"Do we need blogs anymore" Topic

Now he who should be praised (The Editor) has sorted posting pictures here do we need blogs anymore?

No – this site does it all
Yes – the site does not do …
Yes – other reason

Please discuss and or vote.

For me:
Yes as I have editorial control and can link topics by tags

Yes, we still need blogs. Blogs are more than just posting a few pictures now and then. Well, mine is at least.

I also prefer to have control over page layout and content, all in my own domain.

Pictures are a great help.

There are those of us who are constrained by browser filters from visiting blogs. For those folks, if you don't say it here, they likley won't see it.

So….yes, we still need blogs, but don't assume that a link will get eyeballs on page.

but don't assume that a link will get eyeballs on page

Interesting comment.

I've seen an increase in visitors when I put a detailed description and a picture then just a quick sumary and the link.

Yes, these threads can be hard/effort to follow for years on end.
Until there are topic reply notifications and more functionality, yes we need blogs, or PHP forums.

Yes.

this site is good for all the voices. commercial stuff, crazy french dudes that post links to obsure stuff, gof's, trolls and the newbies that wander in. our blogs let us do ur own things in our own time.

link

i was just thinking the same thing angel barracks. if a topic drops off the front page i tend to lose interest as i cant find them quickly.
something like a button to find my posts would be helpful for those of us who tend to have a few conversations going at once.

I like blogs because I retain control – but especially as I can tag things and then focus my search

rctlittlesoldiers.blogspot.com

Yes. Blog functionality goes far beyond the ability to post pictures.

Did we ever?

TMP patently does not "do it all" – go to other gaming forums and you'll likely find people who've never heard of it, let alone visited it. Tabletop Gaming News seems to be a bit quicker about getting headlines out, for one thing. A blog can be advertised at multiple sites, and get an audience potentially wider than the readership of a single website.

Interesting comment.

I've seen an increase in visitors when I put a detailed description and a picture then just a quick sumary and the link.

If the blogger can't be bothered to put any more than "link" into a post advertising his blog, I can't be bothered clicking it, simple as that.

Nope.

Yep.

Yes. Blogs are a chance for individuals to ramble on (sorry !) at length, and some are really interesting, others less so, but either way it's more than a TMP posting.

When TMP emails everyone in my local club with what games are on next week, I'll consider scrapping our blog….

JDE

Sort of….

Is there a FAQ on how to post pictures directly in your message. I still do not know how as pasting does not work.

Heck yea!

Some of you guys are so good, I have y'all saved as favorites. I sure appreciate all you guys that do all that work to set up a blog, update it, and link to it. They are great informational tools for forgetful, lazy, OLD guys like me.

Let the market decide.

I just wish that all bloggers would post the link to their blog entry instead of the blog itself. If I look at a thread months after the initial post I may have to pour over multiple pages just to find the relevant entry, and I may well get bored before that happens.

That's why when I post links to my blog I try to give the reader a description, a link to the blog entry in question, and now, a sample pic.

And no, this site does not do it all, it does some things well, but not all things.

Yes.

A blog is a website. Its not a post with a few pics on a forum. It is your personal site, space online to post your own content and discuss your hobby. It is your way to be creative with the look of it and the structure. YOu can post what you want without opening a massive debate if you want.

You can link to friends, use cool gadgets to share your posts, allow people to befriend you, follow your blog through RSS or email updates.

You can also use your own domain name, if you want to get all formal, so you have a real identity that people remember and visit.

Blogs (websites) and forums – apple and oranges.

And yes, I have a vested interest in my reply!

Cheers

Jaz

6sided.net – Blogs For Wargamres!

No, blogs still have their place. As some bloggers do, they can post a brief description here with a link.

Pat Ripley: …something like a button to find my posts would be helpful …

Ask and ye shall receive:

Use the Message Boards link off the TMP home page. In the search field, type in your username, and select the radio button to search "authors".

Yes of course we do??

Ask and ye shall receive:

Use the Message Boards link off the TMP home page. In the search field, type in your username, and select the radio button to search "authors".

Only useful for finding threads you start though, not posts.
I think.

BLOG away says I.

Yes, these threads can be hard/effort to follow for years on end.
Until there are topic reply notifications and more functionality,

Maybe, but board fracturing is primarily what makes stuff so difficult to find on TMP.

i was just thinking the same thing angel barracks. if a topic drops off the front page i tend to lose interest as i cant find them quickly.

Again, the reason for this is there are so many boards it is frustrating to figure out if something is in wwii discussion, rules, scenarios, scenarios, gallery, painting guide, one of three models reviews, and battle reports.

And yet people keep clamouring for more boards.

something like a button to find my posts would be helpful for those of us who tend to have a few conversations going at once.

Pat, just search on your own name. It's what I do when I don't want to be bothered with trying to go through the ridiculous number of boards here to figure out what I needed.

Only useful for finding threads you start though, not posts.

AB, try it again and look carefully. It's for every topic in which you posted. It works very well. It only shows on a directory, but in my opinion, it should be on the main page right under the heading of message boards and on every message board like this.

It would actually be nice to have another option for topics someone starts, too!
--
Tim

As for the original question, do we need blogs?

First of all, change it to websites. Or websites and blogs, though they are one and the same (of course, someone is going to come around any second now and suggest they are completely different, and I will pre-empt that by saying, no they are all web sites!).

Yes we need them for the obvious reason that you cannot post pictures to TMP. There has to be some place to post the pictures, after all. When a picture is posted here, you are not posting it to TMP. You first have to put it on the web somewhere – a site, a blog, a photo display site like photobucket – and then post a link to it on TMP.

These are most definitely NOT pictures that have been posted to TMP:

They are pictures from my "blog" aka a web site from this battle report:

link

When you see the above two pictures, you are actually viewing my web server, not TMP's. They show on TMP, but they are located somewhere else.

And if you don't believe me, Firefox users can right click either image and select "View image" (I've no idea how to do this in Explorer which has always been incredibly bad with this sort of thing and also, BTW, shows the two pictures above in this topic in a much, much smaller size than it does in Firefox). Now have a look at the URL and you will realize from where the image is coming!
--
Tim

"also, BTW, shows the two pictures above in this topic in a much, much smaller size than it does in Firefox"

Make sure the Firefox and IE windows are identically-sized; Bill's added some javascript which resizes images based on the current window size. Using Firefox 5 and IE 9, the images are identically sized when the windows are the same size.

I have no beef against blogs. I go to the one that interest me and the rest I don't think about.

Forums and blogs have totally different objectives.
Forums allow to friendly exchanges of information and advices of all kinds -historical, material (minis, models, rules…) and provide 'dazibaos' to post 'flashnews': links to 'noteworthy' new posts on one's blog [and yes, please post a link to the *relevant post*, not to the blog as a whole].

Blogs are 'homogeneous' topic-devoted personal diaries and showcases, the blogger can detail at leisure battle reports, personal rules tutorials… and any campaign background; specially when developing imaginary countries and conflicts. Map, History, OOB, politics, flags and uniforms of an Imagi-Nation have nothing to do on a forum. Labels / tags allow an easy exploration of archives.

If you have a question to ask, post it on a forum: hundreds or thousands of people will read it and a number will reply.
Your personal projects and achievements are exposed on your blog: only those interested will peruse it.
Short, accurately linked 'adverts' on forums keep those potentially interested aware of your progresses.

What would i do without my blog!!!? :-D
I´ve made a lot of great contacts through my blog..as well as forums like here. I don´t know wether I would have found out and seen so much if I hadn´t of started a blog.
Cheers
paul

I am a happy blogger! – TMP has got me 90%+ page views I have had, the remainder come mostly from Pauls Bods – a GREAT blog!- or The Angry Lurker, or A Slight distraction by Andy Mcmaster, both also excellent blogs.

I like being able to put pics on TMP….

Just copy the picture URL from the address bar, paste it in here and…

.. Presto!