blogiversary

23rd blogiversary

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Good grief, has it really been 23 years since my first blog post? Apparently so.

Whilst I took a break between 2018 and 2022, that’s a very big commitment to something. Certainly, many, many hours have gone into writing blog posts over the years, and many more hours in maintaining a web site to host them on. I’ve always self-hosted my blog, even in the very early days when I wrote blog posts using Blogger. Last year’s blogiversary post goes into more detail about the technical side of things.

Thinking back to when I was turning 23, I was starting full-time work and about to move in with my then-girlfriend Hari. I was still renting a house, didn’t drive, wasn’t married and didn’t have children, but was still an independent adult. And, no-one likes you when you’re twenty three.

Considering that the blog was something that I started on a whim aged 17, whilst living with my parents and preparing for my A-level exams, part of me is genuinely surprised I’ve kept it for so long.

22nd blogiversary

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An AI generated image of a birthday cake with two candles on it showing 22

It’s been 22 years to the day since I wrote my first blog post. Which is a very long time in technology.

Last year, I referred to the blogiversary as a ’21st-ish blogiversary’, mainly because I took a break from blogging for four years and all my pre-2018 where lost. However, I’ve been able to reinstate the first one, so you can read what 17 year old me had to say about starting a blog.

For the first few months of blogging, my posts were made using Blogger, which I’m almost surprised is still around. Google bought Blogger over 20 years ago, and hasn’t done much with it. It’s still there, and you can still create a new blog, but apart from a new responsive UI in 2020 it seems to have stagnated.

I switched to Movable Type in September 2002, and bought the neilturner.me.uk domain that I’m still using today. Over time, I switched web hosts a couple of times, but I’ve been with Bytemark for many years now.

In March 2011, I moved from Movable Type, which was becoming a commercial product, to Melody, a community fork. Alas, there just wasn’t much interest elsewhere in the blogosphere in either Movable Type or Melody, and so this was a short-term change. Just a couple of months later, I switched to WordPress, and have been using it for almost 13 years now. That’s longer than any of the other blogging systems that I have used in the past.

Over this past year, I have been trying to get back into blogging, and, since October, I have (for the most part) published a new blog post every other day. I’m enjoying blogging again and wish I’d re-started sooner, although at least with a 4 year break, there’s plenty to talk about. I still have plenty of ideas for future blog posts which should see me well into the spring. So, happy birthday blog – you’re looking better than you have done in years.

21st-ish blogiversary

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Today marks 21 years since I started my blog, on the 14th January 2002. Back then, I was 17 years old, in the sixth form, a few months away from taking my A-levels and living at home with my parents.

Surprisingly, I managed to keep up with blogging regularly for 16 years, but gave it up due to a lack of time and a monumentally screwed up server upgrade that also wiped out my only backups.

So there weren’t any 17th, 18th, 19th or 20th blogiversaries, as I only restarted blogging last summer. Which means that this isn’t a ‘proper’ blogiversary. But I’m counting it anyway.

Nowadays, I still don’t have much time to blog – a combination of full-time work and being a parent – but I’m aiming to rustle up at least a few blog posts every month.

So, happy birthday blog. I would say ‘here’s to another 21 years’, but who knows what the Web will be like in 2044. And I’ll be nearly 60 years old by then.

14 years of blogging

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Today marks 14 years since my first blog post. No, I can’t quite believe it either.

Considering all of the things that have happened in my life over the past 14 years, I’m pleased with myself for finding the time to keep the blog going, even if I do go through periods of not writing anything for a while. I’m hoping to be able to continue for some years to come.

I’ll save the big retrospective for next year, when hopefully I’ll be celebrating 15 years.

Diary of a Teenage Blog

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Red phone boxes

As of today, this blog becomes a teenager, as I’ve been writing on here for 13 years now. I think this blog still counts as the longest project that I’ve persisted with; whilst I may go some time without writing anything, I’ve never seriously considered giving it up. Which is more than can be said for various other projects that I’ve abandoned over the years.

Naturally, now that this blog is in its teenage years, it’ll struggle to wake up in the mornings, be prone to mood swings and struggle with emotional changes.

And a scary thought is that in around four to five years time, this blog will be as old as I was when I started it. Hopefully I’ll still be blogging by then.

Blogiversary number 12

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Twelve

It’s that time of year again – another birthday for the blog. This time, if this blog was a human living in the UK, it would have started secondary school in September.

I can’t believe that, 12 years on, I am still writing on this blog. Though my interest wanes at times, and I can go several days without posting, I’m usually able to come up with something at least once a week.

I didn’t have any suitable photos to use on this entry, so I quickly drew the above birthday cake with a multi-coloured biro, and then Instagrammed it. This is why I’m not an illustrator.

11 years

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Birthday Slice

Today is this blog’s 11th blogiversary – or, 11 years since I first started writing this blog. Obviously it’s not quite as a big a milestone as 10 years was last year, but every year counts. Arguably, of all the things I do or have done, this is the thing that I have done for the longest time without giving it up. I’ve been close to giving up a few times, but, 11 years on, it’s still here.

There have, of course, been changes over the years. In January 2002, I was 17, single, living with my parents in York, at college, a few months away from my A-level exams. Now, in January 2013, I’m 28, engaged, living with my fiancée in Sowerby Bridge, working and a few months away from my wedding. But, some things have stayed the same, and wanting to write a blog is one of those things that hasn’t changed.

10 years

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Balloons and Drinks

If I could go back in time and tell 17 year old me that in 10 years time I’d still be blogging, 17 year old me would probably be rather surprised. But here I am – 27 year old me is celebrating this blog’s 10th blogiversary. A whole decade of blogging. Wow.

When I did my ‘hello world’ post back on the 14th January 2002 I would never have imagined that I’d still be going now. Despite all the changes in my life over the past 10 years – moving to new places, going to university, getting jobs, finding the love of my life – this blog remained here. Sure, it’s changed a lot, but pretty much every blog entry I’ve made is still intact here.

So, happy birthday blog. Maybe you’ll even be here in 20 years time.

9th blogiversary

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Birthday Cake

Way, way back in January 2002, when I was merely 17 years old, I started writing a blog. The same blog that you are reading, 9 years later.

While I’m not posting nearly as much as I used to – this is my first post of 2011, and we’re two weeks into the new year – the fact that it’s still going at all is a bit of a miracle, considering how long I persist with things. About the only other thing that I’ve stuck with for a long time is Flickr, which I’ve been using regularly for over 6 years.

9 years ago, this blog was hosted on a bit of free web space hosted by a company which now no longer exists, and I managed it using Blogger (back before the Google buyout). I was living at home with my parents, studying towards my A-levels, and using their computer, which ran the then newfangled Windows XP. Albeit, not very well – the computer was already three years old.

Nowadays, I live with my partner Christine, and work full-time, at the university that I ended up being a student at later that year. I use my own computer (one of three that I own), which runs Mac OS X – something that would have irked my 17-year-old self who was more interested in Windows and Linux and who thought Mac users were deluded zealots who paid over the odds for overpriced, incompatible computers just because they looked nice.

It’s been an interesting journey, and one that I hope will not end any time soon. Looking forward to this year, I’m planning to change to Melody once version 1.0 is out (it’s approaching release candidate stage) – this would only be the second time I’ve completely changed blogging package and would end an 8 1/2 year run with Movable Type. I’m also looking at a new template and better integration of my photos from Flickr and my tweets from Twitter, seeing as I’m more active on those sites than I am here.

So, happy 9th birthday blog. Many happy returns.

5 Years of Blogging

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5 years ago, I started a blog. It wasn’t particularly good, or even particularly interesting, but it was out there, on the internet.

5 years on, and it’s still here. It’s changed somewhat – the URL, the design, the back-end system have all changed – but it’s still my blog and I’m still the one posting it. Had you told me 5 years ago that I’d still be doing this, I’d have been surprised.

I’m not going to do anything big, or announce anything major today – for a start it has come at a really bad time 🙂 . But I just want to take the opportunity to thank everyone for reading this, especially those who have been reading from the early days.

Incidentally, I finally finished my dissertation yesterday, and had it laser-printed today, ready to hand in tomorrow. That’s one chapter of my life I’m very glad to have behind me 🙂 .