I started writing this blog almost 11 years ago.  The first post was May 30, 2014.  I got some help from my tech guru, John.  In fact, he set up almost everything so all I had to do was write and include pictures.  Over the years I’ve learned how do to a few more things, but he still works behind the scenes.  The way that you can comment on the blog is one of those things he has managed.  He set up one way to do it initially, and then switched me over to the free Disqus platform a long time ago.

Writing the blog has some expenses.  I pay for the domain name annually and pay a monthly fee to Webfaction, which is the hosting site for the blog.  Webfaction was recently bought by GoDaddy.  I use as many free tools as I can because the blog is kind of an online diary.  I don’t charge anything for a subscription and I don’t want any ads.

Recently Disqus sent me an email letting me know that I would have to pay $20 per month to continue to use the platform if I wanted to remain ad-free.  I could continue to use Disqus for free if I was willing to have ads.  $20 seems like a lot when I only average three or four comments a month.  I wasn’t going to pay it and I decided to see how bad the ads were.   Maybe you only saw an ad if you commented.

On February 1 I found out how bad the ads were when Tom read the most recent post.  The ads were terrible!  Totally unacceptable.  They had taken over the bottom of the page.  I immediately contacted John and he said he would look into it.  On February 2 he took me off Disqus and put in the commenting option that I started with.

Some of you have told me that you don’t comment with Disqus because you didn’t want to subscribe and have another password.  Some of you have had trouble getting Disqus to work.  I’m not sad about getting rid of Disqus.  I’ve already had a comment using the new/old method.  You can always email me with comments, which some of you have been doing all along.  I appreciate any comments on the blog, but you can comment however you feel comfortable.

I know most of you don’t care about the comments and how you can do it.  But some of you might notice the change and I wanted you to know why.  I appreciate all of you who take time to read the blog.  I’m glad you are out there and using this way of staying in touch.