Thursday, January 24, 2008

Blogging 101: For Ms. Rose

What is a blog? Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines it as, “a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer”. It is short for a weblog.

Think about those diaries you used to hide under your bed, wherein you put daily entries about your thoughts and experiences. Sometimes, you even put codes to hide the real names of your crushes. Think about those formal themes you used to do in elementary and high school, and those scribblings you do for fun. Think about those unsent letters of hate and love, and those parting words you drafted when you think you could no longer take it anymore. Think about those stories formed in your mind, or those critical book or movie reviews you want to write.

Those I mentioned above can be posted online to form a blog. For a start, one can use free hosted sites like blogger (owned by google), wordpress and i.ph. I love the layout of i.ph but sorry I have to leave them. Firewall problem. I’ve never used wordpress, but it has better-looking templates. I don’t want Multiply because people there only want the pictures. Those at friendster are concerned only of their friends’ lists and not their friends’ blog content. I am happy at blogger. But I certainly want my own domain.

In a blog, you can either use your name or an alias (if you’re shy or just want some mystery). There are pros and cons to both, but it really depends. You can have fun in either or in both ways. Identity confusion would be a problem later if you use both.

If you think you don’t know how to write, think again. Unless you commence writing, you can never write better. Maybe we can’t read your mind, but you can type in the keyboard and write your thoughts, free-flowing like the wind outside the corners of my cubicle. Don’t mind the monsters that will attempt to discourage you. We’ve got more than 14 years of schooling to learn how to write. It may not be perfect though.

Who are we to judge the writer because of the misfired metaphors and the feeble grammatical constructions? That blog, that website that contains your precious thoughts, is yours, with or without readers.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's a pity you're leaving i.ph just because of firewall problems. There is a way to work around that you know. You can actually post on your blog via email. It's real easy. Check out how here:

http://www.i.ph/forum/index.php?topic=472.0

I for one sincerely hope you keep your i.ph blog. Lots of new features will be coming out this year!

Anyway...hope everything works out for you. Blog on!

Anonymous said...

hey Mr. Adam, thanks for hopping in here. I would have wanted to delete my blog in there but I changed my mind. In fact, i'm restoring and redesigning it right now.

The problem is fixed. yehey!

gypsy soul said...

correct..we blog because we want to (hmmm..i've used the word 'blog' there as a verb..) and not because we want to please other people!
but then, one may belong to the latter reason..but i think that would be really lousy..there would be pressure from all sides, it would be difficult to be true to yourself..and that would defeat the purpose of everything..we might as well go back to writing in that journal - secret codes and everything - if that happens.

Anonymous said...

elay, it won't necessarily lead to being untrue. it could just be moderated thoughts, and those codes would be of help.