Let’s file this comment :whip: I read under “People Who Don’t Know What The Fuck They’re Talking About:”

Please consider going back to MT if you’re able. This new system you’ve got is insanely slow.

First of all that thing just got the honor of a blockquote instead of being quoted in-line like I usually do short statements. Yeargh. But now, to the meat and potatoes of why I think the guy who left that comment at Trey’s has little clue.

With the exception of externally hosted scripts to slow it down, the fastest thing a server can do is to serve up basic HTML files, which is what [eee!] does. No-brainer there. But, from a blogger’s standpoint, using [eee!] is actually slower because of the time it takes to generate (rebuild) the HTML archive page, write it into the folder for storage, and also to rebuild the index file. It is also a pain to back up by FTP (like I used to do when I used Blogger on a free server — I had to try this blogging thang before paying for hosting). Archive files can also be a pain to rebuild should you decide to change the document structure of these files. Depending on how your archives are set, leaving a comment would make [eee!] rebuild these archive files once a comment has been left. Even if comments are stored on a separate file, the comment-containing HTML files would still be rebuilt. On top of that, there is the issue of disc space. Let us just say that [eee!] uses up a lot of disc space for storing these static files, more than Wordpress does.

Now, as for the “insanely slow” part. All that time spent “rebuilding” an entry by [eee!] is divvied up by WP as it generates the pages on demand. True, it will be slower, on a reader’s end, than getting served up basic HTML files, but on the side of the blogger himself, there is but a bat of an eyelash separating these events: clicking the “Publish” button, and being able to blog yet again, and having a ready and working front page.

Regarding the scalability of WP: I recall Ian S. leaving a comment on my spoof interview with Ben and Mena (who I lovingly call The Benamonster) about server loads and massive traffic. First of all the server that OFJ sits on is the server that Wordpress and Photo Matt and a lot more WP blogs sit on. Together, the server probably handles a total traffic comparable to that of Instapundit’s. Besides, cachcing the front page and the feeds themselves is not a big issue.

Finally, there have already been accusations of Wordpress users behaving like zealots. Among all the Wordpress users I know in my personal “neighborhood” in the blogosphere, Mog is the most vocal supporter — aside from myself — and has the cojones to go ahead and post about WP on an [eee!]-powered blog. Zealotry? Or dedication and a good faith belief in the product and its ability to make bloggers’ work a bit easier? You be the judge.

However, dear friends, nothing beats having a personal experience with WP. I have on my sidebar a link to my Fishbowl Project. There, you can register as a user and try out the interface for yourself. You can go ahead and post immediately after registration. Not all options will be visible to first-time users and if your admin level doesn’t change in 24 hours, it most likely will stay that way.