I have never been a serious blogger though that time may come soon. Still I have left a trail of started blogs in my quest for the perfect one.
I started with Blogger about 4 years ago and didn’t like the contortions one had to go through to add pictures or collaborators. I think its better now but haven’t really gone back to check (I just listen to the buzz about Blogger).
Then I tried Xanga where Sus Nyrop still maintains a blog. I was looking for a way of communicating with family but didn’t like that they all had to subscribe in order to make comments.
When I was planning a student project where I wanted them all to maintain learning diaries I tried something called schoolsblog which doesn’t seem to exist anymore. Since it was more often offline than online this meant that side of the project was a disaster.
When I next needed a blog for a class i tried 20six mainly because you didn’t need to be a member to add comments. When it is a question of student blogging I want as few barriers to cross-communication as possible.
I like the Elgg blog though of course it isn’t primarily a blogging tool. But the features all around it such as the file upload and social network and tagging features make it very attractive as a professional workingplace. It will be almost perfect when you add that wisywig editor.
Finally I found out about the new Yahoo 360 blog and that seems to have almost everything I’m looking for regarding the family contact requirements. I’m starting to upload video and audio which Yahoo doesn’t seem to allow but otherwise it is a very easy system to use. I have serious reservations though about the aggressive tactics Yahoo uses when you install various downloads such as Messenger.
I would say that at the moment my favourite blogging places are Yahoo and Elgg. I can see me using the Yahoo site for family contact and the Elgg site for professional projects.