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How I Lost All of My Blog Subscribers

How I Lost All of My Blog Subscribers | A Tragedy (or is it a Comedy?) by Lauren of The Thinking Closet

My eyes latched onto a single solitary number–so solitary, it doesn’t even really exist: 0

That’s right.  Zero.

Within milliseconds, my mind comprehended what that number was telling me, and my body flooded with heat.  Blood rushed to my face.  I felt one thing and one thing only: panic.  I didn’t know what to do, so I stood up, walked from the living room couch to the kitchen and just started pacing.  I put my hand to my chest.  It was beating like a big brass band.  Like it wanted out.

This is what happens when your blog subscriber count goes from 414 to 0.  Just.  like.  that.

What Happened

Okay, so first a little backstory.  Earlier that morning on Monday, March 11th, I discovered that my shortlinks weren’t working.  What are shortlinks?   This article by WordPress.com explains it really well, but basically, a shortlink is a shortened url, which makes sharing on Twitter easier.  After saving a blog post draft on WordPress, you have access to a shortlink for that post that will never change, no matter how many times you change your post title or permalink.

For example, here’s the shortlink to this post: http://wp.me/p3gOqC-SK

Which should work the same as this permalink: https://www.thinkingcloset.com/2013/03/15/how-i-lost-all-of-my-blog-subscribers/

However on Monday, my shortlinks were leading to a 404 Error: Page Not Found.  So, I got my blog migration guru, Sara, on the job, and she figured out that the problem was stemming from my Jetpack plug-in.  The link shortener was grabbing the link using WordPress’s default permalink structure, instead of the one that my site is set to.  (If that’s gibberish to you, too, welcome to the club.)  The bottom line is that she needed to deactivate and reactive the Jetpack to get it to work.  In the world of blogging, this is typically not a big deal.

She fixed the shortlink problem in no time.  I tested my new shortlinks, and they worked!  Hooray.  Problem solved.  Or was it?

Later, when looking at my Jetpack Stats page, my eyes happened to land on the little box at the bottom of the page.  This is what I saw:

How I Lost All of My Blog Subscribers | The Thinking Closet

Cue the rush of blood to the head and pacing around the kitchen with heart palpitations.  The last time I had checked, my blog subscribers had been at 414.  Now, they were gone.  All of them.

After I regained enough composure to sit back down and breath at a normal rate, I composed a very “cool, calm, and collected” sounding email to Sara.

How I Lost All of My Blog Subscribers | The Thinking ClosetOh, I’m trying so hard.  That smiley face is overkill, though.  I  mean, the terror in my voice reads loud and clear.  Can’t you hear it?

What do you do when you lose all of your blog subscribers?

You fall to your knees (literally) and pray.  “Help me, help me, help me,” was about all I could piece together.

Although it wasn’t her fault, Sara felt terrible.  I took her suggestion and put in a request to the support forum on WordPress.com asking if they could re-transfer my subscribers from my WordPress.com.  Yes, I’d lose the subscribers I had gained in the past couple of weeks, but I wouldn’t lose all of them.  A glimmer of hope.

Then, I did the unthinkable: I turned on some music and started to clean.

Cleaning is not really my forte.  In fact, it’s something I dread and put off to the last minute, usually until we’re having company.  I’m sure none of you understand what I’m talking about.

A dear friend from college was coming into town that evening.  Some cleaning was in order, and I needed something to do, so I dusted and Windexed the living room.  Then, I checked my email.  No word from WordPress.  I swept the floors, then checked my email.  Nothing.  So, I steamed the floors.  Then, I checked my email.  Nada.  In fact, I didn’t hear back from WordPress for three more days.

My friend’s visit couldn’t have been better timed.  I needed a distraction from the drama playing out on my WordPress Dashboard – – I needed a break from blogging – – I needed to not check my email every five minutes – – I needed to laugh with an old friend – – to get out and live life.

Although losing my entire email and WP Reader audience in one click of a button initially felt like the rug was pulled out from under me the floor dropped out from under me, I have felt a strange sense of peace these past few days.  See, in my relationship with God, I have this constant struggle for control.  I like to keep a tight grip on things and pretend that I can control what happens.  So, when things are torn from my tightened grip and I’m left empty-handed, I am reminded that my God is a God to be trusted.  No matter what the outcome.

How does this story end?

I’ve been asking the same thing.  Is this a tragedy or a comedy?

How I Lost All of My Blog Subscribers | The Thinking Closet

The answer remains to be seen.

When I finally heard back from WordPress yesterday, they had a suspicion that my newly installed W3 Total Cache plug-in was in conflict with Jetpack.  So they suggested we deactivate that plug-in, then deactivate and reactive Jetpack.  We did, and got a most interesting error message in the process:

How I Lost All of My Blog Subscribers | The Thinking Closet

Guess I’m just lucky!  It is almost St. Patty’s Day after all.  {Dead-eyed grin.}

So, it’s more waiting on WordPress for me.

But I felt the need to let you in on the story even though it remains unresolved, dear reader, and even though this won’t get sent out to most of you by email or WordPress Reader (unless you’re one of the 10 sweet subscribers who signed up in these past 3 days – – bless you!).  And I’m sure there are blogging lessons to be learned from this experience, namely, to have your subscribers in a separate program like MailChimp and not in a fickle plug-in.  But we’re not yet at lesson learning time.  In terms of plot, this is still “rising action,” right?  2013 was going to be a year of more honesty and more mess around here, right?

I have some exciting projects to share with y’all, so hopefully, we’ll get this mess cleaned up sooner than later.  In the meantime, you can resubscribe for email updates via the sidebar or through one of my other means:

Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Google+ | Bloglovin’ | R.S.S.

Here’s to hoping for a comedy.  Here’s to trusting through a tragedy.

This is Lauren, signing off.

 

 

Update as of 2 a.m. 3/16/13: It looks like this story is going to be a comedy with tragic elements!  Firstly, we discovered that my WordPress Reader followers were never actually lost although the number said they were.  And while WordPress.com was not able to re-transfer my email subscribers, I started a free account MailChimp and was able to import a 2 week old file containing email subscribers into their system.  I just spent the last several hours setting up automatic emails for subscribers.  Those folks should receive excerpts of new posts via email at around 11 a.m.  While I lost approximately 35 email subscribers from the recent weeks, it was not half as tragic as it first appeared.  Major sigh of relief.  Thanks to everyone for their concern and support.  And most of all, thank you, God!

88 Comments

  1. Exact same thing is happening to me now. I had 500 subbies and now -0-. I’m in a dead panic! I just had a huge company contact me about a giveaway and was about to have a Wayne Goss Makeup Brush giveaway too! I’m so sick!

    1. Oh no! I’m so sorry! I remember that sinking feeling well. Do you have someone who might be able to look at the back end of your blog to see if they can find any file with your subscriber list? That was my saving grace. Although I lost some subscribers, I saved most. Saying a prayer for you! And get on MailChimp from here on out if you can. That way, you can back up your list!

    1. Honestly, it was definitely my lowest moment during this whole migration. My stomach leapt up into my throat and my heart pounded out of my chest. There’s no place to go from there, but to your knees in prayer!

    1. Thanks for the follow! And that certainly counts! (At least until July when Google Reader shuts down…so you’ll want to transfer the blogs you follow to another reader like bloglovin’ or feedly.) WP Reader is another reader option for WordPress.com blogs. I’m a bloglovin’ girl myself!

    1. Thanks for the encouragement, Kelly! Yes, I’ve already found a way to transfer most of my old subscribers to MailChimp…and my WordPress Reader followers are miraculously intact. So, all is well!

  2. Seriously, this sucks. Sorry to read this. Migrating can do this. I had lost almost 3/4 of my feedburner subscribers when I migrated and now that Google Reader is going to be obsolete soon I’m scared to see how my readership will decline.

    1. Yeah, I know the Google Reader thing has a lot of folk pretty nervous. I even heard that people are signing petitions to see if Google will change their minds. I’m so confused why they would stop it all together instead of tweaking it to improve it. Not cool.

      Anyway, hopefully your Google Reader subscribers will re-subscribe through other means like Bloglovin’ or Feedly. I follow you in Bloglovin’! 🙂

  3. Ugh! so frustrating! I hope it all gets resolved soon! But I’m so glad you got to spend time with Brittany!!

    Speaking of subscribers, did you know that Google Reader is going away this summer? Trying to find a new reader stat! A few friends have suggested Feedly…I think i might make the switch soon!

    1. Thanks for your concern, Steph! Things are already lookin’ up. And yes, I have heard the news about Google Reader. I am not personally affected by it as I’ve been using bloglovin’ for several months now, but I know a lot of folk are up in arms about it. I haven’t heard of Feedly, but here’s a post I read recently that might be a good introduction to bloglovin’ if you’re curious to know more: 9 Reasons You Should be on Bloglovin’.

  4. Oh boy, tell me about e-mail subscriber anxiety! I made the switch for a free service to Madmimi about 3 months ago, prompted by a huge mistake I made. I was sending a special freebie to all my subscribers (at least 350 at the time) and – in the name of trying to be frugal because I had yet to make a dime from my blog – I was still use the free feedburner. That mean the only way to send all my subscribers something other than the posts that automatically got sent to them, I had to cut and paste their e-mail addresses. In my hurry, I cut and pasted them into the to field instead of the bcc field!!! Oops! Now all 350 folks had all the other e-mail addresses and had to scroll through an insane number of e-mails before they got to the e-mail content. I was on Madmimi before the day was over and haven’t touched feedburner since.

    1. Oooo…I’ve done that before. Not with blogging, but with mass emails and it’s always such a source of shame to realize I accidentally entered the hundreds of email addresses in the TO field instead of BCC. Yikes! How have you found Madmimi? I’ve heard that’s another great email service.

    1. Thanks, Danielle. Yes, four days later, they finally got to it! However, my email subscribers were a no go. Hence, my switch to using MailChimp, and so far, I’ve been pleased with the new system. Thanks for the encouragement, though. It’s great to know I’m not alone in these troubles!

  5. Hi Lauren,
    Your email via MailChimp arrived at 11:06am today 3/16/13

    I am sure you are still feeling the anxiety of all this. Believe me, I can relate your episode to several of my own with different programs and daily dealings in life. I remember when I was fairly new to using Microsoft Excel. I was working on my restaurant mailing list, forgot to do a “save” and then the power went out. This was after entering about 150 names, address, and the like. After that, about every 5 minutes I would hit the save button. The second episode happened when we bought new cell phones and wanted to transfer our contact list. This was about the time when Verizon had started an online transfer service. I followed all the instructions, the contacts had landed in the “cloud” (not called that at the time) and I was all set to download it to the new phone except it was no where to be found. Never did get those back and had to load them all by hand from an old phone.
    Now what is funny is that I have about 5 cloud services that I sync between for that “just in case something goes wrong time”. You think I am a bit paranoid? YOU BET!

    I know you’re hanging in there. The bright side is that we just learn from it all.

    Oh and by the way, email support and include your address so they can send you that million $$ jackpot you just won for that “something went wrong that was never supposed to happen” contest. They will probably send you that roll of toilet paper that is printed in currency.

    Best to you and Happy St. Pat’s Day tomorrow.
    Karen

    1. Glad the email arrived safe n sound! So far so good with MailChimp.

      And thanks for your empathizing with me; sounds like you’ve experienced similar technological tragedies. Hearing your stories takes me back to my freshman year of college when the wind blew over a vase and water spilled onto my open laptop. It fried the hardrive, and I lost EVERYTHING. Including typed journal entries from high school. Including a screenplay I was almost finished writing. Including my college essays. It was devastating at the time. And my Dad shared a quote with me that has always reminded me of the importance of back-ups:

      “There are two kinds of people: people who have lost everything on their computers and people who will.” It’s just a matter of being prepared. I think the same applies to phones and to blogging!

      Ha ha, and I just might have to email WordPress.com support and ask for my jackpot prize! You’re too funny. Way to brighten my day (as always).

      Happy St. Patty’s Day to you, too, Karen!

      1. I just thought of another instance similar in some ways in that “all is not always as it seems.”
        We were selling a vehicle through ebay some years ago and a fellow came to look at the car. He was telling us a story about how he had purchased a car through ebay but had not physically gone to look at the car. Just only saw it through the pictures that were posted. When he arrived to pick up the car, it looked great, just like the pictures except that once he got to the other side of the car, it was all smashed up. The seller had only posted the pictures of the one side of the car. So moral of the story is “Don’t believe everything you see.” Like I said earlier, these things just make us all smarter and tend to make us look a little harder before leaping. Just use caution and do the best you can. Not all accidents can be prevented. As my hubby says, “It was an accident, not an on-purpose.”

        Just thought I would throw that in there.

        1. Oh man, oh man. I sure hope that he was able to get his money back! That certainly sounds deceiving and not up to par with eBay’s policies. At least he learned from his mistake! As I hope I am from all of these blogging hiccups.

          Another great parable from you, Karen. I definitely learn best listening to stories. Keep ’em comin’!

  6. Poor Lauren!!! I thankfully caught this in Bloglovin’, and when I did, I thought, “that’s strange! How come I didn’t get an email?” 🙁 The fun of self hosting, eh? Can’t wait to see what your new creations are! I seemed to have taken a short break. I think that being sick got in the way of doing any real projects. I have a few things up my sleeves, though.

    1. Fun indeed! Thankfully, I was able to salvage most of my email list from an older file and JUST sent out my first email update using MailChimp. Hopefully you receive it!

      Also, I can totally understand needing a break from creating, especially while you’re sick. Hope you’ll be back in action soon! I have no doubt that those “things up your sleeve” will be fantabulous.

  7. I feel awful that I’ve been communicating with you all week without realizing all of this has been going on! Wow, your humility and other-centeredness is amazing. Thank you for being 100% for me, although I am sorry I was not able to love on you through this struggle. I think I would have a panic attack after seeing my beloved followers disappear like that. What a blessing it must’ve been to have B there to support you and bring much needed distraction. Truly this is a a glory story for it is a moment of you feeling weak and highlighting his control (2 Cor. 12:10). Love you. And I re-scubscribed! xo

    1. Oh, don’t feel awful! I think I needed to not focus on it for a while, so it felt healthy to communicate with you about other things. And while I was nearing on panic attack the moment I saw those zeroes, I really did feel such peace from God in those three days of waiting. Yesterday was such a victory day because even though WordPress could not transfer over my email subscribers again, I found a different and probably better alternative with MailChimp. And Sara discovered the file with my email subscribers from the initial transfer during my blog migration…so we had a list to work with! Thanks be to God! Off to go look up that verse in 2 Cor. Love ya!

  8. Lauren…even in a possible negative situation you have such a great way to make us all smile. Your writing is so real and enticing, I think all your readers can feel your pain and joy with you. I do love my BlogLovin’ account for these reasons. Since Google Reader is going away soon, BlogLovin’ has been my new primary source and I am actually liking it. But regardless, I would have gone looking for you. I just enjoy your blog that much! ;O)
    Pam @ The Patriotic Pam

    1. Wow, Pam. I’m humbled and encouraged by your words. Thank you ever so much!

      I hoped this post wasn’t too much of a “downer,” but it felt important to let folk in to what was going on behind the scenes. I’ve been so blessed to have developed a faithful readership with whom I feel comfortable and almost responsible for sharing my honest experience, especially where this blog migration is concerned. I know it can be tempting to want to say, “I did this and then I did that and I ended up with this perfect outcome,” and sometimes that’s the case, but other times, we end up with craft fails, or in my case, blogging fails! And I know I always appreciate it when other bloggers show the “true story,” mess and all!

      Isn’t bloglovin’ the best? I follow so many more blogs now as a result, and I love the format. I’m guessing they’ll get a lot of the former Google Reader users…. And thanks for what you wrote about being committed to look for me! Wow. That really makes my day, Pam.

  9. Yay I can comment on your blog now – vanilla wordpress never let me! I’m sure it will turn out ok, a lot will get curious why your blog disappeared! I can still see you on GFC although due to Google’s announcement I will be shifting by following via a new blog reader!

    1. Oh my! I never knew you weren’t able to comment on my blog before now! Thank you for giving it another go, Laura. And I hope you can find a new reader that you love as much as Google’s. I’m a huge fan of bloglovin’ myself, but I know it doesn’t quite function the same. Off to visit you at Blue Giraffe Crafts!

  10. If it makes you feel better, I follow almost no ones blog via email. Every blog I read is either in Bloglovin or a Reader. I couldn’t even tell you how many people follow or read my blog b/c of this as I can links into my page from the most bizarre sources.

    1. You know, it’s the same for me. I have probably 5 or so blogs that I follow by email, and I’m a huge fan of bloglovin’. I just couldn’t help but picture 414 people out there just vanishing into thin air. Twas a bit disconcerting! Though I’m trying out MailChimp today for my email subscribers (was able to find an older csv file with email addresses from when we did the blog migration). Here’s to hoping that pans out!

      Ha ha, and I totally know what you mean about getting incoming visits from some of the most bizarre places. I need to start keeping a list of some of the random places that link to my blog.

  11. Bless your heart! I hope this all works out soon. I just signed on to G+ for the exact reason of “I haven’t heard from Lauren lately…” Guess this would be why.
    This too shall pass.

    1. Thanks for your concern, London! Things are looking a lot less grim after yesterday. And thanks for re-subscribing via Google+. That means ever so much.

      You’re so right. This too shall pass, and I’m already seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Eager to get back into my old routine, but I’m trying to learn how to roll with the punches and not get so thrown off by these bumps in the road. Because we’ll never stop hitting roadbumps…at least not in this life…but we can change how we respond to them. (This is me giving myself a pep talk. Ha ha.)

      Thanks for your support, friend, and have a wonderful weekend!

  12. sorry to hear about this Lauren, I understand you 100%; I lost all my subscribers as well when I merged back in Oct, I was not able to resolve this but I’m sure you will be able to do it! 🙂 Hope by Monday everything will be resolved and you will give us great news! I also wanted to let you know, last time when I left a comment on your post, it asked me twice to subscribe to your blog; I accepted both times but was wondering what happened knowing very well I was already subscribed! (p.s: I get your new posts by e-mail) 😉

    1. Wow! I don’t think I realized that you lost all of your subscribers when you migrated! That’s crazy. The story looks like it’s going to have a happy ending. They were able to restore my WordPress Reader followers, and we had access to an older file from when I originally migrated on Feb 28th with my email subscribers at the time. I’m piloting MailChimp’s email service today to see if I can use that as an alternative. It’s been a lot of work, but I’ve learned a lot…especially in regards to the importance of back-ups. And not taking life too seriously!

      You were one one of my 10 new subscribers this week…or should I say, two of my new subscribers! Not sure why it asked you twice, but it actually meant a lot to me to see my count go from 0 to 10 in a few days, so thanks for that little joy. You’re such an encourager!

      1. 🙂 I’m happy to know this had a happy ending! 🙂 ouif! oh!no! back-up, back-up, thanks for reminding me of this! I should prepare for one very soon! Lauren, please let me know how it goes with MailChimp’s (my e-mail is from wordpress and many times it has failed me!) & I am happy I was 1 or 2 of those subscribers ha!ha! 🙂

        1. Yes, back-up, back-up, back-up! 🙂

          I’ll keep you posted on MailChimp. So far so good after my first campaign yesterday. The way it works is it scans my RSS feed for new posts and any time one pops up, it’ll send an email at 11:00 a.m. E.S.T. I also really like how you can see what percentage of folk opened your email and how many clicks it got. I’m an analyzer, so I love it when I can see those sorts of things.

          1. Oh! thank you Lauren for this info, I always wonder how this works! I got your new post by e-mail this morning at 10:00 🙂 it’s great knowing what percentage opened your e-mail; I’m an analyst (OK, used to be, before being a mommy) so I would love these stats too! ha!ha! Have a great week!

          2. Your analyst brain would LOVE MailChimp then. So many stats, you almost wonder what you did without them before! Let me know if you ever decide to use them…I’d be more than happy to offer some assistance. (Although MailChimp has tons of video tutorials to help, as well. I’m a fan!) Have a great week, as well, Ingrid!

  13. Oh Lauren, I feel your pain!!! My RSS issues are still not fixed, and my bloglovin’/RSS subscribers have NO IDEA I have actually been blogging for the last few weeks.

    This too shall pass… and it will be a story you laugh about sometime in the near future when retelling it – you won’t even have to wait until you’re an old woman (super successful) blogger. I just know it! I’ll be seeing a tweet with “LOL @ Jetpack. Remember that time you made me lose all my subscribers? ahhhh good times….”

    1. I’m so sorry about your RSS woes! I just hopped onto feedburner to check your feed and sure enough, the last update is from December. How frustrating! I’m sure you’ve tried everything at this point, but don’t give up. Maybe even try to get Feedburner customer support on the line. Or play around with your settings in there. At least you created that really awesome bowl that I keep seeing ALL over blogland. So, who needs RSS when you’re getting featured? (Only joking. I really hope you get this all worked out.)

      And you made me chuckle with that hypothetical tweet to Jetpack. I’m SO going to have to do that…whether I’m an old woman in my 80s or 30s. 😉

  14. I heard a rumor that they are also going to do away with google reader ahhh! I have no idea what I’ll do then to be honest – that’s how I keep track of which blog posts I’ve seen etc. hmmmmm will have to look into alternatives…will have to check out mail chimp too for my own blog – i have no where near your number of subscribers, but they are linked through a wordpress plugin….I’m sure glad you showed up in my RSS reader – I would have been so very bummed if i had missed the cute onsies……

    1. Yes! In July, Google Reader is no more! I know a lot of folk use the Reader, so I’m not quite sure why they’re getting rid of it. If you like the Reader, I recommend bloglovin’. While it doesn’t show EVERY post, you get an excerpt and a photo for most and can click through on the ones you’re wanting to read more. Plus you can categorize the blogs you follow and view them by category. It’s pretty nifty!

      I’m looking into MailChimp today. It’s free if you have under 2000 subscribers, and you can send up to 12,000 emails a month. But it sounds like what you have is working just fine. I would just recommend backing up your followers in some way, just in case you ever lose them!

  15. Lauren, you’re a hero of authenticity about how hard it is to let go of control.

    And I love you.

    That’s all.

    1. I love you, too, friend!

      We type As love our control, don’t we? Thanks for always being a friend who has encouraged authentic living and walked alongside me in the journey to losen our grip and trust in the One who is to be trusted. Sending a huge hug to you right…NOW!

  16. Lauren!!! Oh my! Hang in there sweet bloggy friend. Good news…I too, like most of the above comments, got this post in my Reader…so maybe all is not lost??

    1. Nope! Looks like if any of you were lost in the first place, WordPress.com came in and restored my old WP Reader followers, so I can at least see y’all now. Phew. The email subscribers is another story, but glad that things aren’t looking so grim as they first were. I think we’re on our way to a comedy, folks! Thanks for the sweet words, Kelly.

  17. Awww hun, I’m so sorry to hear of your struggles! I am positive you will regain your followers quicker than you think, especially if you have some awesome new creations to post about 😀 Plus I have you on Bloglovin’ so that is still working fine! Deep breaths, eat chocolate, keep calm!
    think about it this way, you are paying your due’s, It can’t all work smoothly with no hiccups, things never do, and this way you are getting the pain in the bottom parts out of the way so that you can have a super successful blog once it is all sorted. keep smiling xxx

    1. “Deep breaths, eat chocolate, keep calm!” Done and done and done. Especially the chocolate part.

      Thanks for the encouragement, Hannah. You are such a calming presence. The teaching force is fortunate to have you joining their ranks.

      And you’re right, this is part of earning my dues in blogland. One day, when I’m an old woman blogger (ha ha), I’ll be able to say, “I remember the days when we lost blog followers in the click of the button!” or something of the like. It’ll become a good story. At least, that’s what I’d like to believe!

      Smiling right now thanks to you! 😉

      1. See, you are laughing about it already – if not a little nervously.
        Hmmm, do we think blogging age is different to real age? Like dogs, they age 7 years for each 1 human year. I think that once you have combined the man hours a blog takes up and combine that to the vast amount of stuff you learn every day through blogging and looking at each others blog posts, each year must be worth like 10 blogging years!

        I don’t even know if this makes any sense, you just inspired me to ramble 😀
        xXx,

          1. Haha! I would be about 9 years old! Though I feel like I have only really connected with my blog since christmas, so maybe a little younger 😀
            It would be funny if this became a thing ! xXx

          2. I LOVE that you dedicated a post to this wild idea…which I think may not be so wild and actually have validity to it. Using the 20 year for year 1 theory, that puts me at an awkward 12-years-old. Feels about right! 😉 And I totally love hanging out with my older, wiser, cooler teenage blogger friend, Hannah from Made with Hugs and Kisses! Ha ha. Will be curious to see what other readers think about this theory….

      1. Good to know! Yes, the Reader followers are alive and well, which is awesome. Breathing more deeply and taking baby steps to regain what was lost. Thanks for your support, Tracie.

    1. Thanks, Leah! Yes, WordPress.com just came in and restored my WordPress Reader followers, so whether I actually lost y’all or not, I can at least see you now, which is a huge relief. Now to work on the email followers. Encouraged to be making progress, though! Thanks for your encouragement, Leah.

    1. Woot woot! Sounds like the WordPress reader followers never actually disappeared, although the email followers did. “Curiouser and curiouser.” Thanks for letting me know and for the well wishes, Katherine. Hugs back atcha.

  18. Hi! Thanks for visiting Dwell on Joy! I started looking at your blog through your readers favorites – what gorgeous things you make! Though – I’m sad to have to read this for you! When you write a blog – it’s a TON of hard work and to see 0 is frightening. I pray the kinks get worked out for you!

    I am on a blogger blog, and have always wanted to switch to WP (and actually bought a good e-book to do it) but am TERRIFIED of losing the ground I have already gained. Very nice to meet you! New FB follower!

    1. Sarah, thanks for empathizing with me on this! Yes, you do pour so much work into blogging, so the zeros are nightmarish. And thanks for your prayer! Wow, that means so much.

      I happed upon your blog a while back and have been following in bloglovin’. Although I’ve been a bit behind in my bloggy reading with this whole blog migration, I look forward to staying in the loop on your creations, Sarah. Thanks for following along via Facebook and for your kind words about my projects! Hopefully I’ll be back to posting more of them soon.

      Yes, migrating can be scary, especially because of the horror stories you hear of losing followers or losing content. Everyone says it can be tough, but worth the effort. I’m clinging to that right promise right now! If you ever decide to take the plunge, let me know! I’ll “say a little prayer for you,” as the song goes.

  19. That’s so weird (I like the word weird for this more than lucky!). What’s even more weird is that I got this in my reader with no problems at all. I say we chalk this up to your life being in a ‘comedy’ with a touch of brief blogging tragedy. 😉 Try to have a happy Friday!
    Kenley

    1. Yes, “weird” definitely sums it up more accurately, especially because of the WordPress Reader mystery. Sounds like I didn’t actually lose you guys? That’s a relief!

      I like your theory on life being a comedy with tragic elements (in blogging). But better than a blogging tragedy with comedic elements! 😉 I’m committed to having a happy Friday. The sun is out, the sky is blue, and I just received a sweet comment from Kenley. What’s to frown about?

      Happy Friday to you, too!

  20. Don’t forget your Bloglovin’ readers, so your entire audience wasn’t gone. We were still there and we are readers too. 🙂 I hope that it works out for you Lauren and I bet it will. You are a keep at it kind of girl.

    1. Oh no, I haven’t forgotten my dear Bloglovin’ and R.S.S. feed readers, as well as those who follow by other means like Facebook or Twitter. I’m so very thankful to have held onto y’all. (The title of this post would have just gotten too long if it was HOW I LOST ALL OF MY EMAIL AND WORDPRESS READER FOLLOWERS. Ha ha. You know I’m trying to work on conciseness.)

      And your comment reminds me of the quote from The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel: “Everything will be all right in the end… if it’s not all right then it’s not yet the end.”

      1. No worries, just felt a bit neglected not by the title but when you said, “Although losing my entire blog audience in one click of a button…”

        Oh did I love that movie! It’s become one of my favorites. 🙂

          1. Thanks for the heads-up! I actually submitted my blog url to Pugly Pixel soon after my redesign; I knew she had a series devoted to “launches.” But I expected the post at the end of the month, not in the middle. That’s definitely something to celebrate! Thanks for finding it and letting me know, Aubrey.

  21. “…I have this constant struggle for control. I like to keep a tight grip on things and pretend that I can control what happens. So, when things are torn from my tightened grip and I’m left empty-handed, I am reminded that my God is a God to be trusted. No matter what the outcome.” This is a lesson I have to learn again each and every day. Letting go of the need for control is oh so scary but yet I find the greatest peace when I hand it over to God.:)

    I’m sorry that the migration hasn’t gone 100% smoothly but it’ll all work out in the end!

    Cindy

    1. You’re so right, Cindy. When I do relinquish control, I feel such peace. It’s just hard to get to the point where I choose to relinquish it. So, I think sometimes, it takes having that control taken from me to remember that I need to give it up. 😉 Sigh. Tough love.

      Thanks for your encouragement, friend! And for the good word.

  22. Oh, my friend, I know it’s been a tough ride, but you’ve handled it with such grace! And I admire that instead of feeling pity for yourself, you are allowing yourself to be shaped and molded into learning lessons on control, an issue I believe most of us women struggle with. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been knocked down and humbled by my greatest “accomplishments” just to have to get back up and start over!

    I believe the ending will NOT be a tragedy, for your writing, humor, love, and talent will draw back 414 subscribers plus many, many more! You are already 2.4% of the way there in a short time! Thanks for sharing and being real with us. I look forward to the exciting projects you have to share with us!

    1. Jessica, it helps to know I’m not alone in the struggle for control. And to be reminded that this is part of growing into the women God created us to be. Part of the refiner’s fire!

      And thanks for doing the math to figure out that I’m 2.4% of the way there! That’s ain’t so bad!

      You’ve been such a dear friend. Thanks for re-following so I’d have 1 email follower instead of 0! And for the advice to take a little break from blogging. I needed that!

  23. Beautifully written post. I am so sorry that you are having so many glitches. I know how excited you were when the migration went so smoothly, despite all of the warnings. I’ve still following you via the WordPress reader, so perhaps that is why I am still receiving notifications? That said, WordPress also makes sure that I receive every. single. comment. 😉 A minor issue, but one worth mentioning, in case that is a symptom of a larger problem, or different than the way you want your blog implemented. But minor compared to losing all of your subscribers.

    I admire your faith in letting it work itself out. You have done all that you can do, and more. Enjoy this little hiatus. 🙂

    1. Thanks for sympathizing, friend. The best laid plans….

      Still, I’m glad to know I was still showing up in your reader – – very interesting indeed. And thanks for letting me know that the comment problem is back with a vengeance. I had checked on that a week or so ago and it seemed resolved, but I just checked again, and you’re right. All blog comments are showing up. So bizarre. As soon as I get this issue worked out, I’ll ask WordPress.com about that. That’s rather annoying.

      Thanks for the affirmations, dear friend. Yes, I think I just need to accept that there’s not much I can do at this point, but trust! “Cause I gotta have faith-a-faith-a-faith….”

    1. Ha ha! You totally made me chuckle with that line, “Life is a pig circus!” I’ve never heard that phrase before…but it gives me quite a humorous image in my mind. Yes, life IS feeling like a pig circus these days! (And you were listed as one of my 10 recent subscribers, so maybe that’s how you got the email?)

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