By next Monday I have to move web hosts so this evening I began preparations to archive and backup this site for the move. I started with archiving all the files in my WordPress installation, which is what powers this blog. Then I realized that archive would only be a snapshot of this blog, current to this evening. Inevitably, there will be a few days between when I make the archive to when the site goes live on the new host. If I write new posts in that interval, that content won’t be in the archive and they’ll be lost forever.
I thought of a few solutions to this problem. The first is to archive my blog at the last possible moment. I usually write my last post of the week on Thursdays and start again on Sunday evening. I could attempt to move hosts immediately after my Thursday post and hope that Friday, Saturday, and Sunday would give me enough time to get everything moved over and up and running again.
Second, I could just announce that there will be no more posts until the move is complete and that the move begins essentially now with tonight’s archive. This is the most safe route as it gives me about a week to work out any problems before my hosting agreement ends next Monday. This does mean a few days without any new content. Let’s face it, only a few people read this stuff so it’s not like I’m going to disappointing millions. Also, since I don’t make any money off this blog, it’s not like I’ll be losing revenue either.
The last option is like the second one, except that I continue to write content while I do the move. Those posts will be lost of course but at least you, the readers, will continue to read these nuggets of wisdom that you’re so fond of.
I’m still not sure which option I’ll chose. If you come back one morning and there isn’t a new post, you’ll know that I’ve decided to concentrate on the move.
See ya on the other side!