We're Moving

So a bit of blog news: we're moving.

Over the last few weeks, we/I have been in discussion with the people over at Asian Correspondent, a website which aggregates news, views and blogs with an Asian focus. I've agreed to have our blog hosted on their site for an agreed upon time.

Some questions:

Wait, what? What does this even mean?

Well, functionally all it means is that I blog on Asian Correspondent, so our new address is asiancorrespondent.com/fiverupees. If you've been nice enough to bookmark us, then you can update that. But you don't really have to worry about not being able to find Rs.5, because anyone going to our current URL will be automatically directed to the new one when it goes into effect. RSS feeds should also be redirected, as well as all posts from our archives.

Why is this happening?

I gain in two ways from this. One, I'm being monetarily rewarded, and it's nice to get paid. Two, I get (the promise of) more readers, because, um, AC is a bigger website than we are.

They gain from this because they get the potential of a Leo Messi homage every week. So it's fairly even, and that's why this is happening.

So you sold out, eh? Well done. Seriously, well played.

Look, just because I was bought out doesn't mean I sold out! And besides, I have learned at my time at the University of Chicago that free-market enterprise between two consenting parties is good.

What changes?

The address obviously, and the layout. What we're trying to do is keep as many of our features from here so that the change is as seamless as possible. The blogroll, the archives, the categories, the comments, and so on will stay the same. The basic idea is that I don't want to lose any of our current readers, who add so much to the blog with comments and emails and suggestions, so it's important to keep the basic architecture and familiarity.

The color scheme and the way the blog looks will be different, and will be basically in the hands of AC. I've received enough complaints about our color scheme over the years to understand this is probably a good thing.

And content?

The content is the same. II'll be blogging the exact same way I do now, i.e. badly and increasingly sporadically. Nothing changes on that front. I even retain my right to curse as much as I please. The only thing I am exlpicitly not allowed to do is promote hatred or incite violence, or be defamatory and racist, but remember, Imran Farhat is not a race.

When does this happen?

In the next couple of days, maybe as soon as tomorrow. The move has been a while coming; I've basically been in discussions with Hybrid News/AC for about a month, and with my coming to Pakistan for AKS' wedding and so on, the details of the move have just taken a while to iron out.

Technology is involved, so I'm sure they might be a couple of glitches as we migrate, but I'm also sure that if anything arises, it'll be taken care of fairly quickly. One issue that might come up is the RSS feeds being transferred, so those of you who subscribe to us, please let me know with an email (fiverupeesadmin at googlegroups dot com) if something seems to be off.