And then of course making Dreamweaver-with which I have made new ones and cherished happy peaceful moments.

Of course, one can write just like that. One does not need a Blogger or a Wordpress or other whatsits to get one’s creative and artistic juices flowing. But to me, having Dreamweaver via Blogger somehow made me feel like I have my own personal collection of anecdotes which other people have easy access to and that became special to me. I have been a journalist for over 1.5 years now and have over 530 stories, one insight and 4 special reports published. It is a joy indeed to see my writing in print everyday and maybe it was that joy which urged me to develop two blogs. I still don’t know the nitty gritties of blogging-I still have to learn about getting more traffic to my blog, getting more people to read it, following other peoples blogs, etc etc...but I’m just glad that the people close to me can read what I put down in print. Which is why it troubled me when I was not able to post anything for ages due to blogger’s issues.

When I told my friend Eisha about it, she in her usual straightforward way, offered a simple solution...”export your blog to Wordpress.” Seemed like a drastic solution, but a solution all the same, so I agreed. “How do I do it?” I asked. Simplistic retort from Eish – “Press a button and be patient.”

So I looked at word press and had a look at what it would be like to have a blog on Wordpress. But my hesitancy reigned and my loyalty towards blogger prevailed. And I decided to be patient. Finally it pays off!!!

I don’t know how long this will last. Blogger’s back end issues may appear once again. I may once again be reduced to a state of utter redundancy as far as blogging on blogspot is concerned. But for the moment, I think I’ll still stick with THE SPOT.

-----Twinky