A few years back, I paid for the development of a lovely
website which contained my blogs, and information about me as a writer and
speaker.
When this work of art was created, I had a certain email
address. Shortly after that, a hacker got hold of it, and started inviting my
friends, family, and loved ones to explore fantastic deals on cell phones and
other enticing products. I changed passwords, and did everything my provider
recommended. The spam kept flowing.Finally I got a
new email address, and notified everyone I would no longer use the old one.
Well, I THOUGHT I notified everyone—but I didn’t notify my website host.
This year, a credit card hacker entered my life with a polite
call. Inquiring minds at American Express wished to know if I had really booked
first class airfare to a multitude of international locations. While I’d really like to visit Ethiopia someday,
life and the costs of life prohibit it being a true destination anytime soon. I
denied all knowledge, and cancelled the credit card.
The dominos fell relentlesssly. My web host tried to rebill its yearly cost to
my defunct credit card. When it was denied, they sent reminders to my old,
spam-ridden email. After a time, the
host gave up and cancelled me. A friend emailed to say- “what happened to your
website? It’s gone!” And it was.
My host evidently doesn’t employ any people who talk. And
their computerized “help” desk won’t chat with me because I can’t find the
information they want. I could, I suppose, dig through all my old tax files and
hope that one year I claimed that $15 fee. The magic information might be on
the receipt. But I’m mad at them now, since they refuse to admit me or my
content ever existed. So in retaliation for them “firing” me, I quit, planning
to find a new and better host.
I succumbed to the blandishments of a web-building site that
promises the merest child could build a website with their program, using the just
a few clicks of the mouse.
Ha. The merest child maybe, but my husband and I, who are no
more stupid than the average adult over age 35, spent several hours each trying.
Now I’m sitting by the phone like a teenager waiting for a
prom date. I hope my talented, busy and not cheap web design guy will call soon.
I’ll spend a big chunk of Christmas money on him, but he’s worth it. He’s
worked with the techno-impaired before. He speaks to me in simple terms and
nods sympathetically while I rave. “Why
didn’t they teach me this stuff in my MBA classes?”
Hopefully, before long, “Normal Is a Point of View” will be
back in business. In the meantime, I am posting under blogsot. Please visit me
at Poutpourri BlogSpot, www.dannrenner.blogspot.com
I'm just glad you thought to keep a copy of all that you'd written! At least you can re-create the blog. You'll lose the comments and the likes and such, but you can re-grow those over time.
ReplyDeleteWelcome back!