A Moment of Silence…Journalspace.com is Dead…

Kind of a strange way to start the new year, but I was just reading in the Blog Herald that the free blog hosting service Journalspace.com is dead. You can read more at what’s left of the site here.
Journalspace wasn’t the best blog service – it was often behind the times, techonology and feature-wise, but it had a niche. It was where I started trying out “blogging” 6 years ago (and virtually all the posts from that site are now here). I also test-marketed a number of ideas for blogs, one of which ended up migrating to this server and became the successful “N Judah Chronicles.”
I hadn’t checked in on the site in a while, but back in 2003-2004, it was a fun little place where I got my start and learned through trial and error what makes a blog readable, etc. so it is sad to hear it just sorta got killed off in a flash.
At the same time, it’s a great lesson for anyone doing anything online – back up your stuff offline, no matter what services you use. You never know when an Act of God (or OS) might frak up your day.