I can't believe I've never seen a post about this before...
If you were going to use a weblog service, that is, a service that handled all aspects of the hosting, archiving, reporting - everything other than actually writing the entries for your blog, what would that service look like?
What would you be able to do? How would you sign up? How would you access the software? What configuration options would you want?
If you're feeling inspired, post your thoughts in the comments of this entry. Describe the features or focus on the experience. Let me know what's on your mind.
Comments (4)
1. sean@cheesebikini.com had this to say on March 4, 2003:
Good idea. Nobody seems to be offering the whole package.
For me I'd like to see the Moveable Type setup, with a nice logs/reports piece. And a simpler way to manage uploaded files (images, sound files, non-databased HTML pages, etc.) And an easy way to back up -everything- simultaneously and quickly, including uploaded files, logs, etc. -- it would pull it all together in one file and let you download it, or pay an extra fee to have it regularly and automatically backed up.
And only starter templates that have been well designed and tested so that they work on most browsers and platforms.
And never, ever any advertisements or e-mail harvesting.
-Sean
2. d had this to say on March 7, 2003:
This doesn't address any features or specific details but I know a couple of guys set up a hosting service especially for weblogging and personal sites.
http://www.logjamming.com/
3. Brad Lauster had this to say on March 8, 2003:
Thanks Sean. That's a good list to start with.
Concerning d's comment: Maybe I need to be a bit more specific.
I'm not interested in the required features for a blog hosting solution - those are implicit in the nano-publishing software employed by the blog service.
What I'm looking for are things like: Do you care who else has a blog in the "community?" Is it important to be able to track your friends' blogs? How would you want to get support?
I'm looking for things you want to be able to do through a blog service that you can't do with the nano-publishing software or service you're currently using.
4. kathryn had this to say on March 9, 2003:
Is it important to be able to track your friends' blogs? How would you want to get support?
well, i believe that one of the reasons so many people choose LiveJournal and stick with LiveJournal is the stuff like "friends" page feature, the ability to make "friends-only" entries, and to have comments you make be linked automatically to your profile and LiveJournal. having a standard format and location for user bios that's also listing a user's blogroll is pretty powerful, wouldn't you say?