As some of you may be aware, we use a content management system called WordPress to produce Cordite online. Last week, the latest version of WordPress (3.0) was released, and so we dutifully upgraded the software. Along the way, however, something weird happened to our database, breaking all the ‘pretty permalinks’ we previously used on the site.

While the most obvious broken links have now been fixed, we’re still faced with a problem in terms of special characters and texts in foreign languages (for example the entirety of our Haikunaut issue has been rendered unintelligible – damn!). Rest assured that we are working on this problem, and we’re also working on a new look and feel for the site, which should make things more stable.

It’s a pity, however, that the National Library of Australia (which, through its Pandora project archives sites of cultural significance) chose a day last week to index our site, including our latest issue, meaning that we have been caught, once again, with our Intranet pants down, as it were.

I guess it just goes to show that maintaining a site such as ours, that’s been through so many incarnations, is always going to be a work-in-progress. Still, having been through this kind of SNAFU so many times before, the constant patching and tinkering does become a bit tedious.

Oh, for the simplicity of a printed book.