Important message for my readers

To all my readers here on Blogspot: greetings.

Right, so after that somewhat ominous sentence has set the tone, let me assure you that I’m not about to conscript you into any private army or anything of the sort. I may be evil but I’m not that cruel. Yet.

No, what I wanted to tell you all was that I know you go out of your way to read the stuff I write and post, a lot of which is drivel (no, don't bother protesting; a lot of it is drivel, take it from me, and I am the guy who writes it). Your reading me, and your thoughtful and insightful comments, are the reason I feel any desire to continue to write, and I wanted you all to know that I appreciate it. Here’s how much I appreciate it: a lot.

A very, very, very great lot.

So by now you’ll probably be thinking I’m going to spring an announcement that it’s time for me to move on, sayonara, etc. No such luck. The opposite, in fact.

I am about to spring more drivel on you. In fact, I am going to drown you in drivel.

Muhahahahahaha.

OK, seriously, now, this is what:

Since December 2005, I’ve had a website on Multiply.com, where I’ve posted videos (including of metal music, my dogs, and myself goofing off), photographs, and over 2400 items of original writing. In the last year, though, there have been distinct signs that Multiply (which had changed hands a couple of times) was losing interest in social networking and blogging. Before, they used to “improve” the site at regular intervals (most of these “improvements” weren’t exactly helpful, but at least they were trying) and try out new features. But in recent months they’ve turned into a marketing site for Indonesia and the Philippines which only hosted blogs and networking on the side. Since no new blood was joining as old members dropped away, it was obviously only a matter of time till they pulled the plug.

Well, as of yesterday, the Multiply management announced (and that in a highly unprofessional manner, relying mainly on the grapevine for the word to go around) that they are closing their blogging and networking services on 1^st December. They claim that they want to concentrate on e-commerce, and they're excited about it. Fine, and all the best of luck to them (not really. I want them to crash and burn. Ha ha). Anyway, though they claim that they’ll provide some kind of migration tool for people who want to save their posts, I’m not holding my breath.

No, instead of asphyxiating on my own carbon dioxide, what I’m going to do is sift through those 2400 posts over the next few weeks. Some of it is pure rubbish, and I’ll discard it (in my early days on Multiply I’d write rants on traffic jams or the prickly labels on shirts, and I am not kidding about that). Some other stuff is simply outdated, like, oh, my thoughts on the judicial murder of Saddam Hussein or some bygone football world cup. Then there’s stuff which was so badly written as to be not worth the keeping. But there will be some worth saving, and even if it’s just five percent of the total, that still comes to over a hundred posts, and you lot are going to be forced to read them.

Shall we take time out for another Muhahahahaha?

Well, yes, I am going to continue my normal writing too; so don’t assume you get a holiday from that. But in the meantime I’ll be hunting for another social networking site (after all, this is hardly one) and I’m open to suggestions.

All right, you can run for cover now. You can run, but you can't hide. The deluge cometh. But that's what you get when you choose to read me.

It's your own damn fault.