Calling all bloggers
 

I have enjoyed my brief membership in the cellar. I like reading others' ideas, comments, jokes, rants etc. I have noticed that my posts are mostly in reply to someone else's remarks. Not a bad thing, but I have a desire to, well, expound. All those among you who have read (suffered) through my posts know how enthralled I am with the sound of my own voice. And a nifty echo chamber for such a vice is a blog.

I am asking for any first hand experiences with blogs from the population here. I feel I know a little about you, from what I've read from you all so far, and from our interactions, so that will help give me context for your comments. I hope to find this more informative than just reading through the blogs of people I don't know. I've done this too, but I'm looking for more.

Do you have a blog or more than one blog?

How do you maintain it?

How do you get content for it? From your own head? From what you read?

How do you write write write so much?

How do you keep it interesting?

What about photo blogs?

Or Google's new video blogging indexing thingamajig?

What about private access for family members?

What mistakes have you made or seen made that I should avoid?

Ok, that's plenty to begin with. Your experiences in the blogosphere from the perspective of a blogger more than a reader of blogs, if you please.

Thanks in advance.

I use Myspace.com, it's free and painless to use..mrnoodles' band also has a place 'up' there, as do quite a few other people I know.. so!

Do you have a blog or more than one blog?

How do you maintain it?
username/password.. after that it's really easy to figure out/use

How do you get content for it? From your own head? From what you read?
me? of late not a damn thing, but in the past from life usually or those random thoughts that go whipping by.

How do you write write write so much?
as I said of late I haven't but the whole insomnia thing helps

How do you keep it interesting?
maybe I shouldn't be writing here anymore... but, although it may not show as much here I have a bit of a twisted sense of humour, and to the life things I have a habit of making some really bad decisions (usually with humorous aftermath)

What about photo blogs?
well, Yafro is good for that. I have friends that do it look up adastra on yafro his photoblog is immense

Or Google's new video blogging indexing thingamajig?
news to me..

What about private access for family members?
I don't know if that is an option, although I believe you can set that up, or build a second blog that is only for family members

What mistakes have you made or seen made that I should avoid?
don't give out your name or address obviously and be careful, atleast on myspace there seems to be a whole 'friends trading card' culture (if that makes sense) people just want to have as many 'friends' as possible to look cool, but you'll never actually communicate with them... (which may or may not be a bad thing)

I don't blog, I just hang out here, and a couple of other carefully selected forae. forii. foraria? Boards.

Anyway ...

I also am primarily reactive with respect to posting, but do on occasion come up with some interesting conversation starters. I'm satisfied with this level of interaction, frankly. I dig the community aspects, and don't have a personal need to have a space all my own to express this, that, or the other thing.

I am also too lazy to maintain something like that, and may even go for days without having anything significant to say.

I didn't keep a diary as a kid either.

<a href=http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=forum>forums or fora</a>

:thankyou:

I really need someone else to come up with the topic, as well. The stuff I find fascinating is usually something that someone else has already discovered anyway, and 9/10 of my first posts here have already been worn out or aren't of widespread interest.

I'm not sure what it is that makes some blogs (like this one) a magnet for lots of diverse people, while others fail to draw any interest. Maybe you have to have the right core of users to start with.

this isn't a blog, this is a forum. big difference.

my bad. i'm always a bit hazy on terminology. I see the difference, now that you mention it. But isn't there some overlap? Or is a blog always the rantings of one, while a forum is the rantings of many?

A blog is the rantings of one ( or one of a select group), sometimes allowing comments by viewers. A forum allows anyone to start a topic. Daily Kos (for example ) is a mix - the main page is a blog, and the diaries are a forum of sorts.

IMHO...

I have lots of blogs scattered about internetdom.

>>How do you maintain it?
Maintain it?? I'm sure what you mean.

>>How do you get content for it? From your own head? From what you read?
One of my blogs, stream of consciousness,had the original concept of being inspired by the cellar, and when I was frustrated here, I would post there, in relative obscurity. Now I have been posting more spontaneously there, and putting links on there as I surf, so it's more general.

For the last 2.5 years I've had an internet diary, I call it my journal, that isn't on a blog site, but hosted from my webspace provided by my ISP. I started that one to practice my html skills and I started it to keep my mother up to date with what was going on im my life, and it evolved into my life journal, and I was bored as hell from work, and it gave me something to do and a place to put my poetry and stories.

I still have a core readership of 6 people, whom I bore with tales of woe and nothingness. I've been slacking recently, tho and will be posting there soon.

>>How do you write write write so much?
I go through periods where I write volumes on different blogs, then periods (like now) write I just can't be assed to do it.

>>How do you keep it interesting?
LOL I don't. I don't write for an "audience", I write for me. Consequently, *I* find my journal to be boring as hell, punctuated by one big spaz on May 14, 2003. I look back now at those posts and shake my head. Damn. I was bliiiiiiind....

>>What about photo blogs?
I post photos when they fit. I have spin off pages, like the Croatia page, and a page of pictures from when I first got to NC, and I am "working" on a New Orleans page, a page about the whole first husband turned murderer story, a page about the trip from Vegas to NC (with pics), and a "more wholesome" page for Husband's family to view.

>>What about private access for family members?
If it's private and you don't want anyone to read it, don't put it in a blog. If you want a blog for family members only, create your own pages and set up a password.

>>What mistakes have you made or seen made that I should avoid?
Giving too much personal information that you can be contacted by the freaks. Don't mention company names or names of cow-orkers in the blog without permission.

That's the big stuff....

wolf, you would be doing the internet a big service if you started a blog. It could be all about your job, so you should find something to write about at least 5 days a week. It would be one of the few really good ones out there. Please pm me if you ever decide to start one!

Stay tuned here for the next exciting installment!

The line between 'blogs', which I must admit is a buzzword that annoys the fuck out of me, forums and just plain old fashioned webpages is very blurry to start with. It would be easy to impliment a forum inside a blog (kos for example) and where you draw the line between a newspage and a blog (or just plain 'site') is a fuzzy as hell. Stuff like kuro5hin makes it even messier. In these days of news aggregation it'd take a braver man than I to say what is what.

Get an account on blogger or livejournal(tagline: ask me about my parents divorce) and have fun but for crying out loud don't post about your work in too much detail.

A thread does wolf's writings justice really, it's perfect, easy for us all to check, it's got a permanant URL and it's not wrapped in an ugly blogger/LJ/wordpress/etc interface. Short of a direct XML feed these things don't get any better. We should all go back to using finger, much better idea.

Do you have a blog or more than one blog?

I have three.....one is my 'public' stuff...things that just anyone can see and won't land me in hot water - one is my 'private' stuff - which you need to beg, borrow, and promise me your first born child to see...and one is for my artwork. All of which can be found at various parts of my personal website. I'll share the URL if you ask nicely.

How do you maintain it?
I use Blogger to maintain the actual 'text' of what's there - it's easy, i can access it from anywhere - and the interface is friendly. (Which i needed when I first started - now, well, I'm too busy to convert it to something else). I maintain the pages and other parts using FrontPage (again, not the perfect tool, but when you're busy - you go with quick and dirty to get the job done). I keep everything hosted at a webhost I pay for, because popups are the tool of satan and I hate them.

How do you get content for it? From your own head? From what you read?
Content comes from where content comes from. If i'm stuck on a day and feel like writing, i have lists of prompts that I randomly pick a topic from. Or i just ramble. Or post a meme, or a photo of something that interested me. (Unfortunately, the photo I took of a chicken escaping from a tractor trailer in front of me on the highway didn't come out...or that would have most definitely been posted!)

How do you write write write so much?
I make myself do it. You can do anything for 15 minutes at a time :)

How do you keep it interesting?
I don't 'care' if it's interesting for someone else. That's really not why I write it. I used to keep a paper journal - but it just got to be too much - I type MUCH faster than I write - so I figured a blog would be the best way to go. 3 years later, my wrists are glad I made the choice. Random memes and other blogable items make things fun - but mostly for me. Friends like it when I post an audio blog entry (a .wav file posted via phone) because they're able to pick up on more 'emotion' than through just text.

What about photo blogs?
I use Flickr for posting my photos.

Or Google's new video blogging indexing thingamajig?
Never saw it - and I use google's tools.

What about private access for family members?
Again, I don't write for a particular audience. I don't tell my family it's there, because sometimes, i'm griping about them. Can make for a sticky situation at the Sunday Dinner table. If i DO gripe about them, it's in the password protected area so they can't see it.

What mistakes have you made or seen made that I should avoid?
For god's sake, don't post from, about, or while thinking about work. (See dooce.com for an explanation as to why)

I'm willing to answer whatever questions you may have -

Kellie