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Interest in blogs?

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by smorty71

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OK, we've been kicking a ton of ideas around about how to make the member profile pages of the site more interesting for members and readers.

One of the things we keep talking about are blogs. So I want to throw out some of the ideas we have and find out what your all's general take is.

1. Individual member blogs
Individual members could have their own blog where they talk about whatever they want (although we would prefer it to have an IT angle to it). Depending on the topic of the blog, that content could be featured throughout the site. For example, if Oz wanted to blog about Security, his Security posts could show up in the Security area of the site as well as on his profile page. As with most blogs, members would be able to leave comments about the posts.

2. Importing your existing blog
For those members who are already blogging, you could use the XML feed that Blogger and other services provide to import your existing blog into your TR profile page so that other members could enjoy it. The thinking here is that some members won't want to start a new blog if they already have one.

3. Topical blogs created by multiple members
Several members, who have an interest in a particular topic, could post to a single blog. For example, Oz, Max and Colin might want to contribute items to a blog about Security.

4. Blogs by industry experts
This would involve getting someone with "street cred" (as Jay puts it) in the industry to maintain a regular blog.

Please let us know your thoughts on blogging in general and on these specific ideas.

When you reply, could you let us know the following:

1. Do you blog? If not, why?
2. Do you read blogs? If not, why?

Thanks,
sm

11 replies

by maxwell edison

.
....but let me dwell on it a bit before I comment. However, to answer your questions, I suppose I neither visit or read too many blogs. But what exactly is the difference between a blog and a discussion? Isn't TR discussion sort of a blog itself?

by smorty71

The goal with blogs would be to complement the discussion boards, not detract from them. We know that our members have a lot of interesting things to say. And a lot of the things they are saying now in Discussions seem better suited for a blog.

IMHO, the biggest differences between blogs and discussions are:

1. Form factor
A blog collects all posts from a person into a format that is easier to read and follow than a bunch of disparate discussion posts. One of our long-term plans is to allow members to bookmark (or use RSS) to collect all of the TR blogs that they like to read on a single page.

2. Ownership
A blog allows more of a sense of ownership (and to some extent responsibility) to the content posted. For example, I take much greater care when posting stuff on my blog than I do when posting to discussion boards. A lot of that comes from the fact that my name is on the blog.

3. Types of posts/interaction
Discussion posts are generally meant to illicit a response from someone else. Blogs, on the other hand, allow members to post things that don't require a response. For example, I could see a lot of our TQ&A users posting commonly asked questions (with answers) on their blogs. This would allow them to reference them when someone asks the same question again. I could also see members posting more personal things that don't necessarily need a response ("Work sucks today. I've had to rebuild 3 PCs for our sales team who opened an .exe email attachment.").

These are just a few differences I can think of off the top of my head. I'll post more as I think of them.

by house

Max is right. TR is sort of a blog on it's own.

1. I do not blog! I am too busy with work, TR, gaming, education, girlfriend, etc. I would most definitely blog if I could do it here.

2. I do not read blogs! Same reason as above. If some of the techs here at TR, with whom I've developed a rapoire, began blogging... I would definitely show interest.

* Individual blogs might work, but topical blogs are not far off what we have now in the discussion center. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Chris

by willcomp

Don't do 'em and don't read 'em.

All my extra time is spent here and another site where I answer a few questions.

Also handicapped by not being a "real" typist. Although I can bang out about 25 - 30 wpm on a good day.

Ability to post ruminations on fixes and reference them would be great. Probably would read some others as well since there is a lot of good info tossed around on TR.

Dalton

by oz_media

I haven't TECH blogged but there are many in music industry related sites, they seem to have replaced press conferences for some people.

Personally, I couldn't see their value on TR, I prefer the open discussion (in which MANY posts could almost be considered a BLOG). But the away it sit now is more chatty and friendly, a little more personal and the banter is great to read.

I think a blog would detract from Discussions and turn the site into an even harder to navigate mess of information.

by hal 9000

While some discussions could be termed "Blogs" I just think it is the nature of the style of discussion as people get carried away on tangents.

However a permanent running Security discussion/Blog would interest me as while I'm involved in security I by no means consider myself even part way knowledgeable. There is always something new cropping up every day and to be totally honest I'm flat out trying to keep up with whats new on that front.

So far I've been lucky and have not had one of my clients breached "YET" but I'm sure the day will come. I would be interested in finding out how others are coping with this side of the business.

Col

by house

You've got my vote for the blogs. I would love to have a space to vent, post my troubleshooting techniques, and to have a running "diary" of sorts regarding my current pursuit(s) in the field of Information Technology.

We should have vote links for yes and no, or perhaps start yes and no posts where a particular TRI can voice his opinion in regards to the pros and cons by responding to either of them.

We could use this one as the "yay" thread, and another inline as the "nay".

Chris

by smorty71

Glad to hear that you are interested. I think blogs could be a really interesting complement to the Discussion Center.

I personally resisted the whole blogging thing for a long time; however, I finally gave in back in May. Now I can't stop.

sm

by hal 9000

Who can cure your Cyber Addiction but you'll have to change jobs and be as far away as possible from any Silicon Technology.

I've seen a few go through the cure and they all then carry on about just how Dependant we all are on Technology in general and Silicon Technology in particular. But the same people now live in isolated places and have solar power which I just have to keep pointing out is Silicon Technology anyway.

One is actually considering scrapping the solar cells and finding another form of power generation just to get away from everything Silicon.

Col :D

by house

Blogging is the best shrink - and it's free. I don't think that anyone here would consider abandoning Silicon Technology anytime soon.

It's like me with cigarettes - everytime I think of quiting, I know that I'm just fooling myself. They are both a way of life. It's a bad analogy though, because I've never considered quiting IT.

Chris

by hal 9000

I only started smoking because I worked IT!

Well I suspose it is more right to say I had to deal with domestic customers mostly women who where told by their spouses that there was very little wrong so the repair should only take a few minutes "I know famous last words!" Anyway I now claim I smoke as it is cheaper the the Shrink Bills which would no doubt arise if I didn't smoke.

Col :D

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