i'm back, but i'm not happy

Wmtc.ca is dead. Long live wmtc.blogspot.com.

Damn. I loved that URL. But I can't get it to work with Blogger anymore. And Blogger is still my best alternative for blogging. So here I am.

Here's the longer version, for those who like these things.

A while back, when Blogger announced they would support custom domains, they recommended using a CNAME to redirect your domain to Blogger. I already had been using my wmtc.ca address through FTP publishing, but that was problematic, and wouldn't support the new Blogger features, which I wanted. The new custom domain support seemed to address this.

However... Blogger didn't mention that using a CNAME means readers will not see the custom domain, but will see a Blogspot.com address. I thought that defeated the purpose of having a custom domain.

Many hosts suggested using URL forwarding as a way to work around this issue. I did that. It's been working perfectly for months. The URL forwarding uses frames, which most readers can't see, though some people experience problems from this.

Now it appears that a few days ago, Blogger choked off the workaround: they stopped supporting URL forwarding.

They didn't announce this, and apparently they don't think they had to, because they never said anyone could use URL forwarding in the first place. That is, we weren't "playing by the rules".

I discovered the problem on my own, through much trouble, and through a Blogger employee who I've dealt with before.

Now I'm really stuck. Frustrated and stuck.

I talked it over with Allan, and we agreed that my least worst alternative is to return to a Blogspot address. I won't use my original address of wemovetocanada.blogspot.com; instead I'll use what has been my "ghost" address, wmtc.blogspot.com.

I've set my server so that wmtc.ca will redirect to wmtc.blogspot.com.

This means:

Those of you who had problems with frames will no longer have those problems.

If you have wmtc.ca bookmarked, it should automatically redirect to wmtc.blogspot.com.

If you use Google Reader or other feed service, http://wmtc.blogspot.com/atom.xml will probably work best.

I'm not at all happy about this. But I can't fight it anymore. I'm whipped.

* * * *

In other news, the Red Sox have lost their last two games (which we've attended here in Toronto) and 4 of their last 5. The Yankees have been winning and are now only 2.5 games behind us. Our magic number (any combination of Red Sox wins and Yankee losses) is holding at 9 , with 10 games left to play.

I still believe we'll win the division. But my stomach will be in knots until we do.