Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

[Evan Zimmerman <evan.zimmerman AT gmail.com>]

I would say that in any group there are those that get carried away
with the idea more than others, and these mysterious "serious
bloggers" must be in that category. I don't think that they make up
any significant portion of bloggers though.

I don't know that many people take LJ users less seriously per se, but
there is at least one significant difference between LJ and everything
else -- LiveJournal tends to be inward looking.
Most other services have sites that are semi-independant with a
pseudo-domain name (blah.blogspot.com or blah.typepad.com etc..) that
gives at least the appearance of independence even though the backend
is probably similar.
LJ domains often look more akin to what they are -- a user space on a
shared server -- and the sites themselves often (not always) are
heavily interlinked with other LJ users, forcing traffic to circulate
inside LJ world more than it might otherwise. I don't consider this to
be a bad thing, but it is a difference. That kind of social aspect
also encourages a younger crowd, hence the reputation (perhaps
undeserved) of LJ as a common home of kids.

As to your question about hosts, you can go with a commercial service
like LJ but with additional features (and without the social linking
component), or you can go with a homebrew site using Moveable Type or
Wordpress etc. The latter require php and all that goodness, so you'd
need a new host in that case.
It's really a matter of taste, but based on what you've mentioned I'd
say your best bet might be to register a domain name all your own, but
use a hosted service like typepad or blogspot for the technical stuff.


Evan




On Apr 5, 2005 1:14 PM, Sil Greene <quack AT ibiblio.org> wrote:
> 
> 
> from Tanner Lovelace:
> > from Paula:
> >> Why does no one take LJ seriously?
> >
> > Because "blogging" and "journaling" are completely different
> > things.
> >
> 
> Unless you step back a few paces, in which case they look about
> the same.
> 
> As a reader, I take LiveJournals as seriously as any other blog.
> Perhaps my understanding of blogs/blogging is malformed, or perhaps
> the quote-unquote "Serious Bloggers(tm)" just have the holier-than-thou
> stick-up-the-rear that's so typical of any clique when looking at
> outsiders.  But as a reader, I'm looking for interesting stuff to
> read.  If I'm researching something, I'm probably not looking at too
> many blogs; but if I'm just surfing, looking for interesting
> observations or opinions on current events, I tend to find those
> interesting reads both on personal journals and serious blogs.
> 
> So Tanner, I'm curious about your take on this.  What is the difference
> between blogging and journaling?
> 
> --sil
> 
> ps.  I'm aware that, in some circles, blogging is considered to be the
> next stage in the evolution of Journalism.  (I don't know if this a
> conscious thought in the community or not; just my perception of the
> current hype.)  I like the grassroots, democratic, anyone-can-do-this
> nature of blogging.  I'm not crazy about the exclusionary attitudes I've
> seen from some of those quote-unquote "Serious Bloggers(tm)".
> ---
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