Just spent an odd few minutes looking at my first ever blog, long abandoned, and it made me kind of sad, because it actually was, in many ways, a really special place.

I say that not on my account, but because of the fact that it was a collaborative blog, which at least four other contributors, and, amazingly, regular readers and commenters.

It was 13 years ago that I jacked it in. I don’t exactly regret it (it was definitely time to move on, as I was in full moving-on mode back then) but I did make a bit of a hash of moving on. See, as I was the founding member, I was the one with administrative access, and when I deleted myself, I also made it impossible to, for example, go in and delete a spam comment.

The stopped posting soon after I did, and some of them deleted their posts so they’re not even there any more. We were all coming under pressure at work (the old job) with lots of Clamping Down going on. It was inevitable.

Google should really delete old abandoned blogs because the comment sections are ideal places for people to exchange nefarious messages. You know, like the old computer game chats you see in TV shows like Jack Ryan.

Anyway, it was a lovely blog because of the collaborating, and the way that we each would feed off each other’s posts. It made me sad to go back and see it in effect, and it made this blog feel like an even lonelier place. My posts remain over there, but because I deleted myself, I am designated as bot37363838. As a tribute to that old blog, I am posting this without an image attached to it.