Welcome to the new Windbag Miles! If you’re keeping count, this is the fourth iteration of the site, although I don’t think any readers have been with me through all four. Previous revisions were all just cosmetic changes on the same platform, though — this is a bigger deal, since I migrated the entire site off of WordPress and onto Squarespace. I’ve had frustrations with WordPress for a while, but the kicker came a couple weeks ago when a 3000-word post got erased due to a glitch in the text editing window. Ugh.
I looked at various options for hosting the blog, and Squarespace seemed like the best choice. After all, fifty thousand podcast hosts can’t possibly be wrong, can they? (I tried to save $10 off my first month by entering code WINDBAG at checkout, but it didn’t work.) While I’m no website expert, I do like that Squarespace has a better variety of design templates as well as more customization options within each template. I’ve always liked the idea of a text-only front page, and I’m happy that I can control the weight of the font (the chunky bold font on the old site always kind of bothered me). Plus, the titles on the old blog were way too big, and I wasn’t paying WordPress enough money to let me mess with it. Is this boring? I think this is boring.
All this is to say that I’m very happy with the look and feel of the new site, although as with any migration, there may be some issues. Feel free to email me if anything seems weird — so far it has mostly been images either missing or not sizing properly, and some formatting issues. The most important thing to keep in mind if you were a subscriber to the old blog (email or RSS): since this is a totally new site, you will need to resubscribe.
Finally, I’m changing my approach to funding this blog. Squarespace is more expensive than WordPress, so I’m hoping to raise some money to cover the new hosting fees. As you know, I’ve never loved the idea of mucking up the blog with ads, and that’s doubly true now that I’m actually happy with the design of the site. I settled on the little five dollar donation link that I put at the bottom of all the posts, but I always felt it was a little tacky. But without ads, affiliate relationships, or direct donations, how will I achieve my dreams of blog riches?
The obvious answer is to start a Patreon, so I did. I’m not sure how many readers will be interested in giving me a monthly donation, but if you like what I do and want to kick me a few bucks each month, I’ll be eternally grateful. To be honest, I never thought the blog would get anywhere near the size it is now, and I’m only a tiny speck in the overall points and miles blogosphere. Still, I’m amazed so many people read my profane ranting, and I appreciate every goddamned set of eyeballs. But I want your money too, goddamn it.
Thanks for bearing with me during the transition, and now that I’m done tinkering with the site, I can finally get back to writing posts, including a recreation of that one that WordPress chewed up, the jerk.
Windbag Miles 