FINAL UPDATE - Monday March 14.

I changed my mind this morning and have reached a decision. I'm going to blog on both blogger/blogstream and on tumblr. One main reason for this is that most of the blogstreamers I follow have moved to these two sites.

The links to the new blogs are below:

Skinny Guy Blogger

SkinnyGuy Tumblr

Notes on the sites I picked and the others:

Blogger
The site was relatively easy to set up. The youtube video was initially oversized when it posted to blog, but I since adjusted the width of the blog columns (this is a nice feature Whit mentioned) and now the video fits fine with no need to modify the embed code. It was easy to post text, text with links, and videos. You cannot browse blogs from the main page, which is a negative, although I there is a "next" button you could push to randomly stroll through other blogs.

Also, as you seen in the Wed March 9 post comments, blogspot is tied to blogger. You post in blogger and it displays in blogspot. I noticed no ads, and the comments section is ok. The "follow other blogs" stuff and was a little confusing, but I think I got it okay. Now that I'm using it, it's pretty cool. I also like that I can put links on the side to blogs I like.

Tumblr
You can't search or explore other blogs from the main page, but you can do that from the dashboard part of your tumblr blog. You can also put tags on your blog entries to help them get noticed, so this might be okay. I found the site was very quick and easy to get set up on. When you post text with links (pasting the URL into the post), Tumblr automatically converts the links to actual links, which is nice. Easy to post video.

Johnny P posted on Whit's blog that Tumblr crashed a lot and wasn't set up for thread commments so well. He liked blogger better. I looked at Scratch's blog on tumblr and comments I think are okay. However I looked a few days later and it seems that comments are not identified each time as to what is the blogger's voice and what is the commmenter's voice. It also is not so easy to set up and use comments. So that's a big negative.

However, I found out that if you have a Tumblr account and follow other blogs, the blog entries from others pop up in your dashboard when you sign in and each entry has a reply button. So while commenting threads may be a little iffy, at the least you can reply to the blog poster, which is all I want most of the time.

I did notice no ads, which is a plus. There seemed to be fewer widgets, so less stuff you could put on the margins. The other negative was they don't have a way to put a list of blogs you like on your blog page.

Sites I probably won't use:

Wordpress
I thought you might have to download software but you don't if you use their free blogs. The software I believe is if you want to host your blog yourself. To correct my earlier mistake, you can poke around a bit from the main web page, to check out other blogs.

Posting text is fine. Posting text with links is a little more complicated, as you need to type in the name of the link as you wish it to appear, then high light it, then click on "link" to set it up. If you do a second link, it automatically seems to copy the first unless you click on link button again once or twice. So that was a negative for me. When I first tried to post youtube video, youtube was link only rather than the full screen shot, because the Help comments were wrong. I figured out you need to post the embed code rather than just the URL, and then the screen shot works fine.

I noticed no ads, and the commenting parts are good. I poked around more tonight and not so confused as earlier, looks like this should be okay. Wordpress does not have a "follow other blogs" like blogger and tumblr do. And as mentioned above, not so many blogstreamers there. So I will delete the blog I set up there, which is too bad cause I loved the background I had.

Xanga
I initially liked Xanga when I poked around before setting up an account. They have both free and paid options, and you need to do the $25/yr paid to get rid of the ads on your blog. That was a negative. Overall look was okay although main site a bit hectic. You can can click on commenters to go to their sites, like blogstream has. You can also explore new blogs from the main page, which is nice. The individual blogs have a lot of spots for information. However, the site is a little busier/more cluttered than blogstream and I had a hard time finding out info. It reminds me a little bit of facebook, which I don't like so much. I noticed that they have two ads on my blog, one small across bottom and one big ass one down the side. They also don't seem to have a preview function when you are writing your post, which is a negative.

Typepad - too expensive, so F grade.

Blog.com - couldn't click on user comments to go to their pages, at least I couldn't as a visitor using Mozilla Firefox browser. So probably F grade for them as well.

Blogster.com - can't post photos or videos that you didn't do yourself. So this one is a No / grade F candidate.

For today's Friday Music Video, and maybe the last one, I thought it fitting to put up Journey's "Faithfully". It was a huge monster ballad, with great vocals by Steve Perry and great guitar work by Neal Schon. I'm dedicating it to blogstream, from John who has carried this whole thing, to all my fellow blogstreamers.

When I started this blog, I only told a few people. I wasn't sure if I'd have the interest and the ability to maintain it. Looking back at the last 3.75 years, it's been a great ride. I've really enjoyed writing some things, and sharing with others the news, opinion, and information I've found. In return, a lot of other bloggers have kept me entertained, amused, and educated.

At this point, it sort of feels like late May of senior year in high school. You had some good memories and some bad, and you realized you might keep in touch with some of your classmates but others you might never see again. Excitement and uncertainty for the future mixed with a little regret, all layered over a lot of memories.

So enjoy the song, and raise your glass for a toast to Blogstream....

LAST UPDATED SATURDAY MARCH 12, 4:15PM PACIFIC TIME.

I'm going to update this post over the next few days as I try out various sites. So you may want to reread it when you return.

Sites I'm considering:
Xanga
I initially liked Xanga when I poked around before setting up an account. They have both free and paid options. Overall look is nice. You can click on commenters to go to their sites, like blogstream has. You can also explore new blogs from the main page, which is nice. The individual blogs have a lot of spots for information. However, the site is a little busier/more cluttered than blogstream and I had a hard time finding out info. It reminds me a little bit of facebook, which I don't like so much. I noticed that they have two ads on my blog, one small across bottom and one big ass one down the side. I don't know if paid option gets rid of these. Considering the other 3 finalists don't seem to have ads, this is a negative. I'm grading it now at around a C.

Tumblr
You can't search or explore other blogs from the main page, which I don't like. However, you can put tags on your blog entries to help them get noticed, so this might be okay. I found the site was very quick and easy to get set up on. Easy to post video. Johnny P posted on Whit's blog that Tumblr crashed a lot and wasn't set up for thread commments so well. He liked blogger better. I looked at Scratch's blog on tumblr and comments I think are okay. However I looked a few days later and it seems that comments are not identified each time as to what is the blogger's voice and what is the commmenter's voice. So that's a bit of a negative. I did notice no ads, which is a plus. Right now I'm grading it around a C.

Blogger
The site was relatively easy to set up. The youtube video was oversize when it posted to blog, so that was one glitch. You also cannot browse blogs from the main page, which is a negative. Also, as you seen in comments to this post, blogspot is tied to blogger. You post in blogger and it displays in blogspot. I didn't like blogspot when I looked last night, but maybe it's okay if you don't spend time at main site but just hit blogs. We'll see.
I noticed no ads, and the comments section ok. I noticed video on bella's blog was the right size, so my oversize problem is I assume just a glitch that can be fixed. Right now I'm grading this one around a B.

Wordpress
I thought you might have to download software but you don't if you use their free blogs. The software I believe is if you want to host your blog yourself. No main page to poke around, which limits your ability to make new friends. However I think they do tags like some other sites. I tried posting words and a link to yourtube video last night. Words are good, youtube was link only rather than the full screen shot they seem to indicate they can do. I noticed no ads, and the commenting parts are good. I had some confusion poking around Friday night 3/11, so I'm not sure about this. At this point I'm grading it a B or C.

Sites I probably won't use:
Typepad - too expensive, so F grade.

Blog.com - couldn't click on user comments to go to their pages, at least I couldn't as a visitor using Mozilla Firefox browser. So probably F grade for them as well.

Blogster.com - can't post photos or videos that you didn't do yourself. So this one is a No / grade F candidate.

On a day with sad news about blogstream closing down, thought I'd add a little bit of humor.

A widowed Aussie woman, still in good shape, was sunbathing on a deserted beach in Florida.

She looked up and noticed that a man her age, also in good shape, had walked up, placed his blanket on the sand near hers and began reading a book. Smiling, she attempted to strike up a conversation with him.

"How are you today?"

"Fine, thank you," he responded, and turned back to his book.

"I love the beach. Do you come here often?" she asked.

"First time since my wife passed away 2 years ago," he replied and turned back to his book.

"I'm sorry to hear that. My husband passed away three years ago and it is very lonely, she countered. "Do you live around here?" She asked.

"Yes, I live over in Coral Springs " he answered, and again he resumed reading.

Trying to find a topic of common interest, she persisted, "Do you like pussy cats?"

With that, the man dropped his book, came over to her blanket, tore off her swimsuit and gave her the most passionate lovemaking of her life.

When the cloud of sand began to settle, she gasped and asked the man, "How did you know that was what I wanted?

The man replied. "How did you know my name was Katz?