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Sparkle (5)
I knew that my blog was important to me. I knew that it was responsible for finding good friends, connecting with others in the Adoption/Loss/Infertility community and really coming to terms with my own experience with infertility and loss.
Yesterday I realized my blog is almost a physical part of me. And when it was taken away, I ached. I was numb. I was in shock. I couldn’t sleep.
There are many, many worse things than a blog vanishing. I felt silly for having such a reaction.
Here’s how it began:
At about 6:00 PM, I checked my email to see if I needed to approve any comments. There was one, so I clicked the approve comment button. Instead of returning to the dashboard, I saw a notice in bright red letters notifying me that my blog had been deactivated, and I wouldn’t be able to administer it. Shocked, I tried to go to my site, and there was a notice that my blog had basically been suspended for violating the terms of service.
I reeled and immediately filled out the contact form provided by WordPress requesting my blog be reactivated. I filled out a couple of other forms online. I started to get emails from friends who went to my site and saw that it was down. I went on Twitter and asked others for help. I went on Facebook and did the same.
So many bloggers came through for me. Stirrup Queens worked tirelessly and talked to friends who have a lot of experience with the WordPress platform. She also had saved all my entries and sent them to me in word documents so, worst case scenario, I would have a hard copy of my blog to look at. It made me cry to see my entries all together on actual pages. Mel, you are my fairy godmother. I cannot thank you enough.
A number of bloggers, Keiko, S.I.F, Write Mind Open Heart, SlackieO, Bereaved and Blessed, Once a Mother, Wistful Girl, Keanne and many others helped me by searching for answers, or tweeting and RTing my story copying WordPress. Or simply offered an "I’m sorry" and a shoulder to cry on. Esperanza issued a couple of fiercely-worded tweets that were very brave and much appreciated.
My husband Darcy, who I must admit is not the biggest fan of my blogging, was full of action and sympathetic and reassuring and supportive. He knew how much of a blow this was to me.
I obsessively checked my email until about 12:30 PM and with no word from WordPress, I fell into a shallow and restless sleep until I checked my email at about 5 AM and found the note from WordPress that I was looking for: my site had been flagged by automatic anti-spammer controls. They had reviewed my site and corrected this and now my blog was reactivated. They were very sorry that it had happened.
Now in the aftermath, I have learned some valuable lessons.
- Back up your blog.You just never know.
- I am looking into self-hosting. It’s time.
- I treated this blog very cavalierly and casually. I haven’t done any updates to it, I didn’t back it up, I used a basic template to create it, I never hired someone to create a cool banner. I thought about it, and promised to do it, but I didn’t. I TOOK MY BLOG FOR GRANTED Y’ALL, like some douchebag boyfriend in college takes his rad girlfriend for granted.
If my blog could sing, it would sing Adele's "Set Fire to The Rain" to me.
‘Cause there’s a side to you
That I never knew, never knew,
All the things you’d say,
They were never true, never true,
And the games you play
You would always win, always win.
Lyrics written by Adele and Fraser T. Smith
I’m so sorry, beloved blog. I will never again treat you like Adele’s ex-boyfriend allegedly treated her.
What would YOU do if your blog disappeared? Do you back it up? Feed it, water it? Give it love?
Editor's Note: Don't know how to make a backup of your Wordpress blog in case you ever find yourself in a similar situation? Peter G. McDermott has made a fantastic post about backing up Wordpress blogs.
Photo Credit: Computer Missing via Shutterstock.
