Stranded Bloggers

It has come to our attention that an unlicensed weblog hosting service running on the Movable Type platform and branded as mBlog closed its doors to its users the other night without notice and, as a result, has taken their users' data with it.

One of the main reasons we work with authorized hosts is so that we can confidently recommend the level of service, support and reliability that they will provide. We set a high bar for the TypePad service and work only with partners who can provide a similar level of reliability for Movable Type. It was incredibly frustrating to see users of Movable Type (though it was rebranded as mBlog) not know exactly who to turn to. And it was frustrating for us to receive support requests because of a poor infrastructure on someone else's end -- especially on a version of Movable Type that had been heavily modified by sources other than Six Apart.

I wish we could help mBlog users get their weblog data easily out of their system. We can offer a possible tip that can help:

To try to get your data out of mBlog, you can try using the Google cache of your archive. To do this, go to Google's advanced search and enter your username in the search field. Where it says "domain" enter "mblog.com" in the field. You should be able to then view the archives of the site.

If you're in search of a new host for your blog, contact us and we will let you know about a couple options that we recommend. Specifically for your benefit we have worked on a discount program with a preferred host, (mt) Media Temple, to help you during the transition to a fully supported and sustainable platform for your blog. And, if you're interested in trying TypePad, which has advanced moblogging functionality built right in, we can also steer you in the right direction.