Exodus from Blogger to WordPress

Well, if you've been dropping by here AT ALL the last week or so, you may have noticed my Google Friend Connect widget (box) missing from the top of the page. As soon as I saw it missing a few days ago I headed to the Blogger Help pages to see if I could find out what was going on. Guess what I found?

Absolutely NOTHING. Well, I shouldn't say "nothing". I found others posting the same question in a Help thread that I guess had already been deemed "resolved" back in April. Only problem was, hundreds were running into the issue now, at the end of May!

Last I checked there were close to 900 comments on that page. I started leaving comments about how much Blogger has failed those who have been using this platform. I mean come on. Blogger is HUGE! It's an internet based company for heaven's sake. How can they NOT be replying to this problem or making it a Known Issue so that those of us freaking out about the fact that new people can't follow us know that it's at least being looked into?

I read from another commenter that the thread had been resolved and that's why it wasn't showing up on anyone's radar at Blogger. Ok, well to me that's bogus because whoever works at Blogger and resolved the issue back in April should've been getting all the hundreds of updates about this newest issue every single time someone posted. You have no idea how many comments I read hoping that one of them would've been from a Blogger employee.

My Follower widget finally showed up yesterday evening around 8pm. Yes, there was much rejoicing, at least for me, but there were other people still commenting that their GFC box was still missing.

Tonight, after being away from the computer pretty much all day, I jump on and look at my Twitter feed on TweetDeck. What do I see? A comment from @suburbansteph saying she's been at my site but can't leave a comment. So I head to one of my posts and sure enough, no comment box! Here's what it looks like now:

There should be a comment box in the middle of all that open white space! So, if anyone's trying to enter a giveaway or just drop by to say "hi" they can't do it because YET AGAIN Blogger is having issues.

I've been with Blogger since Feb '08. I've NEVER had an issue with them before. I mean, not a single one that I can remember. Now withing 2 weeks, posts and comments have disappeared, widgets have gone missing, and now the comment box has vanished.

Until now I've avoided moving to WordPress for several reasons:

1. There's going to be a cost involved
2. Losing my Google Page Rank of 4 because you can't take it with you
3. I may have to purchase my domain and renew it yearly
4. I've used WordPress with Faithful Feet and the dashboard is SO confusing

So, as of now, I'm going to start searching to see if anyone wants to work with me on a move. If you know of anyone who is looking to promote their Blogger to WordPress moves, I'd be happy to get in touch with them! As some of you know, Rick lost his job last week so affording a move isn't in my budget right now. I could use all the help I can get at this point!