As you can see, we’ve lost all of our blog posts, comments, pages and links. I forgot how, but I know it’s all my fault. Gedemmit!

I was MOVING (instead of copying) the files in our CPANEL, and putting on my slippers, when I accidentally unplugged the computer and the modem from the socket with my foot. The power went out and I wasn’t able to save our files. Boo hoo… =(

I tried everything I can to retrieve them but I don’t know that much about IT stuff. My co-author, Nathe, who happens to be an IT expert, is inactive in Naetherwatch at the moment (but he’s active in his old blog), so I just reconstructed this blog all by myself since I’m the one who messed it up in the first place.

This blog is a self-hosted WordPress blog that’s why if things get f*cked up *cough, we I have to fix everything myself, from blog posts to DNS stuff. Unlike free blogging platforms such as WordPress.com or Blogger.com, you don’t have to worry about reinstalling your blog platform when things go wrong. It’s just a matter of editing your posts and pages.

WordPress VS Blogger

When it comes to FREE blogging, a lot of bloggers would normally go for Blogger.com because of the following reasons:

Full Customization

Blogger.com allows its users to install or fully customize their blog layouts. It even allows installation of powerful plugins, while WordPress.com only has a number of themes to choose from, without full access to editing HTML and CSS. WordPress.com blogs already have built-in plugins but they can’t be altered or edited. Some WordPress.com themes have custom headers, but still, the themes look like everyone else’s.

Blogger is owned and hosted by Google

Need I say more?

When I was losing hope in fixing our site, I was already thinking of pointing our domain to a Blogger blog I was about to create. But good thing I didn’t because I was able to fix Naetherwatch (but not recover our files though). So I just reinstalled WordPress manually.

Why I still chose WordPress over Blogger

2 words: Full control.

Unlike free blogs, a self-hosted WordPress blog cannot be suspended or taken down anytime without due notice (not unless if you engage in prohibited practices) because YOU are the admin of your site.

But a self-hosted blog requires fees for 2 things: domain name and web hosting. Our web host provides affordable domains and hosting, which is a sound investment.

It’s much better to have your own piece of real-estate on the web but having a free blog is not that bad as well. Besides, visitors are after the content of your blog, not your domain name. =)

Aloha for now and stay tuned for real updates soon! =D

What blog platform are you using?