Why to use WordPress.com

[Jeffro]

I was strongly considering moving my personal blog from WordPress.org to WordPress.com just do I didn't have to worry about maintaining the site or keeping things tidy. But if I were not able to embed videos or other things into the content of my posts, that would be a big no no for me in terms of using them.

WordPress.com provides a way for you to backup your data in the WXR format which is all you would need to switch from WordPress.com to WordPress.org but in terms of backing up the content in an open format, just like seemingly every other blog host, they don't do it.

[Ryan]

WordPress.com provides a way for you to backup your data in the WXR format which is all you would need to switch from WordPress.com to WordPress.org but in terms of backing up the content in an open format, just like seemingly every other blog host, they don't do it.

What do mean by 'open format'. Do you perhaps mean that you can't download everything (eg: images, documents)?

I can't see why they wouldn't provide a way to download your images, documents and other stuff. It seems like it would be a good paid upgrade service.

[Jeffro]

I'm talking about getting your content in a format where you can just upload the file into MT or TypePad or Blogger or SquareSpace. There is no open format for blog data.

[itsananderson]

The problem with developing something like that is what information do you put in there? For example, I would love an exporter that would include information about plugins you have installed, so you can upload the backup file on another server and have the plugins automatically installed. This would be nice, but wouldn't be at all useful on Blogger. Any "generic" export format would still probably be biased toward the favorite blogging system of whoever developes it.

[andrea_r]

The MovableType export file is the only thing that even comes close to portable. I think partly because it saves all the basic info, plus it's human-readable and extremely easy to edit.

I don't even like MT anymore, but this is one thing I thik they did right. :)

(Don't get me started on Blogger exports, UGH.)

[Jeffro]

Any "generic" export format would still probably be biased toward the favorite blogging system of whoever develops it.

Exactly why this will never happen. It would require all of these blog hostsers to develop on that open standard and since different projects are going to tackle the problem in their own way, I don't see this ever happening.