Chris Benett's website..is it working?
- Thread starter Nathan
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Google cache still works, but clunky though
I'm thinking I'll probably begin reconstructing my site as an expansion of my blog for the moment. At least that can be a stopgap, with the option to get a new author page later.
Oh, man, I just realized, there are going to be so many dead links to my site content on Memory Alpha and Beta now. That's why I hesitated to change hosts even though I was having problems with the one I had.
Come to think of it, that's probably an argument in favor of getting my own domain name that I can keep even if I change hosts.
Oh, man, I just realized, there are going to be so many dead links to my site content on Memory Alpha and Beta now. That's why I hesitated to change hosts even though I was having problems with the one I had.
Come to think of it, that's probably an argument in favor of getting my own domain name that I can keep even if I change hosts.
Domain names are relatively cheap, and it's not too hard to hold one across hosts either. Though if you go that route, since it is one of the bigger names and so it might be on your mind, I'd recommend avoiding GoDaddy; they tend to have some awful business practices when it comes to domain name registration, trying to control their associated sites almost as much as an ISP, holding names hostage when they disagree with the content of the site, etc.
^Yes, you're not the first person to warn me away from GoDaddy. Heck, the name itself makes it unappealing.
I've seen some recommendations for something called Bluehost.
I've seen some recommendations for something called Bluehost.
I left a comment on your blog and recommended pulling together your professional site and your WordPress blog as a single website. And if you went that route, WordPress.com offers the ability to buy a domain name with the domain upgrade, so what's now christopherbennett.wordpress.com could become christopherbennett.com or somesuch.
Just some thoughts. They might even be helpful.
^I gather that Bluehost offers a free domain name as part of their service, and one can upload WordPress software into it. I'm not sure if that would mean that I could move my blog there or tie the two pages together or whatever.
If you went with Bluehost, yes, you could export your WordPress.com blog as an XML file and then import it into a new Bluehost-hosted WordPress install.
Advantages to this: You can use any theme you want, you can install plugins, you can even use Google Ads to make money. These are things you can't do on WordPress.com.
Disadvantages to this: Internal links in your blog will break and you'll have to go through and fix them by editing the old posts. You have to feel comfortable with maintaining your SQL install. You have to make backups of your database from time to time. You may have to handle your own PHP and SQL upgrades. In other words, there's a bit of technical stuff you'd have to do. That said, it's stuff that I'm fairly confident you could do.
^I don't even know what an SQL is. My sister got the computer-savvy genes in my family.
^ I think what Allyn means is that if you're smart enough to write and sell novels you're smart enough to learn how to do these things; they're not incredibly difficult and don't really require professional/carreer-level commitment. However it's still quite a bit to swallow and a fairly steep learning curve when starting from scratch and most likely the problem here is more lack of time (after all you do have a job to tend to) and/or interest. Which is fine; not everyone needs to be an engineer.
FWIW, I'm sure you could find someone in this community to work with you and help you out (IIRC I even offered in the past - currently super-busy at work until mid-April though) but of course that requires a high level of trust, and while it's possible to set things up to require minimum ongoing maintenance, does make you dependent on them (or a suitable substitute - at least it's not hard to find people who can deal in standard setups) in case of tech issues.
FWIW, I'm sure you could find someone in this community to work with you and help you out (IIRC I even offered in the past - currently super-busy at work until mid-April though) but of course that requires a high level of trust, and while it's possible to set things up to require minimum ongoing maintenance, does make you dependent on them (or a suitable substitute - at least it's not hard to find people who can deal in standard setups) in case of tech issues.
Latest site update...
https://christopherlbennett.wordpress.com/2015/04/03/now-heres-my-plan/
Long story short, I'm going to recreate my site content on my Written Worlds blog for now, either as a stopgap or a permanent change, depending on what I decide later.
https://christopherlbennett.wordpress.com/2015/04/03/now-heres-my-plan/
Long story short, I'm going to recreate my site content on my Written Worlds blog for now, either as a stopgap or a permanent change, depending on what I decide later.
I like how King-of-Science-Research-and-All-Other-Knowledge Christopher L. Bennett becomes flailing and helpless when confronted with researching relatively simple Internet tasks. It's reassuring in its own way.
^ It reminds me of William Gibson who when pressed on his relative tech illiteracy always said he's more interested in watching how people behave around computers than in the computers themselves. This seems to hold true across a lot of authors who, ironically, entertain and/or inspire plenty of engineers.
Holds true for some people outside that scope too. Edsger Djikstra was essentially one of the founders of modern theoretical computer science, but he never did a drop of actual programming and eschewed any use of word processors, writing all his manuscripts and journal articles with a fountain pen. :P
Well, the difference is that it's easier to talk about this stuff in the abstract, or to fake it in my fiction, than it is to actually have to do stuff myself.
For instance, I've just been trying to create a new home page of sorts, and I'm having a devil of a time getting it to put the pictures and text where I want them. I may have to choose a new theme that's more graphics-friendly, or something.
As someone who has been a educator for most of my life, it's kind of gratifying to turn this phrase around to apply to another profession for once: "Those who can't... write?"
Stevil2001 Re: Chris Benett's website..is it working?
I like how King-of-Science-Research-and-All-Other-Knowledge Christopher L. Bennett becomes flailing and helpless when confronted with researching relatively simple Internet tasks. It's reassuring in its own way.
Good one Stevil....you know what they say, there is always a bit of truth in every piece of sarcasm. I always thought of that when he just recently travelled from Ohio to Michigan -- you'll have to read his recent blog post!!! (shameless plug!)
I hope this experience grounds him a bit and he can see there is a valid argument to a subject other than his own.
But Chris, I do hope you get your site up and running soon. I do enjoy the annotations.
I like how King-of-Science-Research-and-All-Other-Knowledge Christopher L. Bennett becomes flailing and helpless when confronted with researching relatively simple Internet tasks. It's reassuring in its own way.
Good one Stevil....you know what they say, there is always a bit of truth in every piece of sarcasm. I always thought of that when he just recently travelled from Ohio to Michigan -- you'll have to read his recent blog post!!! (shameless plug!)
I hope this experience grounds him a bit and he can see there is a valid argument to a subject other than his own.
But Chris, I do hope you get your site up and running soon. I do enjoy the annotations.
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