Devastated. Emotional.

UPDATED:
Disqus did not *delete* all of my comments, it simply did not import them. The comments still live on Blogger. I am reinstalling now. And yes, in the meantime I have backed everything up

GIANT thank-you to Lindsay, whose name is now in the running for our son because I owe him at least that much, right?.

Much appreciation to Disqus as well, both for not actually deleting my comments and for replying to my crazy-lady Tweets on a Sunday.

After six years of writing this blog, I decided not to move to WordPress. I figured that I know and love Blogger and all its simplicity.

One thing I wanted to improve, however, is the commenting function. I just want to be able to thread comments!

So I decided to install the Discus comment system. All it takes is a quick widget install.

I thought I was so smart.

I followed the prompts. There was a checkbox. It asked if I want to import existing comments into Discus. I did NOT select it. I WANTED TO LEAVE ALL EXISTING COMMENTS INTACT. I wanted to use these new comments going forward ONLY.

Six years of comments is too many to mess with.

I clicked "next." I saved the update to Blogger. I clicked on my blog.

All of my comments are gone.

All of YOUR comments are gone.

I went back to Discus and clicked "IMPORT." (I would have clicked IMPORTFORTHELOVEOFGODIMPORTIMPORTIMPORT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! if that had been an option.)

And then I burst into tears.

I cannot believe I can hit two buttons and WIPE OUT six whole years worth of comments. Is it really possible? Did I really do that? Is it that easy? Are they really gone?

They can't be, right? They...can't?

I joke all the time about you being my Invisible Internet Friends but it's only the "invisible internet" part that's funny. And just because it sounds funny. The reality, of course, is that you are my friends. You have been my friends for a long time, and I love you and care about you and have relied on you to help me through some of my biggest life moments.

It's like you've been through everything with me. You can't suddenly be gone.

I am absolutely heartbroken.