wg

The Typepad servers do – like most servers – go down now and then. They have a blog which gives you a status report when things go tits up. Not that often, but it does happen.

A more important point which shows an utter lack of awareness is censorship. Tyepad/Blogger and other hosted blog sites are inaccessible to some parts of the world. This is not always a permanent state of affairs but, for example, in Vietnam I regularly could not see my own blog or friends blogs in Vietnam who were also on Typepad or Blogger. The Independent won’t be immune to that. China, Saudi Arabia, Iran etc. all clamp down now and then.

As for whether or not Forbes etc. pay for a premium service where sixapart come in, build it all, charge a maintenance fee, but do not physically host the content, I don’t know. I suspect their blogs are NOT hosted in the same way the Indy one obviously is.

Whatever, the Indy’s is by a long stretch the worst of any newspaper blogs I’ve seen and, as you say, shows an astonishing lack of understanding about where media is heading.

You’re right of course Graham, but I still say that it is highly unprofessional to have “typepad” in a media company’s blog URL. In fact, I am still having trouble grasping it – it is a five-minute job to fix.

But I also think running your content on other people’s servers is also bloody stupid and unnecessary. What if TypePad goes down? (Something that is highly possible – if Google’s blogging system can go down…)

Considering media companies are so obsessive about their copyright, it seems crazy to me that they then go and stick everything on a third-party server when for a few hundred quid you can have a fully robust system you can control.

It just demonstrates the complete lack of understanding – or interest – that the top execs appear to have.

I’m half tempted to offer my consulting services. It would take me less than a day to sort it out – and I am not exactly a sysadmin.

I would argue that this is more than just an issue of content (although of course that is ultimately the most important thing) – it is a case of what little grasp very highly paid media executives have of the Internet.

I am longing to read a piece in which a media specialist explains why the Internet isn’t absolutely key to their future, but I don’t think anyone can write it – the evidence is too over-powering. As such what we see are heads-in-sand and half-hearted, limp-wristed efforts to get online.

Oh well…

Kieren

The thing is, if you have a Typepad Pro account (or Plus account I think) you can map your url to your website/domain whatever, so that should sort out one problem you mention Kieren. Beyond the facile content, I must say it is VERY lame that a UK newspaper is runing a blog with a ‘Powered by Typepad’ link in the left hand column.

Whatever happened has been done by the clueless, the cheap or a combination thereof. Martin quite rightly states the Times use Typepad. I believe Forbes use it too. I also have a feeling that Typepad was/is involved in TIME Magazine’s blogs, but I could be wrong on that. But all these collaborations are way and above what the Indy have done. Or, really, hav enot done.

If people’s servers can’t handle Wordpress – what the hell hosting deal do they have? My god there must be a massive shortage of tech-savvy people in the upper management.

Either that or – as I know is actually happening at the Times – there is a massive political fight going on between the online side and the paper side. And perfectly logical plans are being blocked.

But The Times can shift fast – the Independent looks as though it has handed over its entire Internet side of the business. Surely they must be able to see how stupid that is?

Kieren

The Times uses Typepad, too; they just use it to run decent blogs.