You got me..
Wordpress got me.
Let me explain.
In 2001, when the HORROR REPORT began, I coded all of my own web pages from scratch. And each and every update was literally on NOTEPAD, saved as an HTML file, and uploaded through an FTP server.. It was rudimentary. It was also fun--more fun, in a sense, than what the site became eventually..
As modern technology reared its mobile head, I succumbed to the pressure. I didn't have time to create HTML files anymore.. FTP servers seemed to yesterday. So I picked GOOGLE BLOGGER and went from there..
At the time Blogger served as my service, it was fine. Blogger actually automatically posted my blogs, but also saved an automatic copy on my server through FTP.. it was the best of both world. Until that whole thing collapsed and Google stopped the FTP portion.
I made yet another switch to Wordpress.org. The self-hosted dream come true.. I am in charge, they say. I am able to do what I want, when I want, and how I want. No more fear of people ruining my chances to speak my mind, blog until my heart's content is complimented by time and energy to just be me.
Until recently...
From the moment Art Bell linked the HORROR REPORT on his Facebook page, I have been getting hundreds of DNS attacks and now, in recent days, hackers. The hackers are pretty good. At least to me--maybe some other experts out there could come up with a delicious plan to stop them in their hacking tracks. But for me, not so much time is on my hands. As a matter of fact, time is of the essence, and it's slipping by quickly. Plus that, I am not a big enough website--though I have developed a cool fan base and following--to allow me to quit my day job and dedicate my entire life to ensuring the safe display of information in the comfort of a secure web zone. I found one program that would promise to clean my database and stop intruders. But for just the basic plan that was $200 a year. That would mean a whole ton of people better start clicking on my ads on this page very soon.
So I am at a crossroads..
I know the IP addresses doing it. But of course masking is occurring, too. I know what they are doing: They went page by page by post by post and put hidden <div> codes in lots of places. That is causing automatic posting of VIAGRA and AMBIEN ads.. It's a little incredible about how easy it was. And all of this after a number of security downloads, updates, cleanups, and password changes occurred. It's too much to battle.
Too cold to hold.
I can't call the Ghostbusters or gain control.
So there in lies the crossroads.
So I made my mind up.
Quit? No..
Continue?
I will not relinquish my website.. But I am going to do something rather unprecedented in the NET universe. Sorry to offend the die hards, but I am turning OFF Wordrpress.org for the time being. I am moving away from a self hosted blog, and instead will incorporate blog services yet to be determined and also my own FTP inventions.
I am not anti Wordpress. It was cool while it lasted. It was fine .. but with the constant security problems I was being hit with, it has become next to impossible to live my own life, be a parent, and have a part time duty of updating the world about the happy horrors and entertaining bits of life, and somehow battle nameless and faceless hackers who just want to use my website as a disgusting roadside rest stop bathroom. And they don't even tip the attendant,