I know that Movable Type and Wordpress are more powerful and flexible and blah blah blah blah blah.
I know that using Blogger is like having an AOL.com in your email address. It's like using webtv to surf the web. It's for dweebs and n00bs and people with low self-esteem.
I know that if you're sitting in a room full of people in a seminar on blog design run by Mishelle Lane, Leslie Flinger, and Deanna Garretson, and Megan from Velveteen Mind is running around with the microphone so people can be heard when they ask questions, and asks a few of her own because that's the way she is--and it's delightful, but I digress--and you hear:
"How many of you are still using the standard blogging template?"
and you raise your hand, you will feel like the only person in the room still wearing a mullet.
But there are things about Blogger I really like. For one thing, it's really easy for me to customize my links list. And Blogger sorts my links by time of update.
Which means sometimes I check my blog, and a super-popular blogger like Jen Lancaster or Finslippy will have just updated. Which means I can head right over there and be the first to comment.
Call me immature, but being able to type "FIRST, BITCHESSS!!11!11!!!" really makes my day.
And I just know that if I switch to Movable Type or Wordpress, I won't be able do that.
So this is how it stands: not long ago, post Blissdom09, when the peer pressure was really getting to me, I broke down and bought my domain name.
Yes, I'm the proud owner of www.poppybuxom.com. But Blogger, I can't quit you. The whole looking for a host/designer/administrator thing I did recently for Mamarazzi? I'm just not ready to go through that again.
What's a girl to do?
I feel your pain. And I don't want to "go there" either. I don't need something giving me another fucking headache.
ReplyDeleteI shall remain the Blogger Loser.
So customize your Blogger template even more. Just because you love Blogger (I do, too!) doesn't mean that you have to still be using the standard mullet-like template. Get yourself header/banner (if you're not artsy, you can just use paint or have a friend do it).....check out templates across the web. You'll still have the things you love, but you can make it your own.
ReplyDeleteI use Blogger and currently, you wouldn't even know it by looking at my site. :)
I'm kind of in the same place. After 6 years of blogging, I finally got my own design. But someone told me I can buy my domain name & forward it to my blogger address. Is that what you're doing?
ReplyDeleteMy self-esteem is fine, thankyouverymuch, so I must be a dweeb or a noob. LOL
ReplyDeleteI've only been blogging since November. I would like to redecorate my space eventually but right now I'm satisfied with my plain little blog.
Whatever you do, DO NOT go to wordpress UNLESS you go to a self-hosted site. Do not use the free wordpress crappola. You will not be happy and then you'll have to put your head through your monitor when you realize, less than 6 weeks later, that you screwed up big time and have to MOVE to a self-hosted WP site.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to stay with Blogger - and use your poppybuxom.com addy (LOVE, btw), do what Kalisa said.
I like that you are a traditionalist.
ReplyDeleteI guess I have a mullet, too. I don't want to lose all my links by switching platforms.
ReplyDeleteThe company through which you bought your domain name should be able to forward your domain to the blogspot address without charge.
When people type in Poppybuxom.com, they'll go straight to poppybuxom.blogspot.com or whatever your blogger URL is.
It's probably not as great, SEO-wise, as operating another platform, but you don't have to host, switch, or beg your readers to update your link in their sidebars, either.
Ahem...*I* said I loved blogger. And I primarily design in it. You can do exactly what Kalisa said to do, and have your blissdom bff (me! duh)foof you up a bit.xoxo
ReplyDeleteWHY AM I ALWAYS THE LAST TO KNOW THESE THINGS?!?! And here I was all big headed because I thought I was cool for even having a blog!
ReplyDeleteI can barely link in my posts, I don't think I'm ready to move away from my mullet.
BOTH of your blogs are amazing, not only in content, but in visual style. I absolutely despise both of mine. One is at Blogger, the other (that my domain is pointed to) is at Wordpress.com (I'm not geeky enough for Wordpress.org). If only I had your writing ability and designing ability, I'm convinced I'd be thin, rich and successful. (Okay, I know...that's probably delusional, but hey...what's a mom to do when the kids are grown?)
ReplyDeleteI am as lame as you. Wearing a mullet AND parachute pants. Sigh. I'd change, but only if someone would help me.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm blogger mullet lady, too. I hear my blogger hate-uh's saying blogger is the bottom feeder of hosting sites. Oh yeah? Obiviously they haven't read my blog. I'm the bottom feeder of couth and decorum. Blogger and Scandy belong together!
ReplyDeleteYou know I really loved blogger too. But then I was talked into buying my own domain, and I switched everything over. What a pain in my butt! And then I realized something, really, all I wanted to do was write. I don't want to worry about having to deal with templates, etc. So...I researched and found a few site that pretty much does everything for me. And what do I do...write. Ahhhhhhhh....so much better.
ReplyDeleteHey Poppy, I am a blogger loser. I love blogger and I will not leave blogger. HOWEVER, I too own my own domain name and have a customized template. I'll be glad to talk you through it or help you or whatever. Give my design a look and see what you think.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mommapug.com
I'm a web editor by day and writer by night. So I do all the design stuff myself. Its not perfect but it works for me!
That's kind of a bummer since I still use blogger AND I don't even have your groovy design stuff going on. I'm really just stubborn as hell because I insist that blogging is supposed to be about WORDS and not design or gimmicks. Call me crazy.
ReplyDelete(But everyone knows I'm business in the front, party in the back...)
I like all your reasons for sticking with Blogger; they make perfect sense to me. I am still blog-blog-Bloggering along, too. But it's more from nescessity. I am completely absolutely and utterly techno-impaired. I can kind of limp along with Blogger for my two blogs now, but someone set them up for me in the beginning. I just decided how I wanted them to look, and then stood back like Captain Picard and said, "Make it so." Noobish, maybe, but I don't care!
ReplyDeleteSTICKWITHIT.
ReplyDeleteI think that's a phrase kind of like "sticktoitness" which isn't anywhere close to being grammatically correct or even a viable phrase, but we use it anyway. And by "we," I mean other people, because I don't think I've ever used it before.
Your blog is pretty and hilarious. No need to change it up. Wordpress? Lame. Granted, I use the free version and attempted to 'upgrade' so I could edit my CSS, which sounded all cool and I thought I would learn how, but it isn't, and I didn't, and now I'm hating on my blog.
I say a 'yay' for blogger. And, frankly, yay for "@aol.com," too, for people who have that. Stick with what works. You're poppy. You're fab. Enough said.
It's okay, we'll all be mullet loving Blogger-ites together!
ReplyDelete:)
I'm a bit impressed with myself for even having a blog, and somehow, against all odds, keeping it alive for a year. Mullets away! Maybe I'll change my Header soon but it will take months of planning.
ReplyDeleteSometimes the technorati get a little overanxious to reinvent the wheel. Kinda like trading a mullet for a mohawk.
ReplyDeleteI never liked sitting at the cool kids table, anyway. This table - the blogger table - seems to be still full of randy characters!
ReplyDeleteAlthough I wouldn't mind being "foofed up" a bit myself...do you ever rent out your BFF?
I'm growing a mullet.
ReplyDeleteOn purpose.
And I like blogger.
And I hate change.
Miss you.
Keep your blogger stuff and use your domain name.
ReplyDeleteThis is your blog. You can do whatever you want.
Illegitimi Non Carborundum!
Keep your mullet! I'm keeping mine.
ReplyDelete