Well we’ve had another drop in the Dean Allen roller coaster — news hit yesterday morning that TextDrive is shutting down on March 14.

I have a quick reference for server migrations which I polished up from my scattered notes last night. If, like much of the TextDrive diaspora, you still need to pack and move, hopefully it will be of use to you in the next ten days.

Please feel free to contact me with additions or corrections, or use it to publish your own version.

I’ve been watching for it, but somehow I didn’t notice Frank Chimero’s new personal site design until today. The timing is good though, because today I read where he says this:

• …Choosing to follow the path that was fun and educational.

That last one was a real blessing, the kind of insight you can ride out for the rest of your life. My little conundrum of a website stopped being a grand declaration of identity and purpose, and started being an interesting little lab to teach myself…

That, I think, is the kind of ethos towards which Dean’s web publishing endeavors attracted us, however misbegotten they turned out in the end. Having to migrate your stuff requires a skill set that’s often inelegant and orthogonal to the stuff we really get our kicks from, but for me it’s been tremendously empowering and educational. In whatever little way I can I’d like to help others along that road.

(But Frank, do yourself and everyone a favour and don’t start a hosting company.)