I've been "blogging" since 1999.  I've seen my share of digital ups and downs.

This blog,  GilaChess, hosted freely on Blogspot, is the oldest, proudly lasting 14 years online. It wasn't even my main website; my GilaChess.com was.

It’s a remarkable contrast to my experiences with paid-hosted blogs like GilaChess.com. Time and again, despite my best intentions, I fall victim to the dreaded late payment – a missed domain renewal or a forgotten hosting fee. Consequently, their lifespans are tragically short, typically fizzling out after just three or four years.

One example was a website made for the World Youth 2008, which I poured so much effort into, I didn't even have time to visit the beautiful beach at Vung Tau, Vietnam, where the event was held. The website is sad. now dead, expired. All content lost. I won't even go into how painful it was to lose content from GilaChess.com.

This stark difference highlights the inherent stability and cost-effectiveness of platforms like Blogspot, proving that sometimes, the simplest and free solutions offer the most enduring digital presence.

I look like a cheapskate, but for the ASEAN+ Age Group recently concluded event, I'll just post all the content I have into blogspot again, hosted for free,  for posterity and longevity's sake.