If you are able to read this post, congratulations, you’ve made it!

Below is the post from Multiply regarding the change.

As you well know by now, Multiply will close all personal blogs and groups on December 1. They have chosen Blogger as the transfer platform for groups and personal blogs. As such, we
will be making the transition to the new platform gradually. I want to let you know about the steps to take and what you need to do to make this transition as smooth as possible.

The new site has already been created and all posts have been transferred. Since Blogger is not a storage platform, all documents and attachments are being transferred to a new storage server. However, links to documents and attachments in posts will need to be updated with new addresses. This will happen in the next few months, and will occur in the background, with very little involvement from the users — but a lot of involvement from me!!!, :-).

Be aware that Multiply does not have a mechanism to send a mass e-mail communication to the members of this group to warn about changes in this site. Furthermore, though I have a list of users for the site, I don’t have any email addresses, so the only ways to communicate to you are by posting here or in the new site, or by sending a personal message to everyone individually.

What does this mean to you?

1. Blogger is a Google platform, so if you don’t have a Google account, you need to get one if you want access to the new site. It’s a free account. The easiest way to do that is to click here. Once you get that account, click here to send me a personal note telling me your Multiply ID and your Google account name so that I can invite you to the new blog. (Since you’re reading this message in the new Blogger site, you can also contact me by clicking here.)
2. Once you get the email invitation to the new site, you will have the option of creating a Blogger profile (separate from your Google ID, which will be kept private). I recommend that you do this, so that you can remain as anonymous as possible if you so desire. Also, if you have an account with an OpenID service (such as WordPress, LiveJournal, TypePad, AIM), you can respond to posts using those IDs, in addition to your Blogger ID. If you also have a Google Plus (Google+) account, you can link your post to your Google+ ID. For the time being, do not do this, as I’m not aware how well it works. My recommendation is to go simple and just use your Blooger profile. Changes can be made later.
3. One you sign in, you will see a Blogger home page, called the Dashboard. On the top of the page, you will see the Blogs you have access to. The new Gregg Shorthand blog will be there. To access the blog, click on View Blog. You will see the new blog and can start posting and replying to posts.
4. Starting October 1, posting in the Multiply site will cease. We will continue to have access to the Multiply site until December 1, when everything is deleted and shutdown. In the meantime, if you have posted attachments here, make sure that you have a copy of everything, so that we don’t loose the links.

Now, let me tell you about the good things in the Blogger site:

1. The navigation in the new site is much easier than in Multiply. First, their search engine for posts is fantastic (which is expected, because it’s Google). You can type anything in the search box, and all posts that have those words will come up.
2. There is an archive facility, so all posts are classified by date in hierarchical fashion: you have a navigation tool on the left of the page that you can browse old posts easily.
3. The interface is much cleaner. I have limited the number of posts in the main page so that people do not get lost in the blog. You can always search a particular post by going to the search box, or by using the navigation tool already mentioned.
4. Adding a new post is much easier: just click on “New Post” on the top of the page, and type what you want and you’re done.
5. You can also select posts by tags using a pull-down menu (in Blogger, tags are called “Labels”). You can add “labels” to new posts like you used to do tags in Multiply.
6. Blogs have a mobile interface. I have not tested it, but it’s nice that they have that option. I have tested the regular interface in my tablet and it looks great. I would like to hear how it looks in other platforms, especially the Mac.

Let me tell you some of the downsides (they are mostly from my end):

1. Blogger does not accept attachments, so if you want to attach something to a post, you need to host it and post the link. The question is where to host? My suggestion is that since you will have a Google account, use your Google drive as your storage. With your Google drive, you will have 5 Gb of free space. You can limit who will have access to your documents there, and manage access relatively easily. You can use other storage platforms: it’s up to you what you want to use.
2. In the transfer of new posts, old posts will have my name as the person who posted it (instead of the original author), because I was the person who did the transfer to the new blog. This means that the only person able to make changes to old posts is me, so if you want something change, like a link or something, you need to let me know.
3. Another consequence of transfer is that responses from previous persons cannot be edited nor linked to the new user. You are able to see your responses to posts, but neither you nor I are able to edit those responses (like I said, I can edit the original posts, but not the responses). This is a minor thing, because you can always add responses with your new ID.

To wrap up, I will encourage you to try the new site and post there. To remind you, you will not be able to post in Multiply starting October 1. I will create a new post in Blogger with this information as well.

Happy moving!