Anyone Here Still Use Movable Type? I Could Use Your Help.

[kaseytraeger]

Hey everyone.

 

I have a very old installation of Movable Type 2.661. I haven't tried to post to my blog in several days (and have not made any changes anywhere in my webspace at all), but now when I try to post, I get the following error after submitting a new post.

 

An error occurred:

 

Saving entry failed: Duplicate entry '205' for key 1

 

I'm at a loss as to what this means or how I can fix it. Although I'm comfortable programming, I never really hacked my MT installation, so I don't even know where to begin.

 

Also, I notice that my blog admin section no longer shows the five most recent posts like it used to. I wanted to edit one of my posts from the last week, and when I tried to search for any post, my installation cannot find any entries! I'm worried that they're lost. Fortunately, the missing blog entries still show up on my blog, but I can't access them from within the MT admin section.

 

 

P.S. -- TCH-Bruce, if you're reading this, this could be a sign from the gods that it's time for me to switch blogging platforms. If that's the case, I would sincerely appreciate a bit of hand holding while I try to perform the much-feared and dreaded transfer. I really didn't want to do this now because I have no time to fiddle with it, but if that's what's being thrown at me, then so be it.

[TCH-Bruce]

I'd agree with you about upgrading to Wordpress.

 

Please open a ticket with the help desk Kasey and have them check it out.

[moogie]

I'm no expert here, but I've been using MT for a long time. I know you said you couldn't post anything new, but have you tried rebuidling your entire site? I've had problems before similar to this, and the rebuild has worked. It probably won't work but it's worth a shot.

 

I have heard alot about Word Press. Is it really that much better than MT? What are the pros?

[TCH-Bruce]

I used to use MT but I switched to WP almost two years ago. It is database driven (like the new MT) and has been since I converted.

 

I think it's easier to customize the look of with the theme templates than it was with MT. I haven't used MT since version 2.661

 

And the Spam Karma plugin is the best comment spam tool I've ever used.

 

Give it a play, you can install it right through Fantastico in cPanel. See if you like it.

[heyguy]

WP is less of a server resource hog than MT - especially if you get a lot of trackbacks, pings, and comments.

 

I also find WP easier to use and customize but that's personal preference. There are loads of plugins and the development community is very active - so pretty much anything you want to do is likely possible.

 

It's easy enough to install through Fantastico and isn't much harder to do manually, so I'd recommend at least taking a look at it as an option.

 

And Spam Karma 2 is invincible.

Edited October 27, 2006 by heyguy

[moogie]

With MT I tend to get alot of Trackback spam. And I mean alot. I've actually had to pretty much turn off trackbacks in my posts. I'm ok on comment spam so far.

 

What if you have a design you want to transfer to WP? Is that difficult to do? I guess I need to do some reading.

[heyguy]

What if you have a design you want to transfer to WP? Is that difficult to do? I guess I need to do some reading.

Depends on your skill level. I've done it plenty and I'm sure others have too. If you have problems just post here and we'll help you however we can.

[TCH-Bruce]

If you have a good handle on CSS it shouldn't be that hard to convert your style over.

 

And Spam Karma 2 also handles track-back spam as well.

[salguod]

I've heard a lot about WP. I'd say it's prbably the best choice for personal bloggers now. If I was starting now I'd probably use WP.

 

That said, I use MT and find it very good. The improvements since 2.661 are profound, expecially in anti-spam. Spam Lookup, once configured, is quite powerful. It's the 'once configured' part that's a bit dissapointing. Fortunately, you can go get and install the Weblog Defense Grid and have Spam Lookup nailing nearly all your spam. I get no TB spam and only occasional comments spam.

 

I'd try the upgrade to 3.33 before swapping to WP. You'll get Spam Lookup, tag support, a better CSS structure with access to a lot of themes at The Style Archive and more.

Edited October 28, 2006 by salguod