For years, I’ve been mulling over changing the web design of this crummy blog of mine. I got it to a point where it looks fairly decent, but I still have to struggle with it every now and then. Usually, YouTube embeds stretch out the mobile version, in which case I have to mess around with the CSS again to fix it. But now, with these new developments, I’m pondering on abandoning WordPress — my content management system of choice for over a decade — because its creator and founder has lost his mind.
Following the drama over the past few weeks has been a bit upsetting since I’ve had WordPress running this dinky blog for 12 years now. I chose to run this thing the way I do because I couldn’t stand the idea of my website not having custom web design exactly the way I like it. But now, with Mr. Mullenweg being an outright poophead, there may be an urgent need for me to move this blog to a different content management system.
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WordPress vs. WP Engine
WordPress founder and Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg set his sights on WP Engine and called it “a cancer to WordPress” in a September blog post, thus setting off what I think is becoming the tech feud of the year. The crux of his argument is how WP Engine disables the users’ ability to track revision history for every post, which he believes is at the “core of the user promise of protecting your data” and considers what they’re doing as cost-cutting.
WP Engine is a WordPress hosting solution for those who want to just pay a fee and have a WordPress website set up for them instantly, complete with customer support. This is a pretty good service in a world where around 40% of websites are powered by WordPress. Since WordPress is free and open source, this should be entirely fine.
Otherwise, why make your product free and open source in the first place?
It then turns out that Mullenweg demanded that WP Engine give a cut of its profits to Automattic. When that demand was not met, that’s when he aired out the dirty laundry and started the feud. Since then, various details have come out regarding both parties, but especially about Mullenweg himself. Outlets like ThePrimeagen have since sworn off reporting any further the ongoing spat due to most of it being about how unsavory Mullenweg is turning out to be.
This is a guy who put his name on his company name, then likely patted himself on the back for being so clever. This is a guy who calls a service using a free, open source platform and making it more convenient for users “a cancer.” This is a guy whose mother loves spreading gossip about her son’s sex life. This is definitely a guy whose life has jumped the shark a long time ago.
Anyway, WP Engine remains banned by WordPress as of this writing.
I couldn’t give even an ounce of shit about it since I don’t use WP Engine and I just want a reliable and customizable CMS for my blog. However, knowing how volatile and egotistical these tech CEOs can be and how such demeanor can lead to batshit insane decisions, I’m now looking into whether I should switch from WordPress to another CMS.
Alternative Solutions to WordPress
The direct counterparts to WordPress like Joomla and Drupal are out because I believe them to be utter crap. Website builders like Squarespace are out because they cost too much for the tiny scale I’m working with here. Switching to a free blog hosting solution like WordPress.com and Blogger.com are also out because I get limited customization options.
I’m not going back to the LiveJournal/Xanga/Blogspot life. Those days are long gone.
I also don’t want to go back to Tumblr. Yahoo killed that platform, and it shall stay dead.
Meanwhile, I do have a Medium mirror for this blog, wherein new posts from here get published simultaneously. Perhaps if I ever go away and the domain and hosting for this website expires, there will still be some remnant of what I’ve spent a good chunk of my life on. As my main creative repository, as little as I’ve done sporadically throughout the years, I still want to leave a bit of a mark that maybe others can appreciate until Medium someday closes up shop.
Self-hosting had been an option I explored a couple of years ago, but I couldn’t get it to work at my then-current skill level. I was then warned against it due to security concerns. Even if I had cron jobs to schedule regular security updates to protect against attacks — something I’ve actually experienced a few times already — it would be a losing battle without customer support I can rely on in case of emergencies.
Perhaps if I can put this website in a Raspberry Pi and have it run wherever I connect it to the Internet, I can later include it in my will and have it live on, especially if I ever have my own family or company who would be willing to carry on my legacy. Alas, the limitation of everything being digital is how weirdly ephemeral it all is. It may not age and decay like paper and ink, but it can disappear in a flash with a jolt or electromagnetic pulse.
And who knows if anyone would know how to power and connect to a network a 2010s era single-board computer in the future. I’ll have to leave elaborate instructions and hope that my legacy remains somewhat intact for a little bit longer. I can also get a book published, but selling books is a lot of work and I may have to get famous in something else before I do that.
It seems rather presumptuous that I’d have a lasting legacy through my writings in this dinky blog, but I still have plans for this website and brand. I’m still aiming for Avoider.net — both the blog and its various social media channels — to be a meaningful creative repository. Maybe if I work hard enough, I may still make something out of this silly little thing. Honestly, it’s not really that big of a deal and my life wouldn’t be any less rich if I end up fading into obscurity.
However, giving a good boy scout try isn’t a bad idea either. I’ve stuck it out for over 12 years at this point, and stopping now would be a waste.
Should I Make the Switch?
What’s left are sticking with WordPress or finding an alternative blogging CMS that’s lightweight, customizable, and has little to no frills. The best possible candidate for a complete switch is the Ghost CMS, which is made for bloggers like me. It seems to be a leaner and more lightweight solution compared to WordPress, which has become bloated and swollen through many years of feature creep. It would be a fresh start.
It’s going to take a good bit of work before I make the switch, if it’s indeed necessary.
Another good reason for the switch is my lingering need to update my web development knowledge, which is still left in the late 2000s. As of this publishing, there’s some HTML5 and CSS3 code in this website, but only to give it some responsive design.
Ghost is open source, but so is WordPress — supposedly, at least. Hopefully, Ghost doesn’t have an egotistical madman at its helm to fuck things up. I’ll think about it a bit more before committing to anything. If you notice barely anything changing on this website for the next year or so, that means I either decided against switching to another platform or I got lazy again.
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