Another point of personal privilege: Ranting at Google

Almost five years ago, I started this blog with Google, mainly because it was very easy to maneuver through and set up even for a Luddite like myself.  I also didn't expect I would actually keep the blog up for very long, but would become bored with it over time and let it die on the vine with 99 percent of all other blogs on the Interwebs.

But it turned out that there were a lot more really, really bad commercials out there, and they just kept coming, so almost five years later I can still churn out twenty or so posts a month.  And I even managed to make a little money by using AdSense for a while, until some idiots thought they would be "helpful" by clicking away at every ad until a big red flag started waving in Google's face.  Goodbye AdSense, goodbye not essential but very welcome cash every few months.

Then came the glitches.  My toolbar would randomly disappear.  My comment count would vanish and then pop back up from day to day.  Comments would be visible, then invisible.  And some time in July, my daily hit count dropped dramatically and has not recovered  (I was averaging 1500 hits a day last spring, it's down to about 300 now, while my Follower total has inched up a bit, suggesting to me that the Stats are seriously flawed.)

In short, this blog has become more of a chore than it really needs to be, and I wonder why this is so. I wonder why it's so hard to keep tool bars available.  I wonder why the stats can't be more reliable, or why the whole thing seems designed to crash every few days.  At some point I suppose I'll find another platform for this blog because I still enjoy doing it, but I can't help but wonder why the service is becoming more buggy and less manageable as all other technology becomes smoother, more functional and more easy to use.  Anyone have any ideas?  How about you, Chirpy Google Girl?

Maybe I should have been more suspect of a search engine named for a shiny but otherwise virtually worthless, easily damaged cousin of tin foil.