Posterous – the blogging service which hosts the pages you are reading now – has been bought by Twitter. Industry observers are indulging their usual guessing game as to exactly what this means, but it is very possible, even probable, that Posterous as it exists now will be closed down.
Sachin Agarwal, founder and CEO of Posterous (and now presumably a rich man), has put out an ominous release which says : “We’ll give users ample notice if we make any changes to the service. For users who would like to back up their content or move to another service, we’ll share clear instructions for doing so in the coming weeks.” I hope those words ‘ample’ and ‘clear’ mean what they say, because I’ll need both.
I operate this site alone and am not a technically minded or technically able person. It may be that I can ride this change without difficulty, or it may be that I cannot. Either way, I expect there to be some disruption. The purpose of this notice is to warn of that possibility, and to apologise in advance of it coming to pass.
Francis Hodgson 
Thanks, Dan, both for the kind sentiment and also for the offer of help. A number of people having expressed similar views, I am looking into what choices I have. And Posterous, after all, (although nobody seems to have any great hope of its survival) has not yet given any formal notice of closure. At the moment I expect disruption but I look forward to continuation. We’ll see.
Francis, I very much enjoy reading your blog. I would hate to see it disappear because of technical considerations, if you need some help migrating to some other platform, just let me know. It does not need to be a painful process to switch to another service (if that need comes to pass). Best, Dan
Hi Francis Well, fear no tech, eh? That’s the start. I’m not very tech myself, but the system is made up of pre-formatted pages, so you just choose one you like and go from there. I started from scratch, so not too sure how one moved a blog over, but the essence of a blog is much the same from one to another: headings, text, images, links. On the free blog you get a URL (web address) that is linked to WordPress, such as: alasdairfoster.wordpress.com. Later if you want to pay a bit extra you can lose the ‘Wordpress’ bit and have a unique URL … but that comes later. Maybe if you do this in stages, I’d be happy to chum you though it, if that helps. This is the intro page about getting started: http://en.support.wordpress.com/get-started/ and this page tells you about migrating you Posterous content over to WordPress: http://en.support.wordpress.com/import/ Have a look at those and then, if it looks like it’s worth a punt, sign up for a free site. Fill out the first page and then select to visit your ‘dashboard’. This is a free service, so there will be sales pitches along the way. They are easy to spot and ignore until you really need what is on offer. Try that bit first and see how you go. I’ve opened a test site in parallel to my main one to follow the process, because I’ve forgotten the details of how I began, though it was not that complicated. Approach with confidence and a weather eye for the sales pitches and you’ll be fine. Good luck. Let me know when you are ready for the next stage. Alasdair PS: can we switch this correspondence to email? My email address is: alasdair@alasdairfoster.net — Alasdair Foster alasdair@alasdairfoster.net please address all circulars and e-list mailings to: yourinfo@alasdairfoster.net +61 (0) 414 450 856 Skype: alasdair.foster.au http://www.culturaldevelopmentconsulting.com Box 4124 South Maroubra LPO 1 Meagher Avenue Maroubra NSW 2035 Australia ****************************************************************************************** innovation with humanity creativity with purpose ****************************************************************************************** This message is confidential. It may also be privileged or otherwise protected by work product immunity or other laws. If you have received it by mistake, please let me know by e-mail reply and delete it from your system; you may not copy this message or disclose its contents to anyone. Warning: The integrity and security of this message cannot be guaranteed on the Internet. Although reasonable precautions have been taken to ensure no viruses are present, Alasdair Foster cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage arising from the use of this email or attachments.
Thanks, Alasdair, this is both kind and helpful. A quick glance reveals there are two versions of WordPress, paid and hosted, or free and self-hosted. Would I be right to assume that a non-tech like myself would do well to let somebody else have the headaches by biting the bullet and paying for the service?Hope you’re fine, by the way.Best wishes,Francis
Hi FrancisTry migrating to WordPress. I find it an easy system to work with and they are pretty helpful about explaining migration. Hope – blog issues aside – life is good.All the bestAlasdair
Thanks for letting us know, Francis. BW Fiona Fine art photographer http://www.fionaharvey.com mob: +44 (0)7773 178426