just another day in the dark zone

Just want to share the cringeworthy news that blogger is about to start a new code raze against adult content that, while I don't have a problem with, have seen what across the board code razes do to blogs in general, and after all the moving and recoding I've been through over the last year and a half using blogger as my 'thank god someone isn't screwing around with the blog system', I fear there may be tears. It's quite possible my Lexxperience blog will be locked down over a few slightly shady screen grabs from the show. We'll see what happens on 3-23-15. Meanwhile, no, I have not (yet) received a personal letter from blogger like this person did (scroll down to see a copy of the email).

For those of you who aren't aware, Google (which bought blogger) has teamed up with everything conceivable out there but has yet to commandeer WordPress. Google 'owns' the internet the same way a 'boss' owns a city (I'm not saying Google is doing anything illegal, but definitely getting around the monopoly board), and according to this site- "All Blogger sites are on Google servers and not something that can be self-hosted. As that is the case, Google has the final say and overall control over your blog. What does that mean? It means that they can flip the switch on your blog at any moment with no warning whatsoever. The blog you build on Blogger will never really be yours, and that lack of ownership is perhaps the biggest reason why to not use the platform. Though the chance of having you site shut down is slim, the fact that someone else holds the key to your digital kingdom is a bit unnerving, to say the least." I have until March 23rd to make sure all my Lexxperience updates are backed up somewhere else, and if the worst does happen, I'll repoint the dotcom.

So, once again, sitting tight, I've already rebuilt from scratch twice now, can always do it again...


You're wasting your energy attempting to force my cooperation. I have no sense of self preservation and can always be reassembled. --790

:edit: 3-5-15 Google caved to the response and amended their announcement, yay!

boring stat stuff but it helps me get better for my readers

Since I abruptly lost mobile viewing on Sept. 2013 on my original Lexx fan blog and then created alt mobile viewing over here last summer 2014, I have been so curious how stats are doing and how they compare side by side. Basically, is the extra time and work I put into this blog worth it? Well, I'll always believe it's been worth it because I get a few additional perks with blogger being tied into G+ that I enjoy. However, I'm very surprised this morning as I finally pull up a real comparison on the same paid tracker. Since my trackers have been scattered willy nilly, comparing logs has been difficult, since trackers don't all collect info the same way, and some take seriously what others disregard, so getting readings from the same source is the only way I can truly compare.

Apparently, even though GrandFortuna isn't yet mobile friendly, that hasn't stopped world traffic.

GrandFortuna

Lexxperience

What I'm finding super interesting is how the browsers rank. I use Torch for GrandFortuna & Chrome for Lexxperience, so these ranked browsers obviously aren't me working on my stuff.

GrandFortuna

Lexxperience

I've got more charts showing that weekly and monthly hits on GrandFortuna still outrank this blog even though I've got G+, a facebook page, a facebook group, and a dotcom pointing back here, and even though I stopped updating over there and focused on updating here. So, my patience with the Xanga Team during this whole server move is a good thing, my decision to pay for continued access to the original blog was a good one, as opposed to abandoning it, and the Xanga Team announcing recently that they'll be getting more big work going again (like mobile viewing) means that one of these days I might be able to get the original blog back up to its old glory. It will still take a lot of work on my part, because adapting the code work I want to use has already been a challenge and a half. Just keeping it readable, maintaining links as they keep getting broken, and restoring images and videos as sweeping code upgrades raze them down like little burning villages has had me going cluster lizard all over my house on some days. It helps to know that continually tweaking really does mean something beyond my own laptop.

I keep repeating the 790 mantra to myself.

You're wasting your energy attempting to force my cooperation. I have no sense of self preservation and can always be reassembled. --790