As the thread title says, I've been thinking about making a blog. It sounds like a cool thing to do when your bored and got some stuff to say, so I wanted to try it out. The only thing is that I am pretty new to all this stuff. In fact, up until yesterday, I didn't even know you could have one for free. So I'd like to get some suggestions from you guys for blogs. I did read some of the older threads here about blogs and got website suggestions, such as Blogger, myspace, Xanga, and blogs from MSN. Are any of those better than the rest? (pros+cons) Are there any other good sites for blogs? Any other suggestions? Thanks in advance.
This is somewhat true. For the past couple of months business magazines have gotten on the "blog" bandwagon stating how it is going to change the business world. And it still may. But the BBS is essentially the same thing, because you will often see reviews/praise/disgust about different products and sevices on this very board. And it has been around in some fashion since 97 (?). Thats all the internet will become anyway, is just another medium for companies to advertise and sell products. Boards such as the Clutch BBS give regular consumers an outlet to freely discuss products. The only downside to the Clutch BBS that I can think of is that whenever services/restaurants/bars are discussed on the board, they are usually concentrated around the Houston area. May not help those that do not live in H-town (like me!).
Thanks. I was leaning towards Blogger since it appears to from Google...and I love Google....in a non-weird kind of way. I'll probably try it out later on tonight unless I get some other suggestions. About the whole BBS vs Blog thing. I realize that they're pretty similar in a lot of ways, but I do see some advantages for a blog. I'd rather post about the PS3 Tech demo being made in 1 1/2 months on a blog run by a big company than on a Rockets BBS run by Rockets fan. Also, a blog seems easier to show friends and family than the BBS. I think only two people I know actually registered here. One thinks he was banned because he called Clutch (or someone) stupid (I completely missed that episode), and the other posts only about 1-2 times a year. A blog would be better in that regards, IMO. And keep in mind that I still will be using the BBS a lot. After all, where else will I get links to Jessica Alba pics for my blog.
If you know people that use Xanga, their subscription service is handy to read everyone's ramblings without visiting their page each time. It depends on how personal you want your blog to be. If it's general use, then most will be fine. Xanga is okay if you don't mind a small banner on the top of your page and if you know some html. I haven't tried other services.
I guess it just depends what you want on it. I have used Livejournal for the past 3 years Also have MySpace, good way to keep in touch with your MySpace peeps Also have Friendster's Blog service, which I think the best, since they host all of your pics (up to 50 a month) but then again, you can always host pics on Imagecabin, Imageavenue, etc... All 3 are basically the same and when I update, I update on all 3 with the same content. LJ is what I have had the longest though.
I decided just to make one on Blogger last night since it seemed pretty easy, which helped since this board was down. Everything is really basic looking at the moment (basically went with the default settings for everything, IIRC), and I have a lot of changes in mind once I get the hang of it. Still, I do have a blog. I'll probably work on that some more, and then maybe later on I'll check out some of the other blog sites you guys mentioned. I don't really know anyone personally that use those sites for blogs, so their advantage of keeping us together doesn't really help me at the moment. If anyone wants to check it out, I put link to it in my signature. I just have one post so far, and I'm going to treat it kind of like how I do the BBS Hangout. I'll put a bunch of video game stuff in it, along with maybe some personal stuff. My 1st post has some news about the FF7 tech demo, as well as a link to a next-gen video game engine that might rival Unreal Engine 3.0, even though it was made by only 3 people. If anyone has some more tips, feel free to say so, either in this thread or on the blog.
The main problem, however, is that you don't control the content. On a blog, you control everything from what you write to what comments you allow. A BBS, unless you own it (and that sort of defeats the point), is out of your control. In addition, BBS'es are primarily about community and an exchange of ideas. Blogs are about YOUR ideas. It's a community of one. They are both great, just different.
