Every few years somebody comes along and tries to break the internet. Sometimes it's a corporation that thinks it can replace the open network with a more profitable company town. Other times, it's a government that thinks it must tame the online wilds with new laws. Each time, the internet seems to brush off the assault. The network is, after all, simply an idea -- a set of agreements to trade digital signals according to certain rules that over the past two decades produced a new kind of open public sphere, a media commons. That idea has proven highly resilient. …

Today Grist is switching our publishing system from one platform to another. (For those of you interested in this stuff, we've moved to WordPress.) It's a big deal for us, but shouldn't be, for you: In fact, the changes we've made so far ought to be nearly invisible. We haven't altered much about the site for now. We do have all sorts of improvements up our sleeves for the coming weeks and months! But at the moment we don't think you'll notice too much that's different. Still, this is technology we're dealing with here -- so of course there will …