building community via blog

[Paul Czege]

Hey everyone,

I've been thinking a lot about Nathan's http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=4962">recent call to arms for indie folks to start promoting themselves better. And he's right, Jared really is outpacing most of us, with his presence and forum here, presence on RPG.net, his Yahoo group, his website, and his weblog.

I actually rather hate Yahoo groups. The advertisements drive me crazy. So my question is about weblogging. Can anyone offer comparative opinion of Blogger, LiveJournal, and Moveable Type for me, in terms of their suitability for community building efforts as I go forward with plans to promote http://www.123.net./~czege/nicotinegirls.html">Nicotine Girls, sell My Life with Master, and develop other indie game designs? Are there other weblogging tools I should be aware of? How important is the functionality I've seen on some sites where folks can attach their own comments to weblog entries? Should I even be considering weblogging? Is a traditional (non-Yahoo) listserv a better idea?

Thanks,

Paul

[Le Joueur]

So my question is about weblogging. Can anyone offer comparative opinion of Blogger, LiveJournal, and Moveable Type for me, in terms of their suitability for community building efforts....

Are there other weblogging tools I should be aware of? How important is the functionality I've seen on some sites where folks can attach their own comments to weblog entries?

As far as 'Blogs go, I'm with pMachine all the way.  Ease of use, solid code, 'normal person' instructions, they way you can use any level of html ability to customize it, and woah! the support is great.  And it's free (or really, really cheap when you get ambitious).

I'd say functionality is prime for community building; who wants to belong to a community if city hall is crumbling and you can't even find the hall of records.  (Did I mention pMachine comes with a search function and support many levels of user commentary?)

Really, go for it!  You'll never look back (or over your shoulder), I haven't.

Fang Langford