(This is a snapshot of my old weblog. New posts and selected republished essays can be found at raganwald.com.)
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Is raganwald leasing space in Blogger's walled garden?
I currently use Blogger to compose this weblog and to handle comments. So yes, Google has a database somewhere with all of my posts and comments in it. But raganwald is not living inside a walled garden. Soon after I started writing, Joel Spolsky wrote to suggest that I not use the built-in hosting option but always host my own words on my own (as in leased from a hosting company, so I guess I mean relatively more my own) server with my own domain. I took his advice.
So what happens with the weblog is this: when a new page is published or an old one updated, Blogger actually renders the page to HTML and uploads it to my server by FTP. If I make a change to the template such as adding a new link to the “popular” section, Blogger re-uploads every single page in the weblog. If you add a comment, Blogger adds it to the bottom and re-renders the page, then re-uploads it. Every time.
So while I use the Blogger application to manage my weblog, I do not use Blogger to host my application in any meaningful way. If they shut down the service, I still have the pages. If I switch applications, I still have the pages. If you want to scrape data off my site, Blogger is powerless to block your web spider. If they change their business model and insist that every page carry their advertisements, I can GREP their ads out.
I apologize to everyone that finds the current application’s comment system inconvenient, and I will look into alternatives. But REST assured, this weblog supports the web’s basic open commons in a meaningful way. It is not leasing space in a walled garden.
I’m going back to work on actual software now. I thank you for your patience with these posts pretentiously pontificating on the potential for premature pizzlement1 of our precious web...
I currently use Blogger to compose this weblog and to handle comments. So yes, Google has a database somewhere with all of my posts and comments in it. But raganwald is not living inside a walled garden. Soon after I started writing, Joel Spolsky wrote to suggest that I not use the built-in hosting option but always host my own words on my own (as in leased from a hosting company, so I guess I mean relatively more my own) server with my own domain. I took his advice.
So what happens with the weblog is this: when a new page is published or an old one updated, Blogger actually renders the page to HTML and uploads it to my server by FTP. If I make a change to the template such as adding a new link to the “popular” section, Blogger re-uploads every single page in the weblog. If you add a comment, Blogger adds it to the bottom and re-renders the page, then re-uploads it. Every time.
So while I use the Blogger application to manage my weblog, I do not use Blogger to host my application in any meaningful way. If they shut down the service, I still have the pages. If I switch applications, I still have the pages. If you want to scrape data off my site, Blogger is powerless to block your web spider. If they change their business model and insist that every page carry their advertisements, I can GREP their ads out.
I apologize to everyone that finds the current application’s comment system inconvenient, and I will look into alternatives. But REST assured, this weblog supports the web’s basic open commons in a meaningful way. It is not leasing space in a walled garden.
I’m going back to work on actual software now. I thank you for your patience with these posts pretentiously pontificating on the potential for premature pizzlement1 of our precious web...
- Philip K. Dick, Autofac
Comments on “Is raganwald leasing space in Blogger's walled garden?”:
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Is this why your feed keeps marking everything as new every couple of hours even when seemingly nothing has changed?
It'd be great if you were able to do something about that.
BTW, I'm pulling http://feeds.feedburner.com/raganwald
It'd be great if you were able to do something about that.
BTW, I'm pulling http://feeds.feedburner.com/raganwald
I actually find Blogger immensely unsatisfying as a blogging platform. I set Mephisto up for a project and will probably set it up for myself as well soonish.
I like the whole anti-walled-gardens idea, except here's the problem with that idea: Kathy Sierra. If Kathy Sierra had been publishing within a walled garden, she might still be publishing. I'm all in favor of anarcho-capitalism in general, and walled gardens are neither wild nor woolly, but a walled garden which enforced civility and banned sexual harassment would be very much worth it.
I like the whole anti-walled-gardens idea, except here's the problem with that idea: Kathy Sierra. If Kathy Sierra had been publishing within a walled garden, she might still be publishing. I'm all in favor of anarcho-capitalism in general, and walled gardens are neither wild nor woolly, but a walled garden which enforced civility and banned sexual harassment would be very much worth it.
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