please empty your brain below

Yes, come on Metro, let's hear what you have to say.

I've experimented with Vox, and it's nice because you can integrate pictures and video and all that pretty easily. BUT the sign-in thing's a killer.

Perhaps it's aimed more at, say, family members who want to keep in touch more than a wider blogging community.

Of course, anyone who signs up for Metro's little scheme is asking to have their content nicked for free by people who should be paid to create their own stuff...

No comment

Some people go as far as to say that a blog that doesn't allow comments isn't really a blog at all.

To be fair, most LJ or Myspace sites *are* written by people for their friends and relatives, which is why they have features like: letting you write posts that only users A, B and C can view (so you can slag off user D behind user D's back, natch). They're not blogs in the sense that *you* write a blog, they're diaries.

Yes, good post and well put. This is a problem that also bugs me from time to time. It's almost like your rights as a blog reader are being infringed when you're not allowed to comment or have to jump through hoops to create another useless login you may never use again.

Vox is a vile system. I had to analyse it a few weeks ago in work, and there's nothing worthwhile.

I suppose that's why blogger and wordpress are the most successful.

I allow comments on my blog and people can register to join my site if they choose and that unlocks some added functionality.

I'm considering requiring membership to comment, because it's one sure fire way of preventing comment spam. Every day I have to clear out some ad for viagra, sexy girls or vicadin with copious links, that someone has callously left in my totally unrelated comments. I block IP addresses and email addresses to try to stem the tide, but still it comes.

Perhaps some of these blogs / sites are set up this way because of the idiots out there who insist on loading us all with such junk.

i find that i can leave comments on LJs, although as an anonymous person. i particularly dislike livejournal though as i get the impression that they go through the entire blogging community, pick out a post and then use it on their LJ with LJ comments, and no reference to you. this irks me a lot as there have been times when i would have liked to join in the 'discussion' about a post or two of mine that i have found on someone's LJ - and i only found out about it via another LJer.

as for myspace etc - eugh!

I know several bloggers who have been using Vox for quite a while, in addition to their main blogs - but for them, Vox-blogging is a deliberately low-profile, friends-only affair. In fact, I thought that was the whole point. So it's surprising to see Metro launching themselves there with such a fanfare.

And what's this, oh Gawd, another Best British Blog competition? May the Lord have mercy upon our souls!

It is possible to comment anonymously on LiveJournal posts, unless the poster has disabled that option.

It's not just blogging platforms that prevent comments. Opera browser dislikes Haloscan and sometimes won't allow comments or even show the link. I'd say the disappearing comment link is about 50:50.

wibble

As I have a Typepad log I get bombarded with Vox stuff all the time.
I did sign up but got bored within five minutes - it does the same things Typepad does only less efficiently - and every time I feel the urge to give in and have a look at it again I end up giving up after two minutes this time as Vox's servers are so crap that it never wants to load up and log me in.

And yes, aside from that, shutting off a huge part of any poential readership from having their say is plain idiotic.

I agree with everything you said. I put my blog on blogger so that anyone can leave comments. Unfortunately only my close family have so far! My friends tend to email me instead of going through the palaver.

It was a sad time for me, two and a half years into blogging, when I had to end up enabling 'comment moderation' on my blog. Partly this was due to spam, but mostly it was because the level of personal attacks on me grew exponentially with the huge volume of comments I was getting, as soon as it was known I had written a book based on the blog.

I really enjoy the debate that arises on my blog and I like that my readers talk amongst themselves, but unfortunately due to the vicious minority, I now don't allow comments to appear until I've read them first. I'm sure this stifles the spontaneity of the discussion, but sadly this can't be helped: there's only so many times you can allow people to call you a "cunt" or "whore" or "sellout" before you stop wanting to give them a platform to vent their hate/spite/envy.

Oooooh, she swore in DG's comment box!

*points*

The system which really annoys me is Blogger's comments system - which if I'm not at home either needs me to log in to Blogger (no thanks) or signs me in via my "real" Google account (nope). It's AWFUL. But I suppose it's taken the pressure off the mighty Haloscan...

Back when I started, we didn't have comments, you know. And I still don't quite trust them. New fangled nonsense.

Phew- so glad I don't have a blog, not even a bloggette of my own.

I am sorry that I can't read your blog without an overwhelming urge to comment. But it's just so good! Commenting, I guess, is a bit like casting a vote: if we comment you are encouraged to keep it up. If we all merely read your blog without commenting, how would you know whether we thought your thoughts were worthwhile. But would you care? I think not!

Try OpenID (free decentralised framework for user identity), which lets you log on to LiveJournal and plenty of other sites http://lifewiki.net/openid/OpenIDConsumers
with a single logon (I got mine automatically via Yahoo that I use anyway).

It's some sort of Microsoft Passport, only universal (and recently supported by Microsoft too with Windows CardSpace, a component of Vista).

Clearer explanation on wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenID

Hmmm, I suspect it's all to do with another attempt to get our information and held into a contract of some sort even if now money is yet involved. Thery certainly have to be outstanding blogs for me to bother to register... the character recognition thing on newer blogger is bad enough.

Comment moderation is a shame but understandable in some cases and it's never stopped me commenting... obviously that's up to the blog-owner and one can quite understand if one get's hundreds of abusive comments one might want to stem the tide.

I've used Live Journal for about 5 years and commenting is enabled to all. On the other hand I generally dislike Blogger for commenting because of the spam checks (although I see you have a different commenting system on here which is promising).

I am currently debating the pros and cons of moving to Blogger and for me Live Journal is better for blogging about your personal life because you can hide entries from Google much easier.

By the way, ironically this is my first comment on your blog which I've read for a year or so via my friend Nik Rawlinson.

<attempts to leave comment on LiveJournal>

Sorry, your account needs to be age verified before you can leave any comments.

<screams in vain at useless LJ system>

Go to bed spotty!

Actually, one thing I like about moderating my comments is that I never miss one now. I used to miss them sometimes, if they were left on older posts or if I was just very busy for a day or two - but with moderation they come to my inbox and I know they're there.

Well, that's the positive side! It's not JUST negative... & I also love not getting spam.

Ok I think the age verification issues you get with live Journal are because the blogger has conflicting info about their age in their account details. Some bloggers don't want their birth date details in public so they change them to something silly like 00-00-0000. However, because of Federal Law you must get your parents' permission to have a blog if you are under 13, therefore it causes issues with people leaving comments. That's the way I understand it anyway. Hope that helps.

James - I don't remember deliberately falsifying my date of birth, so maybe I did it by accident. Whatever the case, LiveJournal won't let me back in to re-edit these details. And they've also 'age-blacklisted' my IP address, so I can't even set up another correctly-dated account without them demanding proof that I really am an adult. It seems I'm the victim of the US nanny state. They've truly lost me.

i never have any problems with haloscan in opera - possibly your settings/preferences

I don't understand blogs/logs/pages where you can't add your own opinion or comments on either. Sites like Xanga, Livejournal and Vox seem to be more like "communities" rather than attracting bloggers of the more individual variety, who are open to comments, suggestions and debate in the little box here!

If you start up there it can be a little difficult (as time goes on) to try and "make friends" with other people on the same blogging service, as some have been around for a long time and want to stay with their current acquaintances rather than find some new people to talk to.

(this may not make sense, i am not very well - sorry!)

...yes, I am certainly coming round to the idea of moving away from Live Journal becasue I do find readership somewhat restricted. My only issue with Blogger is - the comments are heavily spammed unless you use the tedious word verification. However, I have to say, this particular blog seems to have a great comment system?

dg writes: Haloscan's great at keeping spam at bay. I'm almost never troubled by it.











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