Yet Another Change

 

With the advent of blogging, years ago, barriers to sharing our family stories were addressed in ways that enabled so many to be able to "publish" with little difficulty. Some websites sprang up which, in effect, allowed willing writers to craft their stories with little cost—other than time and effort. According to the GeneaBloggers website, well over three thousand bloggers write about their family history, many of them using free online services.

Some of these blogs, while accessible online via their own URL, also offer the option to be received by email. A simple program enables bloggers to offer "subscriptions" to their posts. The blogger publishes the post, the subscriber receives it in email format. No need for a subscriber to go searching for the website every day, checking to see whether the site has been updated with new information. Many of the blogs I follow come to me through that convenient service.

For those bloggers using a Google-based blogging service, news has recently come out that Google is discontinuing their "Feedburner" subscription service. The change won't be immediate, but it will get here soon enough: effective in July. For subscribers to any blogs hosted at Blogger or Blogspot, your subscription status will be impacted. And for bloggers using those free services, you've got some work ahead of you to download records of current subscribers and transfer your subscription management system to a new provider.

Of course, there are multiple benefits in shifting to a different blogging service; this latest change is not the only reason. And over the years, I've noticed several bloggers opt for other services. The most recent one coming to mind is that of Ottawa blogger John Reid, who this past week migrated his Canada's Anglo-Celtic Connections to a sleek new site with a streamlined name, Anglo-Celtic Connections. And, right up front, he is reminding his previous subscribers to re-subscribe to his daily posts at the new site.

For those of us subscribers to other blogs who don't wish to lose contact with our favorite blogs at Blogger sites, this will mean checking in with those writers to ensure we will continue to be notified of new posts.

And for those of us who are bloggers, now's the time to rethink the cyber location we currently call home. It may be time to make the move to a new blogging home—or at least a new subscription system. Of course, it's always fun to find a sleek new home of our own in the process.