Which blog host do you prefer (either to use or which do you like the best to view)?

[RAV TUX]

After reviewing the forum members blogs here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=219512

I was wondering which blog host do you prefer, either as a user or which do you find the most pleasing to view?

Also which do you find that gives you the most usability, for yourself and other people who may want to view your blog and leave comments about your post?

[Jucato]

My blog host of choice is Wordpress for some reasons:
1. It's open source: a great plus
2. It will be easy to migrate from the wordpress.com to the wordpress.org once I get my own webhost.

The only thing I don't like about it is the lack of customization features: you can't have your own CSS, you can't make your own theme (AFAIK), no tagboards, etc.

I would have preferred to host my own site/blog, if I had the resources to.

Anyway, my opinion of the other services:
1. livejournal - never tried it yet. They say it's very community oriented. But it's not open source. But I'm willing to try it sometime, perhaps.
2. Blogger/Blogspot - very customizable (I like). But again, not open source. I was about to migrate to Blogger, then thought about just sticking to Wordpress for a while until I get a web host.
3. Googlepages: doesn't support Konqueror. Baaad.
4. my.opera.com: never been an Opera user. don't plan on being one
5. Friendster: never liked it (the Friendster service itself). I find it to bloated/congested. And the blog link that you will get is very long.
6. xanga, multiply, etc. Never tried those.

There's another blog service that's not mentioned, probably because it isn't that popular: blogdrive. My sister uses it. I used it once. Didn't really strike me as anything special.

[RAV TUX]

I currently use Multiply I like it because of it's friendly user functions.

It literally starts a forum for every post, picture, song, video you post.

the forums are actually live so you don't have to refresh the page.

It isn't the ultimate I know but it is the only one I have kept up with for any amount of time.

[Johnsie]

I'm writing my own blog hosting solution for muliple users as a hobby. It runs proudly off an Ubuntu server... It's nowhere near as good as those big ones yet but it will be someday (I hope)

I'm trying to look for the best things about each blog host and put them into mine in a structured way. Obviously it's not as easy for me as I dont have a whole team of people working for me.

iI can tell you which solution I dont like and that's myspace. There are some good ideas in there but their servers are very unrelaible and the html has a lot oof errors. Saying that, mines not perfect either but I at least try to meet the W3C standards some of the time

[Jucato]

Originally Posted by yozef I currently use Multiply I like it because of it's friendly user functions. It literally starts a forum for every post, picture, song, video you post. the forums are actually live so you don't have to refresh the page. It isn't the ultimate I know but it is the only one I have kept up with for any amount of time.

I've only heard of Multiply.com today, when I put your blog on my blog list. Is your blog the default layout of Multiply? It's not really a "blog" in the traditional sense of the word. More like an easy to use CMS, I think.

Who's running it by the way? The same people as MySpace? (there's a link to MySpace in their front page). Oh, and the Multiply logo looks eerily like MSN's.

[RAV TUX]

Originally Posted by Fenyx I've only heard of Multiply.com today, when I put your blog on my blog list. Is your blog the default layout of Multiply? It's not really a "blog" in the traditional sense of the word. More like an easy to use CMS, I think. Who's running it by the way? The same people as MySpace? (there's a link to MySpace in their front page). Oh, and the Multiply logo looks eerily like MSN's.

I think the link which you refer to which I don't see because I use adblock plus on Firefox must be a Google ad.

Actually I disabled adblock plus and I don't see the link your refering to on Multiply's front page:
http://multiply.com/info/about

please let me know what your seeing.

about the people running it:

Multiply Corporate Info Company Background Multiply, Inc., based in Boca Raton, Florida, was founded in December 2003. The company launched its flagship web site, Multiply (http://multiply.com), in March 2004, effectively defining the new field of social communications. While "social-networking" sites were gaining popularity as an easier way to meet new people, Multiply's founders believed that the most valuable use of having your network of friends and family on-line is to enable communication on a broad scale with the people you already know, either directly or indirectly (through mutual friends, family, and business relationships). With Multiply's proprietary integration of web-publishing and network-based messaging, its users are actively sharing digital photo albums, blogs, restaurant and movie reviews, classifieds and calendar events. More importantly, their content generates lively discussion and active feedback from people they care about - something that is missing with other web-publishing tools. Additionally, with detailed relationship paths and its unique proximity index, Multiply is able to document the connection between the producers of content and the consumers. These explicitly defined relationships and their implicit trust make the content more relevant and entertaining, and provide a comfortable forum for discussion, feedback and solicitation of advice. Multiply's staff has tremendous experience building highly-scalable, web-based applications. The reliability of our network and preservation of our users' data are top priorities. Also a top priority for Multiply is respecting the privacy of our users. Multiply will never sell or give away any personal information about our users to third parties. Management Team Multiply's founders were previously partners of Daedalus World Wide Corporation ("DWWC") which was founded in 1995, and operated some of the first mass-market web sites on the Internet. In 1996, DWWC launched Commissioner.com, a fantasy sports statistics service that was licensed to, and private-labeled or co-branded for: CBS.SportsLine.com, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, CNN/SI, America On-line, Netscape, Excite, the PGA TOUR and others. In December 1999 DWWC was merged into SportsLine.com, Inc., and operated as a wholly-owned subsidiary. In 2004 the DWWC team was inducted into the Fantasy Sports Trade Association Hall of Fame for its influential role in creating the now thriving on-line fantasy sports industry. Having worked together and experienced growth in start-ups through high-profile publicly-traded companies, Multiply's team is well poised for repeat success. Peter Pezaris, President and Founder Peter is in charge of all product development and strategic direction of the company. Prior to Multiply, Peter served as CBS SportsLine.com's President of Operations and Product Development where he was responsible for technology and computer operations as well as programming and production. In this role, Peter oversaw the operations of nfl.com, pgatour.com, cbs.sportsline.com, and mvp.com, which serve billions of pages annually to tens of millions of customers. In 2003, Peter was named to the Sports Business Journal's "Forty Under 40" list, which recognizes the most promising young executives in the sports business. Peter joined SportsLine when it acquired DWWC. Prior to DWWC, Peter was a systems and software developer for the investment banking firms of Bankers Trust and Salomon Brothers. http://pez.multiply.com Michael Gersh, Vice President of Sales and Marketing Michael is in charge of the day-to-day operations of the company including finance and marketing. Before Multiply, Michael was an independent consultant advising technology start-ups on product design and business strategy. His clients included ModeEleven, where he designed the company's Broadcast Screensaver System, a PC Magazine Technical Excellence award finalist in 2003. Michael was an initial founder of DWWC and subsequently served as the General Manager of SportsLine.com's fantasy sports division. Prior to DWWC, Michael was a product manager with Citicorp and a computer programmer for Republic National Bank. http://michaelg.multiply.com David Hersh, Vice President of Business Development David is in charge of project and product management, as well as business development. Prior to Multiply, David was Vice President of Fantasy Sports for SportsLine.com. Before joining SportsLine, David handled business development efforts at DWWC. Prior to DWWC, David worked as a consultant for American Management Systems and as a software developer for IBM. http://dave.multiply.com

It is no way related to Myspace in look or feel, The user controls give you very tight control.

Any way with that info I am highly interested in Johnsie's project:

Originally Posted by Johnsie I'm writing my own blog hosting solution for muliple users as a hobby. It runs proudly off an Ubuntu server... It's nowhere near as good as those big ones yet but it will be someday (I hope) I'm trying to look for the best things about each blog host and put them into mine in a structured way. Obviously it's not as easy for me as I dont have a whole team of people working for me. iI can tell you which solution I dont like and that's myspace. There are some good ideas in there but their servers are very unrelaible and the html has a lot oof errors. Saying that, mines not perfect either but I at least try to meet the W3C standards some of the time

let use know more about what you are doing. Take a look at Multiply they have some cool features.

[Jucato]

It's not an ad. It's on the front page of http://multiply.com

Want to show your profile to millions of people you don't know? Use MySpace. Share your photos, video, music, blogs and more with the people you already know and love: Join Multiply.

I'm not really sure how much they're affiliated with MySpace. They're logos are also almost similar. Anyway, I have nothing against my space. I'm really just opting for more "open" alternatives. But multiply sounds good. I'll take a look into it. Is it very customizable (CSS stuff)?

[chickengirl]

Originally Posted by Fenyx My blog host of choice is Wordpress for some reasons: 1. It's open source: a great plus 2. It will be easy to migrate from the wordpress.com to the wordpress.org once I get my own webhost. The only thing I don't like about it is the lack of customization features: you can't have your own CSS, you can't make your own theme (AFAIK), no tagboards, etc.

I don't know about tagboards (actually I'm not sure what they are -- is it like a shoutbox?) but you most certainly can have your own CSS and a custom theme in WordPress. My blog has a theme that I made myself, for example.

[Harold P]

I like blogspot, but maybe after all this talk, I'll check out wordpress soon.

[Kayne]

I really like blogspot since you get a overall nice-looking site with a decent blogeditor. In combination with Picasa for uploading images it is superb.

But it's not meant for people, who want truly their own site with their own design and style.
Speaking for myself, I don't blog for the public but for me and my friends. To pay for webhosting and put up Wordpress, which is my overall favorite, is just overkill for this purpose.