February 09, 2006

On data, or the lack thereof

Blogger, it seems, has been acting up lately. Comments have gone missing. Posts have gone missing. And, for a few hours a couple of days ago, one’s entire blog went missing.

“This document contains no data”, a little alert-box would cheerfully inform the millions (and millions) who undoubtedly tried to access this glorious webpage that morning (or afternoon, or evening, or whatever). One was, of course, amongst said multitudes. And one was Quite Dismayed, if truth be told. No data? No information, perhaps, but no data? A quarter of a million characters one has typed out, yes, a quarter of a million, over tens of thousands of lines, and it says no data?

Tragic it is, truly tragic. Reams and reams of pristine prose (and the occasional poem too, let us not forget) at the mercy of a fickle service provider. Ah, the sheer injustice of it all. That too after all the care one takes of this site. One checks on it every day, one tweaks the template regularly, one has even memorized the URL. One goes so far as to feel a paternal affection for it at times. And Blogger has the gall, the Gall, to chheenofy it from the One.

One seriously considered moving to one’s own domain, but that apparently requires a) money and b) technological knowledge, neither of which one can claim to possess in significant quantity.

Such is life.

25 comments :

Anjali said...

Ah yes, the missing blog trauma. I went through it too, and was terror-struck for several hours. I had not been diligent enough to keep count of the number of characters I had poured into my blog, but it is probable a quarter of a million would not be inaccurate.
Of course, always having been deeply suspicious of Technology, I had cunningly kept copies of everything I posted, and was contemplating a painstaking rebuilding exercise when it came back just as mysteriously as it had vanished.
Just goes to show once again that Technology is Just Not To Be Trusted.

Sheetal said...

Hurrah, the one is The One again!
And Blogger inspite of misbehaviour has actually not gone so far as to actually harm One's delightful blog, yippie!
Still, Young One, I urge you to exercise cunning (referred to in here above comment) and keep copies, preferably on stone tablets, or at the very least, papyrus. Or we will have more occasion to ruefully consider the poet's words:
Three things are certain:
Death, taxes, and lost data.
Guess which has occurred.

Anonymous said...

I recommend the One,a dispassionate attitude towards all he does,for, what happens,happens for good.So does the Bhagavad Gita says.

Anonymous said...

ah yes- the comment loss trauma. *sigh*

chhenofy :P nice!

Jinguchakka said...

Maybe bloggers should take a print out of posts and save it for future reference! Or import into a file, to be uploaded again if required.
Future generations should not be deprived of the knowledge of pain that the bloggers inflicted on others! As we, the present mankind know about the Spanish Inquisition. Ahem!

the One said...

Anjali : One salutes your shrewdness. One had, in fact, kept such copies too. One now contemplates transcribing them onto paper, given that the inherent untrustworthiness of Technology might also extend to one's hard disk. One advises you to do the same.

Sheetal : As one mentioned in the above comment-reply, one is thinking of making the backups you refer to. But if it's stone tablets, it's got to be either runes or hieroglyphics (yes, you could chisel out alphabets, but that is so Not Done) .. so we need to do some translation first. Papyrus, on the other hand, is easier .. no translation required. One shall now set off to look for quills.

And yes, it was a long and painful struggle .. but finally one managed to subdue Only. Thing is that Only, being of Voldemort/Sauron ilk, cannot be destroyed completely. He might just return sometime.

That haiku is a Unix fortune cookie too, apparently. Nice :)

CSK : Hmm. Will keep that in mind.

Dee : *sigh* Yes, the comment loss trauma ;)

Jinguchakka : Exactly. And this blog, surely, would be a prime candidate for preservation.

Welcome, BTW.

Casablanca said...

Oh, I hope the trauma wasnt too much for The One, and happiness-wappiness has returned ;)

Ah, blogger is only trying to get attention with these tantrums. Oh, you know how girls, er, kids are :D

the One said...

Casa : Yes, indeed, happiness-wappiness is back with us. It was helped along by brownie/coffee type thoughts ;)

Ah, so this is a tantrum, is it? Right, right. Just hoping it doesn't evolve into full-blown bhaav-khaana.

Casablanca said...

Ah, the template has been tweaked again. The One has made sure everyone notices the 'ONE' in the blog name. Very much in-your-face, eh ;)

Sheetal said...

Oh I like header

the One said...

Casa : Hmm. You seem to have figured one out, pretty much ;)

Sheetal : Glad. The blog needed a facelift for Valentine's day, see .. what with all these pretty girl-blogs around.

Nessa said...

Blogger ate up a few comments meant for *the anonymous*.. You get the nicest comments when you CAN'T post any (sigh)

However, *the anonymous* was wise enough to save the emails Blogger thankfully sent to an obscure mailbox, and then posted them herself. Blogger ate up half the thrill too (double sigh)

*the anonymous* is always happy to read what the One has to say.. 'coz the One tends to say it very nicely too :)

LAK said...

You said it! That is one URL that takes some memorising!

Cyn Bagley said...

Technology is only as smart as its creator. Having said that... I enjoyed your post.

Anonymous said...

ah the header- nice nice.

yes we shall not forget One is one in a billion. No one shall chheenofy that :P

the One said...

Nessa : *the anonymous* showed remarkable perspicacity in re-posting said comments. The One salutes her wise deeds and thanks her for her kind words. And the One is glad that *the anonymous* occasionally chooses to grace his humble blog.

LAK : It is, isn't it. One has bookmarked this site in exasperation.

Cynthia : Thanks, and welcome. Er .. chheenofy means snatch in one's lingo. Kind of.

Dee : Thanks .. you better not forget!

xyz said...

lets see...

the blog reads well. its easy writing and not verbose/preachy/stumbling/boring. but the actual writing writing... i suspect One gets self conscious then because it doesnt have the same easy quality. it also leaves me unmoved, there is little i can relate to in it. that said, i am choosy about what i like and dont like. so like i said, dont go by my opinion.

Aditi said...

yup, copies maybe an excellent idea except that sometimes you can manage to lose them too!

the One said...

Shreya : Thanks for your remarks. Self-conscious .. perhaps, yes. Hmm. Something to think about. But thanks again.

Aditi : Easily rectified. You can make copies of those copies. And copies of those too.

xyz said...

or possibly- not something to think about but just something to take note of, and then forget. thinking is an awful obligation, itd probably make the self consciousness worse- and as far as i can see from the other stuff, you Can write. anyway. ill refrain from going on coz id just get preachy and awful :P besto etc.

the One said...

Shreya : Well, feel free to go on. One appreciates this, really.

Camphor said...

Ah, Enlightenment!
So it wasn't my SysAdmin in a nasty mood...

the One said...

Camphor : No, it wasn't, although your SysAdmin probably was in a nasty mood (they usually are).

Camphor said...

Ah, the SysAdmin has now been buttered up and subjected to vigorous eyelash-fluttering, and hence is no longer in a nasty mood when this Body wants to access One certain Blog.

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