Blog safety

When my kids were little we told them that in case of any disaster or confusion (we have earthquakes and typhoons) that they were supposed to go to the elementary school until Tetsu or I appeared. We never needed to use those precautions but the whole family knew that in case of emergency that was the place to meet.

Yesterday morning I posted and then went off for the rest of the day. When I got back home and turned on my computer the window flashed "Your blog has been deleted". Sigh, as opposed to Panic. Two days before the same thing had happened and I'd really been upset then (as some of you know because I g-mailed you). But again? I checked the g-mail box and sure enough Callie and Allie had noticed I had disappeared and were trying to help me. And within a few minutes Mrs. Ochiai my computer whiz friend was calling to say my blog was gone and WHAT HAD I DONE? (pushed the wrong button?) I hadn't done anything but Blogger is doing something...

Again within a matter of minutes my blog was back none the worse, but it did make me think...

Okay. What happens if I lose my blog, or any of us lose our blogs? I vaguely remember reading about one blogger who really did completely lose her blog (she called it hacking but I don't know what that means). Two main concerns arise. First, if I regularly visit a blog and it disappears, how do I find that person again? Maybe by g-mail (Callie and Allie's solution but they have my g-mail address because I've answered their comments. And that g-mail reply box gets emptied regularly.) If that doesn't work how do we get in touch with people? It's not like we can call up each other on the phone and ask "how are you?"

Does anyone have any idea about making a meeting point in case of emergencies? I mean I could say "You can contact me through so-and-so if I disappear." But if the blog is gone it does no good to post something like that on a sidebar. And we all have different blog friends so how is anyone going to know that one of us might be in touch with one blogger rather than another?

The other concern if a blog disappears is that one loses a lot of family or quilting history that has been organized with text and pictures. When it all adds up, that's a lot of work and effort that may go poof. My friend Mrs. Ochiai suggested last night that every month I hit the Save As button in Files and make a desk top folder (and then regularly transfer that to a CD). I'm already using Blurb's Booksmart to make blog books but I'm way behind on that project and have two years worth of blogging that are still floating around cyberspace. Still, after this week's twice scares I'm going to spend a bit more time protecting my blog...

So all is well again. Blogger is a free treat (Hi Meggie!) but it is not risk free.

Blogger, I don't want to visit the emergency room with a heart attack so please give me some notice!