Blogs 101

[Gemini Cricket]

I can't even describe how out of touch I am with certain things. One of them is blogging.

Can some kind soul describe to me what it is? I have a couple of friends tell me that I should start one.

What is it? How do you start one? Is it like a discussion board? How does it get accessed?

I signed up for one on Google, but hell if I know what to do with it.

:D

Any kind of advice is appreciated.

I tried looking up info on it, but the info usually takes for granted that the person reading it already knows all about blogging...

[Ghoulish Delight]

Blog...short for weblog. Really not much to it. It's more a concept than a thing. Basically, you just post stuff you find interesting. A lot of people use it as a place to post links they find, or images they find, or photos they take. Kind of a quick hit journal of "what's on my mind." Most have the ability to allow readers to comment on an entry, but with limited functionality (not a full message board). It's meant as a one-to-many form of communication.

[€uroMeinke]

A lot of folks here use Live Journal, which is essentially a blog site.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

It took me a bit to understand what makes them specifically blogs.

The way I think of it is this. I used to have my own website back when that was the cool thing to do (1998-1999ish). I had a page of links to stuff I liked, links to my friends' pages, and some pages of poetry and my own musings. I set up the page and let it sit for ages, untouched.

A blog contains the same sort of stuff - but it's dynamic. You can update it every day if you want. People can respond to you if you like and post their own links/musings. You can have newsfeeds and a calendar and other stuff that changes automatically.

There are lots of types of blogs, lots of different programs.

[Morrigoon]

livejournal.com is pretty good. It lets people comment on what you've written, and you can respond to them without starting a new OP (eg: it threads the responses). Also, it lets you filter things like who can read it, or make it so you can read comments before deciding whether they should post publicly, etc. Also, they have some paid options if you really wanna get spiffy. But the basic service is free.

[Bornieo: Fully Loaded]

I use blogspot.com. No complaints here!