When we move The Errol Flynn Blog to WordPress which will be soon… there are some things to consider, according to Domainmonger Support. Please read this over carefully! There will be some difficulties to overcome and we will overcome them… There is both good news and bad in the support reply I received.
The worst bad news is that it is difficult to move comments over to our new home at WordPress! Since this is an essential part of our blog's lifeblood, we are going to move them, irregardless. Please read through this reply to see what difficulties lay ahead and we will figure out how to overcome them before we put an oar in the water or a unfurl a sail…
This is what I received from support:
content can be migrated from Blogware to WordPress?
All Articles and posts from your Blogware blog can be
migrated to your WordPress blog.
Photos in Photo Albums are migrated. Photo Albums become
Categories of your WordPress blog .
Comments can also be migrated. However, a bug in the
Blogware export file causes the author information for a comment to not be
retained. So all the comments when imported into WordPress are attributed to
“Anonymous”.
The problem is with the Blogware export file unfortunately so this
issue would happen whether you move your Blogware site to WordPress or any
other hosting service. Therefore, you can request, and in fact we suggest, that
we do not migrate comments from your Blogware blog to your new WordPress-based
blog.
URL Redirection – You are currently hosting on your own
domain name, so, we will be able to redirect your original Blogware URLs to
your new WordPress URLs so not only will all your old links continue to work,
but you will main your current Google ranking.
All files uploaded to your blog’s File Manager will be
migrated. So if you have uploaded images to accompany your blog articles for
example, we’ll move those images to your new WordPress account.
What will not be migrated?
The layout or Color Scheme for your blog will not be
preserved. The WordPress Theme format is completely different from the Blogware
Color Scheme format, so you will have to choose a new look for your blog. The
good news is that in WordPress there are thousands of free themes available at
the WordPress Themes Directory, or you can create your own custom theme.
Sidebar components are not migrated. If you have created
any custom components for your blog sidebar, you would need to recreate them on
your new WordPress blog using WordPress’ Widgets feature. Neither custom
components nor Favorites components are migrated.
Attachments are not migrated unfortunately as they are
not exposed by the Blogware migration tools. If you have added attachments to
your articles, they will not be migrated to your new account. Trackbacks are not migrated.
Blog Settings are not migrated. Since the Blogware
system and WordPress system are so different, it is not possible to take any of
the settings for your Blogware blog and simply migrate them to your new
WordPress blog. Please check out this excellent guide to WordPress
Administration Settings for information on configuring the Settings of your new
WordPress blog.
Web Pages are not migrated. If you have any Web Pages, a
special type of post which is not dated, you will need to re-create them using
the analogous Pages feature in WordPress.
Permissions are not migrated. Category settings and
permissions work very differently in WordPress, and we are unable to apply any
of the permissions in your Blogware blog to your WordPress-based PressHarbor
account.
User accounts are not migrated. So if you have users
with permissions to your current Blog, those user accounts will not exist on
the new WordPress site. You will need to reconfigure your site using the
WordPress Roles and Capabilities framework.
– Domainmonger Support
This means that all current members will have to rejoin The Errol Flynn Blog, once it has been moved. You will be able to find the blog using the same URL as it has now: theerrolflynnblog.com… when it has been moved and is ready for shipmates, again!
At this point, I am as new to all of this as you reading this. I hope there will some expert advice over at WordPress about how to reassign comments to their original owners! And about how to keep our attachments which are so vital to some of our posts!
I will be writing to WordPress for some advice regarding all of this! Nothing is happening immediately, but it will happen soon from the sound of things…
— David DeWitt
Anonymous
January 28, 2012 at 6:47 am
I will let you know what happens as soon as I know what will happen. I am looking at the options and asking for advice from support and from other hosts – I wish this could be avoided and for a long time, it has been but Domainmonger is closing its blogging platform and we have no choice. I have been happy where we are but we are very near the end of being hosted by our current platform and a move has to be made soon…
Anonymous
January 28, 2012 at 6:51 am
I would not move the blog if the choice was mine but it isn't. I have mentioned this move before but it was put off more than once to my delight. But now, it looks like it is going to happen and so we will have to make the best of it. This is like our home, and nobody like to leave home permanently! It looks like a move to WordPress from here but I am looking at other options, too…
Anonymous
January 28, 2012 at 6:53 am
OH, this sounds like A LOT of work ahead for you, David. If necessary, we could start noting down which attachments we had for our own posts and re-attach them later. But who does this for the posts of people who are no longer active? Tell us when we can do something, David!
Anonymous
January 28, 2012 at 8:00 am
THEN DON'T EXPORT–LEAVE WELL ENOUGH ALONE!!!
Anonymous
January 28, 2012 at 5:26 pm
David – Perhaps there might be some advantages to moving the blog to WordPress? Perhaps folks on the blog who use the browser Internet Explorer 9 might be able to see postings? Or, maybe it might be a bit easer to post pictures? I personally have had much trouble trying to post pictures of the vintage Errol material I want show everyone – just a thought. Lynn
Anonymous
January 28, 2012 at 5:58 pm
David – Take a look at the URL below on which you'll note blog host reviews and feature comparisons. You probably know most of this, already. Lynn : blog-services-review.toptenreviews.com…
Anonymous
January 28, 2012 at 6:56 pm
Sounds eerily “Big Brother.”
Anonymous
January 28, 2012 at 9:09 pm
I think the bog platform was losing money for them!
Anonymous
January 28, 2012 at 9:57 pm
You may get your wish, Robert! We will be hosted at Domainmonger it turns out but on a wordpress theme! So I need to go look at themes and decide what type will serve us best. We will be able to keep the old blog up (this one) up and available for reference I am told for awhile while we deal with the movement of comments, attributing them to the right people and dealing with how to preserve the attachments that on post here…
Anonymous
January 28, 2012 at 10:27 pm
It will be a learning curve for us, I am sure. WordPress has many advantages. Better control of spam for one thing. And the ability to have the blog published as a book if anybody wants one for their own pleasure. Not for commercial sales. It is a very stable platform, too. I wish things could just continue along as they have been but this might be a grand adventure for us!
Anonymous
January 28, 2012 at 10:28 pm
I will look at this, thank you…
Anonymous
January 28, 2012 at 11:11 pm
I only wish the whole layout could be redone and made more aesthetically pleasing and user friendly, but I'm sure that would require time and money. So, I guess new location but same blog?
Anonymous
January 29, 2012 at 8:08 am
We could start turning the attachments into normal enclosed pictures before the move for our own posts?
Anonymous
January 29, 2012 at 9:50 am
Yes, this could be done all right. I am told that for a few weeks this blog will still be available as a reference site so if anybody wants to take their own attached photos and add them to their posts or to a photo album – this will be helpful. I need to determine what sort of photo album capabilities wordpress has…
Anonymous
January 29, 2012 at 8:17 pm
Hi Inga,
How would we do that can you offer any detailed instructions?
Take care, Tina
Anonymous
January 29, 2012 at 11:39 pm
That was just an idea. If, say, Volker takes all of his attached photos from his Beam Ends series and make them into a photo album with the same name as his articles, those photos should migrate to the new home of the EFB and could then be manipulated in other ways or left as albums…
Anonymous
January 29, 2012 at 11:41 pm
Maybe it would just be easier to start from scratch and begin a Leon Errol blog.
Anonymous
January 29, 2012 at 11:46 pm
An interesting idea but my hands are kinda full right now! ha!
Anonymous
January 30, 2012 at 1:08 am
Homework time, Tina!
Anonymous
January 30, 2012 at 6:54 am
Tina, when you post an article, you have two options: attach the pictures in an attachment, or include them in the post by uploading them to your gallery and choosing from this gallery. Each of us who has attached pictures should change them into integrated pictures if possible.
Also, what I was thinking about: the reason why all old comments will be attributed to “Anonymous” is, if I understand correctly, because we have not yet registered. Is it not possible to register somehow BEFORE the move of the blog? So that an attirbution of the comments, at least some of them, might be easier?
Anonymous
January 30, 2012 at 8:15 am
It's not possible to pre-register, I am afraid. Support offered three options regarding comments and their attributions and a option that is not feasible involving a coordinated effort across time zones and countries so the first two are our best options and these are:
With regard to moving the comments, there are 3 ways that I can think this can be done:
1 – Import all the comments as Anonymous, and just live with it. [I think it better to credit what was said to those who made the comments!]
2 – Import them as Anonymous, and then manually go through each post in WordPress, changing the author of each comment. This would be a tedious process, forcing you to save after every change, but you could do this over a couple of weeks, looking at the old blog, and updating the authors on the new blog. You could have multiple people helping you, and new posts and comments would be working while you did this.
That last option seems the way to go as much as it would involve a lot of work. We have over 6,700 comments to re-attribute!
Anonymous
January 30, 2012 at 9:48 am
Oh my… let's start attributing the work! It's still winter, I have time.
Anonymous
January 30, 2012 at 4:25 pm
Inga, thanks – I understand! I always integrated my pictures via my gallery – I did not use the attachment feature.
Anonymous
January 30, 2012 at 7:27 pm
At the beginning, I always used the attachment function because I did not understand the other way….
Anonymous
January 30, 2012 at 8:35 pm
Inga – so you have to save all your early postings? That is a lot of work and you are so busy anyway! Good Luck!
Anonymous
January 31, 2012 at 1:42 am
I hope this isn't going to be too confusing on WordPress when the move is made. If I don't understand something, I hope I can get help how to move my articles and pics.
Anonymous
January 31, 2012 at 3:23 am
All articles and pictures EXCEPT those as attachments/or any attachment such as a .pdf will not me migrated. Everything else will be transferred. We will need to go back in and assign names to the comments again if we want to. It is really a monumental task but could be divided up, as I understand it – once we get transferred I will know more about what we can can't do. I don't want anybody to do any unneeded work until then? I have not see what the admin page will look like exactly in the new location but base it on the standard wordpress admin pages I have worked with before. I am hoping for more functionality that what is in the free wordpress sites – but for a few weeks we will still have this site to refer to as we make out changes!
Anonymous
February 4, 2012 at 3:51 pm
Oh my goodness David! Such an overwhelming task! I do not envy it. I wish I could help you somehow; my friend! We'll all have to adjust.
Anonymous
February 5, 2012 at 7:36 am
I have been talking to the great folks at domainmonger and it looks like there will some movement toward the new home of the EFB soon! This will involve domainmonger hosting a copy of wordpress software on for us and we will be able to add plugins and move forward! There will be a lot of reorganizing and a new learning curve as far as posting articles goes. It will be like driving a different car for awhile! At first it will seem awkward but shortly it will feel like home…
Anonymous
February 5, 2012 at 7:08 pm
Sounds good, David. But do spend some time at the link and look around; there is much there that could greatly improve this blog.
Anonymous
February 5, 2012 at 8:17 pm
The layout of this site (though, not the look):
www.iphpbb.com…
is extremely user-friendly, with features that we don't have here. I only wish the new site could be set up similarly, especially doing away with the frustrating need to constantly sign in and having to enter the annoying verification code (as if we were Fort Knox or the CIA)
Anonymous
February 5, 2012 at 8:25 pm
They tell me wordpress has a plugin that allows you to avoid the verification codes for members! Signing in is a pain but helps avoid spammers which is the bain of my existence. I just got rid of a spammer's comment moments before you commented! There is a plugin called Akismet that helps keep spammers out, too! WordPress is likely to be around for a long time unlike the platform that is closing us down. Domainmonger will install the wordpress software and will maintain it for us. It will require a lot of work to reset things and some things won't be perfect but others will new and interesting!
Anonymous
February 7, 2012 at 6:42 am
If you're referring to the ABBA site, Resey, quite to the contrary. Not only can you see that someone has posted (by looking at the date in the columns at the right, which you are alerted to by email), you see immediately all new posts in all categories and who did the posting. Not only that, you can do much cross referencing, like clicking on a member and seeing all posting history by that member. We have none of these goodies here. However, if you're NOT referencing the ABBA site…..never mind!
P.S. (and you don't have to enter security codes, something they manage even with 1447 members)
Anonymous
February 7, 2012 at 6:52 am
What I don't like about this design is that you cannot see at one look when someone has posted a new article or photos. I wish we could retain this feature – you go to the site and see immediately what you have missed.
Good luck and courage, David!!
Anonymous
February 7, 2012 at 6:56 am
I have made a choice and we'll see how it goes. I have chosen a wordpress theme since that is what my host can support. It will have some plugins available that will be useful! You will be able to see new posts just by looking at the the front page…
Anonymous
February 7, 2012 at 2:59 pm
Sounds good!
Anonymous
February 7, 2012 at 4:17 pm
I like that new nick. ;-) Maybe I should use it when I re-register. And yes, I was referring to the ABBA site. Maybe I need some new glasses.