Hey there everyone, I hope all of you are making it through this crazy year well and growing deeper in your faith. I wanted to take a minute to announce that after much debate I have chosen to move this blog. For the last decade Ancient Abandon, like most of the internet, has been hosted on WordPress and it’s been perfectly adequate. But I’ve been spending time looking at alternatives over the years to see if anything out there would work better. I looked at Medium which seemed promising at first but quickly went down hill. I looked at Ghost but wasn’t impressed by it. I looked at Blogger, and as much as I appreciate the retro feel of a blog platform that peaked in the mid-2000’s it just wasn’t right. Well finally I found myself trying out Substack after hearing many people raving about it, so I took the retro tech blog that I had started a couple years back and moved it over there and to my surprise it was an absolute delight to use!

The editor is simple, the site runs faster and lighter than WordPress, I don’t have to fuss with plugins and the theming options are simple enough to personalize the site without my ADD kicking in and getting bogged down in the weeds of wanted to find the best theme for the site. Also, the interaction there is really impressive which shows that their user base is really excited about what’s happening there. So with all that said, after blogging over there for the last couple of months I have decided to migrate Ancient Abandon to Substack!

The New Ancient Abandon

I’ve already done the initial migration so everything should be over there already, but the import wasn’t perfect. I still need to go in and edit a few formatting errors, delete some random posts that got created for some reason, and add the pictures back in where they go which will take some time, but for the most part it’s all there.

I also set up a new logo for the site that I feel better suits this blog and this community:

I know, I know, most of us are not Catholic, but I felt like the image of Mary holding Jesus after the cross on an alter surrounded by a world falling apart was a striking representation of where we find ourselves in this post-Christian era.

What about this site?

According to the stats and analytics, most of the people subscribed to this blog have done so through WordPress.com itself, with a vast minority doing so through the email list. This poses a bit of a conundrum for me. I’m really excited to move fully to Substack, but I also don’t want to leave all of you behind. The best option I can think of is to run both simultaneously for the time being. I’m planning to publish new articles on Substack first, then on WordPress through the rest of 2022. Posts over here will include links to the Substack page with a reminder to sign up over there. The plan will be to retire the WordPress site at the end of the year.

How do I sign up to Ancient Abandon on Substack?

It’s simple. Just go to ancientabandon.substack.com, enter your email address and click the button.

Once you do that you’ll get new posts sent to your email. There is an app for your phone or tablet, and of course the website will always be there too.

What plans do you have for the future?

More posts, new ebooks, and potentially a new podcast. Nothing but the posts are 100% set in stone, but I’m working through what that all looks like. What I do know is that the Lord has really been stirring my heart in the last few months to address many of the things we’re seeing in our world today to help us all stay grounded in His truth and to answer your questions as we navigate this new world we find ourselves in.

I’m really excited about this transition and I hope that by the end of the year all of you will join me over there. You can sign up for a Substack account to interact with the posts, but you can also just join the mailing list without an account. And as an aside, if you like tech and stuff like that you can check out my other site over there. It’s been my outlet for my interests and hobbies that aren’t heavy like much of what we discuss here.