F. P. Dorchak

Speculative Fiction (New Weird) Author

Websites

Transferring Over

by

Welcome!

This is my first new blog post on my new platform for fpdorchak.com! I hope you like the new look…I’m really happy with the outcome, though the process has been a veritable slog.

I won’t go into all the details, but let’s just say it was not as easy as everything made it to appear. One of my remaining issues is the inability to import over all my Running Off At The Mouth (ROATM) blog posts from WordPress.com. You see, I’m now “on” WordPress.org (called by “registrar”). And my old fpdorchak.com was moved from Homestead to Blue Host (my hosting site for fpdorchak.com). I’m using StudioPress “themes” (how my stuff appears on-screen and is “worked” through SEOs, etc). And it turns out with the past two or so weeks I’ve been working all this, that since I have several years of blog posts, it’s not an easy thing to do. At all. My Reality Check blog posts moved over easy because I don’t have as many, but since I have so many ROATM posts, I need to fork out an additional sum of $129 to get ye old “Happiness Engineers” at WP.com to do the deed. And there is no way around this…unless you have coding background (which I do not have) to get this done.

But…no worries to readers! This will be done without interruption (I’m told). In fact you can still view all my blog posts as they currently exist…but once the transfer has been made, you will automatically be redirected to this location.

So my “Evil Plan” is nearly complete!

Please stay tuned and continue to check back. I still need to add a newsletter, and I also plan on creating a new site for my burgeoning amateur photography. And have to clean up loose ends like having default crap from the demo templates in my stuff. But for now…I’m kind mentally spent on this whole “Evil Plan” transition thing. I’m not cut out to do evil plans, I guess. There is SO much more than meets the eye in today’s website creation/transfers than when I last did it, and none of the “easy” procedures theoretically “spelled out” across WP.org, WP.com, and StudioPress are easy. They list stuff piecemeal, but not by function, like “To add books, you need to do all of the following.” They instead show you how to “add books,” but not how to arrange them on the page, and do all you need to do to make them presentable in one easy procedure. They are all listed a la carte, so you have to know what else to do and search out and stitch them together on your own. Or so was my experience.  I created many trouble tickets—and to be fair, the SP Help folk were quick in responding.

BUT.

Give them screen shots when you contact them, because otherwise you’ll be running round and round with them as they initially and continually tell you to just “follow the instructions.”

I’m exhausted just thinking about all this again. But happy with the end result.

Later.

My Evil Plan

by

My Evil Plan™—which I’ve been formulatin’ for a spell (pardon the pun)—is to consolidate my in-need-of-update website with my blogs through use of WordPress.org. So I can go to one place and manage my stuff. I plan on using a StudioPress theme, a new host for fpdorchak.com, then sucking over all my WordPress posts and whatnot. Y’all’ll still get my posts. I’m told.

So far it’s been anything but graceful.

It has been a barrel of headaches and frustration.

None of the above-mentioned organizations seamlessly interact with the other—though they make innuendoes to the effect. Talk about how well they work with each other.

Yeah…no.

In no short order I discovered how messed up it all is. It’s exactly like the initial scarecrow scene in The Wizard of Oz. Exactly. Right down to me falling all over the place with straw falling out of my head and gut.

You see, several things are not made as clear as they should be, and nowhere do I find succinct, consolidated procedures. Though StudioPress claims to give step-by-step procedures. As does WordPress.org. And Blue Host. And a couple not-associated places also do. And you know what? They’re different.

I’ve tried to give them the benefit of the doubt that I’m just stupid…but even that falls flat. Though, in all fairness, the help aspects of all involved were timely and professional…even if they did occasionally echo existing “procedures.” I had to do a lot of digging on my own. A wizard would be a great idea in setting this stuff up…

If I only had a brain!

But enough complaining!

Hopefully my domain name (fpdorchak) will transfer over in the next week and my new host (where my revamped website will sit) will capture it without any more issues. Then I’ll be able to do all this other stuff that all the procedures claim I can do. Like download themes and transfer blog posts. Rebuild a better mousetrap. A website that’s up-to-date and cooler looking. That consolidates my blogs and site. Sell books from it. I have high hopes.

And I really am looking forward to it! I just have to walk away from all the above and let my head air out. Or fill in. Whatever. In any event, I hope you all like what I have planned. It will be under http://www.fpdorchak.com. I could never remember my blog post URLs.

So my WordPress.com account will then be terminated and you’ll be redirected to my new host…through WordPress.org…by way of a StudioPress design…on a Blue Host platform.

Got it?