Having decided to use this site as my new blogging headquarters, it raised some interesting questions about what to do with the archives from my other blogs. I have over three years worth of posts at No True Bill and another couple years at Library Laws. This amounts to roughly 500 posts. While I have no interest in keeping those sites around, there are a lot of posts -- and comments -- that I'd like to preserve.

With that in mind, I decided to migrate all the posts that I want to keep onto this site. In fact, posts from No True Bill are already here. Library Laws should follow soon. But these archives won't be complete. After importing NTB, I deleted about a third of the posts. For better or worse, I felt there was simply no value to be had in keeping a post that announced I'd take a short break from blogging in May 2005. And while it was fun at the time, that quiz I took in 2006 that told me which Led Zeppelin song I most resembled really serves no real purpose on this site.

A big part of this decision to manitain only a partial archive is the fact that my name now sits in both the title and URL of this site. When I started NTB, I hid my identity (though a clever investgator would've had little trouble figuring out who I was). Now, however, I intend for this site to be part of my "first life" identity. So if a prospective employer Googles me, they'll probably find this site. Given that possibility, a post entitled "Katie Couric Is an Idiot," while incredibly insightful, might not be the exact tone I want for tom boone dot com.

Library Laws, on the other hand, will see far less excision. After all, that was a professional blog, and my name was included on it quite prominently. While a post advertising a long ago filled librarian position might be removed, my writing from that site will remain intact.

Of course an additional wrinkle to that transition is that posts written by LL's other author, Josh, will not become part of this archive but will instead most likely move to his own blog, meaning that site will see its archives split between two separate websites.

The biggest remaining problem I foresee, however, is broken links. Once these old sites come down in a month or two, anyone who linked to NTB and LL will find themselves no longer pointing to their intended posts. Despite the broken links, the information they cited will actually still be available here, but the connection forever severed. While that's unfortunate, my biggest reason for maintaing these archives wasn't necessarily to keep such links intact. Instead, what I really want is for search engines to find one of my relevant posts when someone needs it, regardless of where it currently sits or where it once was. Say you want to know whether those rumors about a Pretty in Pink sequel were just a hoax, my answer will still be available. Or if you're curious about the pros and cons of using Pidgin and Adium to log into your Meebo IM account, I've still got you covered (internal link pending).