What If Typepad - And Blog Content - Disappears?
Published August 04, 2006
I was talking with a friend today who asked me what I thought about blog content and my ability to download it on demand. I asked what he meant.
Well, what happens if you want to try another blogging platform?
What happens if my daughter Zoe's child's child's child would like to learn more about me and the content is gone?
(Yes, for any Monty Python fans out there, this question – as I type it – immediately brings to mind Eric Idle interrupting John Cleese in the Life of Brian regarding "Our father's father's father" – absolutely hilarious.)
What if I want to put it into a book?
My answer? I don't care.
I started blogging, and still do so, to compassionately understand, love, and accept myself for all that I am. I am honest and in the moment. The only time I have ever taken more than one session to blog is because it took too long to type.
All this means is what I have expressed in the past is just that, in the past. Now and again, I refer people to stuff I've written they may like to see, but if that content were to disappear, I just don't care. The moment is gone and if I cared about the content, I'm not in this moment.
All this being said, I do occasionally copy and paste my blog to a word document to print out to give to my daughter if the moment presents itself. But if those printouts disappear or burn, I don't care.
One thing seems clear, I have the power to communicate at any time with my daughter's family in the future by being honest and open with her now and encouraging her to do the same with me. The honesty will echo clearly into the future to the ears of my beautiful daughter's family.
I also thought about how I would feel if someone just Opal Mehta'd this blog (meaning took it and claimed it as their own) and made money off a book with all the content. Honestly, I would probably do something about it and may even be upset. But ultimately, all things happen as they are meant to and if success manifests from the words that come through me, it will find its way to the person it's meant to reach.
- What If Typepad - And Blog Content - Disappears?
- Published: August 04, 2006
- Type: Opinion
- Section: Sci/Tech
- Filed Under: Sci/Tech: Internet, Sci/Tech: Blogging, Culture: Family and Relationships
- Writer: Tim Taylor
- Tim Taylor's BC Writer page
- Tim Taylor's personal site
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Comments on this articleComments
I dunno, Tim, you could always go crazy and get your own domain, then who cares about typepad?
And, in contrast to Raoul, I think it's tasteless, and sometimes dangerous, to keep too many secrets. Let's have everything out in the open as much as possible. Choose the light!
Unless blocked from crawlers, your blog content should forever be available at the Internet Archive. I use this to view sites that have disappeared, or to view the changes in sites (they archive all changes).
Your name is Tim Taylor?
A question for Tim... do you get paid for this?
---
In this moment in Time, I will be honest and express myself...
I came across a link titled "What If Typepad -- And Blog Content -- Disappears?"... I went to the page... I read it... my Time has been wasted.
"But Tim, that's not Taylor, I heard that your comment may not have been nice, what if I want to read it and it's been deleted?"
My answer that doesn't really answer the question would be...
"I don't care."
- Tim, that's not Taylor -- out.
Raoul,
I understand and respect your point of view on honesty, but I disagree with it. I intend to be fully expressed and deal with whatever comes out of that, it's the only way I can see to compassion.
I'd rather have someone come out and speak in a racist manner for example, rather than have them speak pc and leave the racist stuff for their diary. When they do, however, it's my choice to either judge them or not. If I judge them (or myself for that matter) the honesty is wasted.
If I do not and I try to understand where the comment came from or how it came about it might be useful.
As for a personal domain, I don't know how to do it but would be open to it. What I do like about typepad is all of the functionality.
As for getting paid for it, no I don't.
Tim
Add your comment, speak your mind
(Or ping: http://blogcritics.org/mt/tb/51137)
That's one way to look at it. But another way to look at a blog is as a personal publishing platform. Some people, me included, use them to write about relevant topics, that aren't "in the moment", but stay relevant for some time, and I would certainly be horrified if my blogging platform (WordPress) were to disappear. I don't regard my blog as ephemeral. I think everything I've written is still important, and I refer to past posts and build on them.
Also, I think it's a bit tasteless to display one's dirty laundry out in public, unless your blog is password protected and open only to your friends. There are certain things that are okay to address in the very public context of a blog, and then again, there are plenty of things that shouldn't be put out there. Those of us who think everything's okay to post may find ourselves bitten in the behind at some point in the future when we incur personal attacks or are denied a job due to that very same "honest" post.
Unless you had something else in mind when you referred to being honest, those sorts of posts are still reserved for offline diaries, or for locked/password-protected blogs.