Does this look like an unloved blog? That’s because it is. Much as I enjoyed maintaining it once, it’s been bereft of purpose for many years.
I kept it hanging on for a few reasons. One is that while I have no pretension about the content, I do feel I should avoid creating even a little link rot. And, actually, there are some pages on here that remain surprisingly popular, especially the ones about the impact of Second World War bombing in the local area. Another is that I still hope to think of a good use for it one day, although now I am posting things elsewhere, that has become less likely. The biggest reason, though, was inertia, it’s just easier to pay the bills and do nothing.
But no more. I’m changing it to a static site for several reasons.
First, it was on WordPress. WordPress, once, was great, and probably still is for some users. But for sites like this, it’s a bloated mess and probably contributed to the friction that stopped me posting. And because there’s a small security risk, it’s become a pain constantly making sure everything is updated.
Second, the credit card on my hosting expired. Updating it forced me to think about what I was buying. I’ve been with the host (TSOHost) for a long time, and while I wasn’t paying attention, they became terrible. Over the past few months uptime has been an abysmal 95%-98% and dropped well below 90% in my last week with them. I wasn’t just paying for hosting I didn’t use, I was paying for really, really bad hosting I didn’t use.
Third, and final, it’s actually good to quit. Abandoned websites look awful, the original Space Jam website is the only exception to that rule. It might just be semantics, but by leaving it this way I feel it’s not abandoned but instead left with care.
So, that’s it. I really do hope I think of a new use for this site, not least because I’ve had it for over twenty years, but, for the time being, this is it.