Not Sure Yet About What To Do With Two Blogs

Old blog

New blog

Hmmmm. I see the value in not getting rid of the old blog:

• Old host Google and new host Bluehost have different philosophies. Google is trying to incorporate the entire Internet within its embrace. Bluehost is willing to do so only if it pays. If I die and abandon the old blog, it will likely still remain available for decades. The new blog will vaporize as soon as the money stops flowing.
• Many people have placemarks already keyed to the old blog, and the redirect command sometimes introduces errant characters that disable the redirect. Just the little bit of blog chaos of the last week may have already cost me half my readership.
• The old blog has features that do not seem to transfer easily to the new blog - what seems to be a more-extensive sidebar, for example.

But the new blog nonetheless has desirable features:

• Cleaner presentation that renders better in different Internet browsers.
• More sophisticated editing capabilities.
• Greater capabilities for pictures, movies, recordings, etc.

So, what to do?

Having two blogs that reproduce content apparently leads to search engine penalties. That may be how I've lost readership: Google searches now kick me down on their list of priority. And I don't like cross-posting very much. So, two blogs with different content works. But how to make the split?

One Sacramento blogger didn't like what he considered his blog's chaotic presentation, so he split his blog into four blogs, organized mostly on broad topics. That also split his readership into fragmented shards. I see him mostly on Facebook now.

I've always considered a haphazard, chaotic presentation to be more of a feature, not a bug, when it came to blogging. An omnibus blog works like a general-interest magazine. Like 'Life', or 'Reader's Digest', or something. Why not meteorology AND theater? Or Kylie Minogue AND 'Breaking Bad'?

So, how to make the split?

I haven't made a decision yet, but I'm thinking about mostly text in the old blog and mostly pictures in the new blog. Still, general-purpose blogs, but each would be different. In the old blog, I can shout at chairs, and they can shout back. In the new blog, I'll have pictures of the chairs, in nice poses - maybe with captions! And the old blog works as a rescue craft in the event of trouble with the new blog.

Still haven't figured out what to do about rescuing the old comments - nothing seems to work right now - but I WILL rescue them, one way or the other! There is some kind of flaw in the archived comments that prevents them from being imported, but the cryptic error code reveals nothing about the problem. Still, I HAVE the 5,000+ comments, in 1,000+ threads, and can get access to them. I just don't want to insert all of them into both blogs, by hand! But that may be what I have to do!