While it would be nice to get a wordpress blog, I don’t know PHP nor SQL. I could learn when I think about it I rather spend that time putting out content. At least with the blogger CMS coding a template is too far removed from editing HTML. In that way I can iterate over the template little by little. But to go to wordpress would mean I’m starting from scratch.

But what kills me is the blogger team. If you go through their posts on Blogger Buzz and Blogger in draft they post updates once a month, IF YOU’RE LUCKY. They were were really on their game earlier last year but they progress has slowed to a literal halt the past few months.

Don’t get me wrong, it is my opinion that Blogger is the BEST free blogging platform on the Internet today. But when it’s bad it’s REALLY bad. I mean they added stuff like reactions and stars to blog posts but you can’t even take advantage of that data (like arranging posts by highest rated or by reaction) so it’s next to useless.

Blogger’s saving grace is the template system, but I don’t think they realize it. Were they to iterate more on the template system they’d get a lot more livejournalers to switch over.

Matt are you in contact with any of the Blogger team? Can’t you give any constructive criticism? Mine seems to fall on deaf ears.

I’m sorry to hear your blog got overloaded with traffic. To be honest, I’m kinda surprised that it couldn’t handle the load. I would’ve thought that you already get enough regular traffic to require those kinds of optimizations.

In either case, it’s a good problem to have

There is a better way here, you know. I know you’re aware of it, but I’m disappointed so many people simply believe that massive fail is the nature of blogging software. Meanwhile, enormous Movable Type-powered sites like the Huffington Post and Talking Points Memo are absorbing election-driven crowds that dwarf what even Digg can send your way. All that while not worrying constantly about being hacked.

And if you want a professional blogging service with real support that will let you post, TypePad’s a great option as well. I have huge respect for the Blogger team, but I don’t think even they would argue they’re optimizing their feature set or functionality for serious bloggers like you, instead (understandably) concentrating on basic bloggers who’ve just started out. You’re going to want a platform with a great iPhone app and hundreds of widgets to choose from and dozens of themes that you can customize down to the pixel.

I’d be happy to help, but most of all I think all these little bits of friction like site failures and constant security updates are a threat to keeping some of the best bloggers (like you) updating and sharing their ideas; Every little bump on the road acts like an obstacle. I hate to think of you getting fed up with it, and we’d love to be a resource as Six Apart if we can help smooth things out.