OPEN

Posterous has rolled out a service that lets users download all of their content. TNW sees this as a prelude to a close. 

Since being bought, we’ve seen signs that things aren’t as usual. Posterous has undergone numerous disruptions and outages, some of which seen users given intermittent or no access over long periods. In July, the service went down for 12 hours after losing multiple databases. In October, the site’s SSL certificate expired, only to be hurriedly replaced with an apology.

Furthermore, its once thriving blog has stopped regular postings and its Twitter account only tweets about its (regular) service issues.

….We have a feeling that the timing of the introduction of the feature was down to a schedule — i.e. provide a backup before the end of 2012. It remains to be seen if that plan also includes the closure of Posterous in 2013 but, with users now able to move their data away, we wouldn’t be surprised to see the service sunsetted in the new year.

I feel sad to see Posterous going. I stopped using it following its acquisition by Twitter, when it became clear there would be no further development. 

A really clever blogging and social platform that at times – especially with the launch of Groups – I thought might offer a kind of mainstream, open-web alternative to Facebook. 

Great as Tumblr is, it doesn’t have all of Posterous’s features. WordPress is wonderful, but you can’t go far with it before you need some technical help.