Technically I’m Griping

So I’ve decided to transfer my website to something called “self hosting”. The process seems like it would be copacetic, moving my site within the same parent company, from WordPress.com to WordPress.org. It comes highly recommended from several bloggers I follow. It allows more liberty for things like plugins and widgets, behind the scenes applications for fun little items like printable recipe cards and links to social media sites. It also opens the door for exciting prospects like advertising- if the opportunity were ever to present itself. But what it really means is making almost everything you know obsolete. It equates to actually paying a third party a monthly fee to host your site. It means losing every one of the cherished “likes” I’ve earned up until this new starting point. It consists of not seeing my reader’s comments. (Temporarily I hope and BTW if I haven’t responded to you, it’s because I never received it.) It translates to my WordPress phone app no longer complying. My pictures are uploading weird. Coincidence? I think not! It translates as headache.

Since I really know nothing about computer matters, and don’t have the time (or frankly interest) to learn, I paid to have WordPress do the actual transfer for me. After all, this is what I enjoy to do- my outlet. I don’t buy designer shoes, or expensive jewelry- so I justified the cost. I’m a cook, a mom, a photographer, an aspiring writer, not a computer programmer. It wasn’t like a life changing amount, but not free. I’d consider it to be about the price of an American Girl Doll and shipping. It’s supposed to come with 2 weeks of (ahem) tech support. Lining up time to work with the help of people who know what their doing is difficult… especially since when I was available, they were not. “…Across the country employee meetings.” (Perhaps useful information to be told before I made the decision?) And when I have been able to get a reply to an email, it comes in the form of trouble shooting ideas I can try. Nice. How about this: I am a technical idiot, that’s why I paid for the service! Could you please resolve the issue?

It’s going to be worth it in the end. (Right?)

6 comments

  1. Let’s hope so! I think about changing too – but for me I think it would be problematic – as I am also not tech-savvy and don’t need any more ‘headaches’ to deal with!! Good luck!! 🙂

    1. Thanks Linda. It is definitely problematic! (For those of us who are technically challenged.) But I am remaining optimistic, I believe in the end the good will outweigh the bad. I’ll keep you posted, lol.

  2. I switched from wordpress.com to org with a self-hosting site 6 months in and it was just as much of a headache. I agree that it’s harder to get help when I need it so I spent a lot of time on forums trying to figure out how the heck to fix something. It’s definitely not as intuitive at times as just basic wordpress.com, but I’ve gotten used to it! There are also bugs that drive me crazy – for instance, not all posts will hit the Reader – it’s still kind of an up in the air sort of thing. Overall, I am glad that I switched. I feel like I have more control over the things and can customize so much more! I really like being able to do customized recipe cards and adjust the widgets to whatever I want! It was a good decision! You’ll get the hang of it in no time!

    1. That’s good feedback! Thanks Jasmine 🙂 I’ve noticed not all of my posts have come through my reader too (annoying). But I did just find a recipe card plug-in I like, and that is helping take the sting out of the transition- a teeny bit, lol.

  3. There are definitely bells & whistles to be found with a self hosting site!. I attempted recently to move my site over, and just didn’t have the time to put in to customize my new site, so cancelled it and I’m back here 🙂 Maybe eventually if I have the time to put in to figure it all out I’ll try it again! Good luck!

    1. Thank you! Like you I haven’t found the time to even look into the bells and whistles. Everything inside of me wants to go back! But I’ve come this far… I’m going to give it a try a little longer. (And keep trying to get in touch with tech support, eek!)

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